Case Study – East Durham College
Why is Accessit the right choice for further education libraries?
“Accessit ticked all the boxes; accessibility, cost-effectiveness, and ease of use… The Web App gave learners access to both print and digital resources in one place, and it all fit within our budget.”
East Durham College is a large further education provider with campuses in Peterlee and Durham. The college has recently undergone a transformative change in how its library operates, one that’s made life easier for both its learners and staff. The guiding force behind this change is Neil Longley, the college’s Learning Resources Manager, who led the transition to Accessit Library.
When Neil joined East Durham, the library was still running a system installed in the late 1990s. “It was outdated in its learner interfaces and the staff found it not user-friendly,” Neil recalls. “The OPAC was clunky, and it just wasn’t keeping up with what we needed.”
Neil had worked with Accessit at his previous college and knew that its reliability and flexibility made it the right choice to help bring East Durham’s library up to date.
“Accessit ticked all the boxes; accessibility, cost-effectiveness, and ease of use… The Web App gave learners access to both print and digital resources in one place, and it all fit within our budget.”
The migration itself went incredibly smoothly. “The whole process was done in just a few weeks,” Neil says, crediting much of that success to the Accessit Support Team. “We used Teams to resolve issues in real time, which was invaluable. Our IT technicians were impressed by how little they needed to do.”
Unlike systems that demand heavy IT involvement, Accessit proved simple to deploy across both campuses. The college’s tech team was able to install it on laptops and PCs with minimal intervention and quickly set up access to its cloud-based features. “We could issue books to students straight away. The system was on, the tweaks were done, and it just worked.”
Years with the same system made change feel uncertain. Still, the new approach quickly earned their trust
One of the most appreciated features of Accessit has been the Web App, which provides a central space for students to explore resources, access eBooks, and manage their library accounts.
“Our learners and teaching staff have found the Web App easy to use,” Neil explains. “The ability to renew books online, open eBooks directly through the catalogue with single sign-on and view curated reading lists has made a huge difference.”
For library staff, Accessit offers a host of improvements too. “Being able to issue and return books on the same screen, while adding notes to learner or copy records without switching between tabs, has made the whole process more efficient,” says Neil. “Adding new books is easier too, thanks to built-in access to MARC record databases.”
At East Durham, many students come from diverse backgrounds and rely solely on smartphones for internet access. Accessit’s mobile-friendly design and the Accessit Mobile App have become essential in closing the digital divide by giving students easy access to the catalogue, eBooks, and other resources.
Neil and his team have fully leveraged dashboard customisation, multi-campus administration, and single sign-on. They’ve also created an easy-to-navigate Web App to support learners. “We knew it would make the system more engaging and accessible, especially for learners who struggle with spelling or navigation.”
Reporting has become much simpler as well. Unlike other systems that require contacting the supplier, Accessit gives the library team full control.
“I can run a report on every book issued in the last month straight from my desktop,” Neil explains. “If someone asks how many books we’ve got on health and social care, I export a report, tweak it in Excel, and I’ve got the answer in minutes.”
East Durham have made good use of Accessit’s technical support. “When I was setting up reader records, I worked with someone via TeamViewer who was literally in another continent,” Neil says. “They identified the issue and walked me through the solution live on my desktop.”
Neil has also found the regular webinars helpful and has made use of our customer portal. “The support site provides a vast array of guides that are easy to follow”.
Accessit has become an essential tool for East Durham College — streamlining library operations while boosting access, engagement, and learner independence. In a Further Education environment where digital equity, flexibility, and ease of use are critical, Accessit delivers a modern solution built for today’s learners and staff.
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