State of the Art 
Library first in US to get system

By JOHN WILLEY
Staff Writer
 

DAR/Corey Matthews Jim Warrington of Bibliotheca explains to Jackie Thomas, director of the Poplar Bluff Public Library, how the new RFID security gates work. The Poplar Bluff Public Library is the first in the nation to recieve Bibliotheca’s latest model of RFID gates, which are designed and manufactured in Switzerland.

Technology continues to play a vital role at the Poplar Bluff Public Library. A new system recently installed allows the library staff to provide better service to patrons as well as allowing for a better way to keep the library catalog up to date.
  
  In fact, the system is so new the local library is the first in the United States to install it. The next library to get the system will be at Cambridge in Boston, explained Shannon Mangrum, library technology coordinator.
  
  The new system of checking out books is “so simple 4-year-olds are checking out books.” she explained.
   
  Self-checkout has been in operation in the children’s library for a couple of months. It is so useful, the library staff has put a stool at the children’s service desk to help younger readers.

    During June, there was some 1,000 summer school students who toured the children’s library. There was no way the children’s librarian would have been able to serve the students were it not for the electronic checkout system.

    The target date for implementation upstairs is Sept. 1. Even now, Mangrum said, adults are going to the children’s library to check out rather than wait for a staff member upstairs.

    Library users have only to swipe their library card then lay one book or a stack of books on a designated spot at the checkout desk. The book or books will be checked out in seconds. Each book in the library has been fitted with a special tag that allows a computer to check books in or out rather than a member of the staff.

    The self-checkout allows the staff more time to improve the quality of service. That need increased when the new addition was opened and includes 30 percent more shelf space.

    Another feature of the new system is that it electronically tracks books as they go in or out of the library. It also counts the number of people entering and leaving the library.

    Prior to the security system, the library had a 30 percent annual loss rate. That loss rate equaled the annual book budget, which means the library  was not growing

    Now, when a patron goes through the security gate, it checks with the computer to determine if the book has been checked out. If not, an alarm sounds and the patron is asked to return to the checkout desk with the book.

    The security system, which is solely for libraries, is by Biblioteca and is made in Switzerland.

    It is more efficient and more eye appealing than the previous security system.

    With 7,000 to 11,000 people visiting the library  each month, the self-checkout will allow the library staff more time to serve the public.

    The total system cost about $82,000, most of which was paid for by a grant with the local library picking up 25 percent of the cost.

    The Poplar Bluff Public Library offers a lot of library services that a small community would not normally have, Mangrum said.

© Daily American Republic. Reprinted with permission.