Adilam has completed the first deployment of Arcus as part of the City of Sydney’s network-wide RFID transformation, with successful installations at Glebe and Ultimo Libraries.

Over a focused two-day program, legacy Bibliotheca equipment – which had reached end of life – was fully decommissioned and replaced with a complete Arcus ecosystem. The upgrade included new self-service kiosks, security gates, live return shelves, staff workstations, smart & secure return chutes, Arcus Self-Leveling Bins, and handheld devices – delivering a comprehensive reset of library operations.

The deployment was completed on a mutually agreed schedule with no disruption to library services. All removed equipment will be recycled or redeployed where possible.

Enabled by Arcus’ cloud-to-cloud speed and responsiveness, workflows at both branches have been re-imagined to reduce manual handling and improve staff OH&S. City of Sydney teams have embraced the opportunity to refine their practices, with immediate gains in efficiency and throughput. Staff feedback has been consistent – the system feels like the RFID experience of the future.

Arcus represents a step change in service delivery. The platform’s flexibility has enabled a fully bespoke self-service experience across the network, with borrower preferences remembered at any kiosk. In-transit and reservation slips are now completely configurable, supporting local workflows with precision. Close collaboration between Adilam, City of Sydney, and Softlink (Aurora LMS) has also strengthened API performance, improving transaction speed, response times, and returns handling behaviour.

This marks the beginning of a long-term partnership with the City of Sydney. Over the coming weeks, Adilam will continue the staged rollout across the network, including the introduction of Adilam Smart Lockers – an Australian first.

Congratulations and thanks to the entire City of Sydney project team for partnering with Adilam to deliver a seamless and forward-looking implementation.