Show how your library is really used, without watching anyone
A library is a public space whose value is hard to put in numbers. Loans no longer tell the whole story, because people come to read, study, meet, attend events and simply be somewhere warm and free. Measuring that anonymously turns a feeling into evidence you can take to funders.
Real usage, measured anonymously and without surveillance.
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Why libraries choose Bumbee Labs
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Evidence without surveillance
The measurement is anonymous, aggregated and DPA-approved, so it honours the privacy a public library stands for.
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Real usage beyond loans
You see total visits through the doors, including people who don't borrow, and space utilisation by zone, so children's, study, reading and event areas can be planned on facts.
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Hours and staffing that fit demand
Visits by hour, day, week and season show exactly when the building is used, so opening hours and rosters can follow it.
The job to be done
You run a public institution that has to justify its space, its hours and its budget, yet the things that prove a library’s worth are the hardest to count. The same questions come back every budget round: How many people visit, beyond the ones who borrow something? When are we busy, and when is the building near-empty? Do our opening hours and staffing match when people actually come? Which areas (children’s section, study spaces, reading room, café, event space) get used, and which sit idle? Did that author talk, exhibition or reading programme bring people in? And how do we show all of this to the municipality and other funders without surveilling the public we serve? The last question sets a hard requirement: whatever you measure has to be private beyond doubt.
How library people counting works without cameras
Bumbee Labs counts visitors over the library’s existing Wi-Fi. It uses no cameras and nothing that records a face or identifies a reader. Usually no new hardware is needed either: the access points already in place are often enough, with one or two added to cover an entrance or a separate floor. Visitors appear only as anonymous counts. The signals run through a statistical engine, and the result reaches you as a dashboard or as exportable reports for your board and funders. The same system therefore meets a civic institution’s expectation of no surveillance and its duty to report usage to those who fund it. For a public body, what weighs most is that this is the only footfall method in Europe approved by a data protection authority. You get the usage evidence you need while honouring the privacy and trust a public library is meant to stand for.
How Wi-Fi people counting works →
What data you get
- Total visits: the real number through the doors, beyond loans and logins, on adjustable time scales from short intervals to months.
- Opening-hours and staffing demand: visits by hour, day, week and season, so hours and rosters follow real demand rather than habit.
- Space utilisation by zone (children’s area, study spaces, reading room, event space, café): which areas are busy, which are quiet, and when.
- Dwell time: how long people stay, overall and by area (a quick reference look versus an afternoon of study).
- Peaks, quiet periods and trends: for planning quiet hours, events and seasonal programmes.
- Programme and event impact: the attendance lift from talks, exhibitions and reading initiatives, as fact-based evidence.
→ Browse the full metric catalogue and delivery formats
Privacy you can stand behind
For a library, privacy is part of the mission. The method is anonymous and aggregated: no one is identified and no profiles are built. You can report usage to the municipality with confidence, and when patrons ask how (and whether) they are being watched, you can tell them they are not.
Results from other public buildings
The same approach is already proven in other public-facing buildings. There it shows how people use each area and how events bring them in, and it turns a sense of a place’s worth into figures its funders accept. For a library, that is the evidence behind visits, space use and event turnout.
Where this fits
- Libraries have the same public-sector privacy bar (and often the same funders) as museums & cultural venues, and they sit inside the wider public realm covered by footfall analytics for cities & municipalities.
- When the measurement is bought through a tender, public procurement of people counting lists the requirements worth writing in.
We are very happy to announce this partnership with Bumbee Labs to boost our Wireless solutions portfolio and bring what we believe is the future for retail businesses, measured by trustful data. What can't be measured, can't be improved.
Frequently asked questions
Does this identify or track individual visitors?
No. Nobody is identified and no profiles are built. Visitors appear in the data only as anonymous, aggregated counts.
Can we report usage to the municipality and other funders?
Yes. Data arrives as a dashboard and as exportable reports written for boards and funding bodies, so visitor statistics can sit alongside loan statistics in your annual reporting.
Can we tell which areas and events are actually used?
Yes. Zone-level data shows how the children's section, study spaces and event areas are used through the day, and event measurement shows what a talk or reading programme did to attendance.
Evidence without personal data
The method is approved by a data protection authority and validated by academia, partners and customers. You get the evidence you need without collecting anything personal.