(1 October 2015, Madison, Wis.) Demco, Inc., a leading library supplier, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Boopsie, the leading mobile platform-as-a-service provider for libraries worldwide.
“We’re excited to add the Boopsie team and software platform to our global organization because their people, technology and user-centric approach are designed to deliver a superior experience for librarians and their patrons. Librarians want to engage more users and increase usage of digital resources and an app from Boopsie can help do both,” said Mike Grasee, Global Growth Officer of Demco. “Demco has served libraries for over 100 years, and we are pleased to help our customers innovate and reach more of their communities via a mobile platform loved and trusted by public libraries and corporations alike.”
“Demco and Boopsie are a great match—we share strong commitments to long-term relationships with the libraries we serve, and a culture that values the team members who make our mission possible.” said Tony Medrano, President of Boopsie. “Demco’s resources, relationships and reach allow Boopsie to rapidly expand in large and small public library systems, as well as help fuel Boopsie’s recent successes in the academic, corporate and law library industries. Our team is inspired to help Demco expand and serve libraries and citizens worldwide in the pursuit of lifelong learning and enrichment.”
Mobile apps are more critical than ever with research showing that 69% of library patrons use them to access information. In addition, mobile device users tend to spend 5 times more time using apps than mobile browsers. Boopsie customers have seen that library apps have increased their digital resource usage by over 30% indicating that Boopsie library-branded apps can increase both access and usage of online materials and services.
Boopsie offers libraries mobile application tools (Apps) that quickly and easily allow patrons access to all of the library’s online resources from their smartphone or tablet. In addition to catalogued data and resources, 60% of the information provided is non-catalogued data such as library locations, programs, calendars, online 3rd party databases, access to social media sites and more. All of this information can be customized to fit the branding of each library and offers seamless integration to the library’s ILS (“Integrated Library System”) as well as all of their e-content platforms.
Since many libraries continue to deal with growing diversity within their communities, Boopsie apps have a multi-lingual feature. Users can simply toggle between languages allowing them to engage with their library resources in their native language. Boopsie has made it simple for libraries to measure the utilization of their web applications through available statistics that identify the services that their customers are using.
This acquisition comes at a time when many libraries are looking for new ways to increase services via information technology and better engage their communities. As technology becomes increasingly important to the future of libraries, the acquisition of Boopsie provides the opportunity for Demco to offer further services and improve existing offerings to their broad base of customers.
“The needs of librarians are changing rapidly and we are dedicated to providing our customers with the most relevant products and services to meet these needs. Boopsie is an exciting enhancement to the Demco family of brands–alongside Evanced, Upstart, Edupress, and Demco Interiors. Together we can help libraries do more by integrating supplies, furniture, educational products, software solutions, mobile applications and space design,” said Nedra Sadorf, Demco President.
Tony Medrano will continue to lead Boopsie as President, with operations continuing from their offices in Sunnyvale and San Diego, CA.
The acquisition, made via Demco’s parent organization, was completed September 30.
Read the announcement in full.
