Adilam has completed the final hardware deployment in the City of Sydney’s Arcus rollout, replacing all remaining Bibliotheca equipment at Customs House Library, Newtown Library and Redfern Community Centre.

This final phase once again demonstrated the flexibility and customisation available to every Arcus customer, with a bespoke returns solution at Customs House bringing together thoughtful design, precision engineering and simple daily operation.

Working closely with the library team, the building infrastructure and assets team, and the architects, we installed two Arcus Smart & Secure Return Chutes within a beautiful timber-panelled enclosure. One faces internally on the ground floor, while the other provides external access from Customs House Lane.

Both chutes deliver returned items into the same Arcus Self-Leveling Bin. Staff on the library floors above have full visibility of bin fullness and remaining capacity through Arcus, making it easy to monitor returns without visiting the room below.

To overcome the significant height difference between the external chute and the bin, our engineering partners at Evo Technology designed, manufactured and installed a custom incline conveyor and spiral slide. Together, these gently and securely transport items down to the bin. When it is full, staff simply unlock the room and swap it for an empty one.

The result is a returns solution tailored to the building, its architecture and the library’s workflow – showing how Arcus can adapt to each customer’s needs.

Across the City of Sydney project, Adilam has now deployed:

• 20 self-service kiosks
• 46 staff workstations
• 11 sets of Live Return Shelves
• 12 Smart & Secure Return Chutes
• 17 Self-Leveling Bins
• 21 sets of security gates
• 11 HF handheld scanners
• A tub lifter solution designed to support staff safety and OH&S
• A 24/7 reservation locker pickup system

With the hardware rollout complete, we look forward to moving into business as usual with the City of Sydney team, continuing to support their libraries and delivering new Arcus features and enhancements over the coming years.