As library workflows become more complex, many institutions are looking for practical ways to reduce repetitive work, improve consistency and free staff to focus on services that directly support students, faculty and researchers.
That was the focus of our recent webinar, Library Open Workflows in action: improving productivity through automation, which brought together library professionals from the Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC) and Sacramento City College. Although their institutions are very different in scale and structure, both have adopted Library Open Workflows (LibOW) to address operational challenges and improve library services across their organizations.
Different institutions, similar challenges
WRLC supports nine academic institutions across the Washington DC region, managing shared technology and services for a diverse membership that ranges from large research universities to much smaller institutions. The consortium oversees multiple Alma institution zones through a centralized network zone and places a strong emphasis on sustainability and shared services.
Sacramento City College operates within a community college district and serves students pursuing two-year degrees, technical certificates and lifelong learning opportunities. Like many community college libraries, it works with lean staffing and limited dedicated IT resources. Library staff often need to solve operational challenges independently rather than rely on institution-wide technology projects.
Despite these differences, both organizations faced a common issue: valuable staff time was being spent on repetitive processes.
Moving beyond custom development
For WRLC, the motivation came from years of maintaining locally developed applications and integrations. While those solutions met immediate needs, they often required ongoing developer support and infrastructure maintenance. As staffing changed, the consortium began looking for a more sustainable way to support workflow automation.
At Sacramento City College, the need became apparent through work on an integration used to manage replacement fees for lost materials. Manual processes and custom server-side code created concerns around maintenance, testing and long-term support. Library Open Workflows offered a way to accomplish the same goals using a more manageable approach.
For both institutions, LibOW provided a way to automate processes directly within the Alma environment without the complexity associated with traditional development projects.
Finding the right processes to automate
One of the most useful lessons from the discussion was that automation often starts with relatively small frustrations.
WRLC shared several examples of workflows that replaced tasks that staff previously carried out manually. These included recreating scheduled jobs in sandbox environments, cleaning up record sets generated by recurring jobs, automatically exporting job results into spreadsheets and performing repetitive actions across multiple institution zones simultaneously. While each individual task was relatively straightforward, the cumulative time savings were significant.
Sacramento City College highlighted a workflow designed to improve the management of items lost in transit between libraries. Previously, staff had to manually run analytics reports, update spreadsheets and monitor item statuses across several locations. Using LibOW, much of this process now happens automatically through integrations with analytics reports and Google Sheets. Records are updated regularly and staff can focus on resolving issues rather than maintaining tracking documents.
WRLC and Sacramento City College : were not necessarily automating large, institution-wide processes first. Instead, they targeted recurring tasks that consumed time and added little value when handled manually.
Improving service
While discussions about automation often focus on productivity, the webinar highlighted another important outcome: better service delivery.
WRLC described a workflow created for a member library with a small team. Because employees were frequently away from their desks, interlibrary loan requests were not always noticed immediately in Alma. A simple workflow now monitors incoming requests and sends notifications to a shared inbox, allowing staff to respond more quickly and reducing delays for users.
Both speakers noted that automation can help address operational bottlenecks that directly affect library users. Faster responses, fewer missed requests and more consistent processes all contribute to a better experience for library users.
The discussion also underscored an important point: libraries are rarely measuring automation success solely through time savings. Success is often defined by whether a process works more reliably, whether staff can focus on higher-value activities and whether users receive better library service.
Lessons learned
Both speakers offered advice for libraries considering workflow automation. The first recommendation was simple: start with pain points. Repetitive tasks, workarounds and manual processes are often the best candidates for automation. Looking closely at everyday frustrations can reveal opportunities for significant improvements.
The second lesson was to invest time in learning. Although Library Open Workflows removes much of the complexity associated with traditional coding, there is still a learning curve. Both speakers emphasized the value of training, testing and hands-on experimentation during the early stages of adoption.
Looking ahead
Neither institution considers its automation journey complete. WRLC plans to continue expanding its workflow catalog and refining its centralized service model, while Sacramento City College is focused on increasing adoption across its district and identifying additional opportunities for automation.
The experiences shared during the webinar suggest that workflow automation is becoming a practical option for libraries of many sizes. Whether the goal is reducing repetitive work, supporting staff more effectively or improving user services, the examples discussed demonstrate how even relatively small automations can have a meaningful impact on day-to-day operations.
Interested in enhancing your Alma workflows? Request a tailored consultation to explore Library Open Workflows.
