Self-checkout process keeps library lines moving

December 10, 2008
Muskegon Chronicle
Lynn Moore

After four years of tagging by hand more than 65,000 books, CDs and DVDs, Hackley Public Library has rolled out its self-checkout station.

Library Director Martha Ferriby said all the preparation will be well worth the effort.

Lines at the downtown library's circulation desk have grown as use of the library has soared by 150 percent over the last six years.

"We've had people as many as 10 deep waiting to check out," Ferriby said. "We've seen people just give up and leave. We've seen the frustration of people standing in line just wanting to ask a question."

The self-checkout that's been available since Monday allows library patrons to scan their own materials for checkout, freeing up circulation desk workers to answer questions and check out books for patrons who prefer not to use the self-checkout.

"I think it's going to result in much better service to the public," Ferriby said, stressing that no staff will lose their jobs as a result.

"We've got plenty to do," she said.

Loutit District Library in Grand Haven plans to have self-checkout when it moves into its renovated downtown location next summer. And the Fremont Area District Library hopes to have self-checkout services in a couple years.

Spring Lake District Library has had two self-checkout stations since it opened its new facility in 2003.

"People like them quite a lot," said Claire Sheridan, director of the Spring Lake District Library. "They are popular with kids, especially. We often see parents teaching young children how to use them and young children really enjoy checking out their materials."

The check-out is a quick process: Borrowers scan their library cards, place their stack of books under the scanner, which scans them all at once, grab a receipt and they're on their way.

"For people who really want to get in and out -- and there's a lot of people on tight schedules -- it will be perfect for them," Ferriby said.

So far, Hackley has spent $73,340 on the self-checkout system, which currently doesn't cover children's books. Planning for Hackley Library's self-checkout began four years ago, when tagging equipment was purchased. The next year, in 2005, the radio frequency identification tags were purchased and the tedious process of putting the tags inside each book began.

"We worked on it an hour or two a day," Ferriby said. "We had a tag team. The tag team worked first thing every morning from 8 to 9, five days a week."

The staff has yet to put tags in Hackley Library's 45,000 children's books, so those will still be checked out by staff in the second-floor children's department.

The tags are tied into libraries' theft detection systems, allowing staff to determine titles of books that are being taken without being checked out.

Staff at the Fremont Area District Library started tagging 85,000 books in 2001, and have most of them done, said Raymond Arnett, director of the library. The tags have helped with theft detection, and speeded up check-out by library staff because multiple books can be done at once, Arnett said.

But the library doesn't have enough money to buy a self-scanner to allow patrons to check books out themselves. Arnett said he hopes that equipment can be purchased within the next two years.

Staff at Grand Haven's Loutit Library have been tagging books like crazy, hoping to have all 125,000 items in the library collection tagged by the time the library moves back into its renovated downtown Grand Haven location next summer. The $150,000 price tag for the system is covered by the 20-year, 0.11-mill bond voters approved in 2007 for the library renovations.

The library had volunteers help with the tagging and also hired a student to do the work over the summer. Soon, a staff member will be working extra hours to get the job done, said Loutit Library Director Sandie Knes.

The library will have two self-checkout stations at its downtown location.

"There's nothing worse than having this technology ready to go, but your collection is not ready," Knes said.