Springshare Licenses

The Library of Congress is seeking to acquire an integrated public service platform that provides tools designed for the unique, not-for-profit public services of libraries. The platform must support and integrate the core public services work of the Library's reference services, including receiving and responding to library reference requests, providing library chat services, creating and publishing online library guides and bibliographies, managing and recording library reference transactional data, scheduling library service point staffing, and scheduling library reference appointments and space. The Library is looking to award a contract to Springshare, which currently provides the Library with the necessary tools and services. The contract will be for a period of 5 years, from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2031. Some key features required by the Library include: • A live chat platform with unlimited concurrent operators and multi-operator internal chat • Ability to create customized question forms and a searchable public-facing 24/7 accessible knowledge base of FAQs • Unlimited FAQ groups with own homepage, customization controls, and widgets • A social media management tool to integrate Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest accounts • Forms and user interfaces that comply with the Revised Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 • Reference transaction data reports and a hosting environment with cloud servers, support, maintenance, and free updates • Technical support response time within 24 hours of being contacted by a Library designated official or the COR • Ability to create unlimited topical research guides, bibliographies, and other resources • Ability to customize the layout of individual guides and make published resources available to patrons externally and internally • Ability to create guides collaboratively with other content authors across the Library • Ability to customize the look and feel of research guides and bibliographies for identity and branding • Ability to create research guides and bibliographies that are responsive to different devices and browsers • Ability for automated link checking to identify broken links in published research guides and bibliographies • Ability to stop access to research guides that are no longer relevant and download such guides for archiving • Ability for researchers and staff to print selected guides or parts of a particular guide • Technical support response within 2 hours of being contacted by the Library • A scheduling platform that allows 200+ account holders to organize multiple schedules in one place • Ability to add shift notes and assignments and optimized for mobile devices • Built-in email functionality • Ability to book library spaces online or with mobile phones • Ability to set up rooms, spaces, and customize rules and availability • A module that enables full check-in and checkout of equipment • An integrated Reference Analytics component with up to 5 data-sets • Collaborative recording and analysis of library statistics and data points • Ability to store all library public service data in one platform and use cross-dataset analytics • A tool that provides a graphical interface to create survey and forms for enhancing engagement with staff and patrons