ZippSlipping into Libraries

About the Program

Category: Libraries (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

In Henrico County, our school and public libraries work together to provide resources for our youngest citizens. In an effort to increase our students’ access to materials, we embarked on a project to provide those students without public library cards a seamless way to obtain them so they could use all library resources available to them. Through the assistance of the Henrico County Public Schools’ Technology Department, we took a manual “paper only” process and added an online option for our parents and students. Henrico County Public Schools uses online software for K-12 that automates paper forms and transactions that go between parents and their students’ schools. The product, ZippSlip, allows us to create electronic library applications that only require a few clicks. This year we included a public library card application in our beginning-of-the-year package of online forms, providing an easy way for parents to apply for a public library card for their children. In its first year, this program issued 4,322 public library cards through ZippSlip and 548 more cards issued through paper applications for a total of 4,870 students receiving public library cards.