Fault at Flemish libraries: Loan system is flat
Library Sint-Truiden – © Stad Sint-Truiden
Since 9 a.m. on Saturday morning, it is not possible to borrow or return books in a considerable number of around 300 Flemish libraries. The WISE loan system is struggling with a technical malfunction. This is reported by CultuurConnect, the organization that offers the service to Flemish libraries.
Source: Belga
« This morning the first reports arrived at our service desk, » says Herlinde De Vos, spokeswoman for CultuurConnect, who offers digital services to the culture sector. It soon turned out to be the cause of the servers on which the system, Wise, is running. « Specifically, it is a malfunction at the data center in Amsterdam to which the servers of our supplier OCLC are linked. »
The system is necessary to lend books, to reduce it, to extend the loan period or to view the availability. Libraries have the opportunity to start an emergency procedure and switch to their local computer systems. “Not every library has the capacity for that. We support them by telephone where possible, « says De Vos.
Two libraries would be closed, including the Sint-Truiden library. The system is used in almost all Dutch -language libraries in Flanders and Brussels. It is not clear how long the malfunction will last.
