Library’s new system makes checking books out a breeze
New Plymouth libraries have gone ultra high tech with a new $385,000 system to automate the borrowing and returning of books.
Called Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) the system means library users no longer need a librarian to issue books they want to borrow. Instead library members simply place a pile of books on an issue kiosk, scan their card and they are good to go.
‘‘People have found it really easy to use and it is about having confidence in the gear. The young ones particularly love it,’’ Puke Ariki manager Kelvin Day said.
‘‘And if you have a library card – you can scan the bar code onto a smart phone and it will read that.’’
While the RFID streamlines things there is no intention to change the number of staff, Day said.
‘‘They still have to go on the shelves. We have to have people to do the shelving, we haven’t perfected the system yet so books shelve themselves. But it frees staff up from the more menial tasks to one of actually helping people, which is what we are all about.’’
The library used to have very clunky self-service machines, Day said. ‘‘They were quite old and also the reliability wasn’t the greatest. It depended on where the barcode was placed on the book and if it wasn’t in the right place it couldn’t read it, so it was a bit hit and miss. So this is a more reliable, consistent service.
‘‘Also you had to do it one at a time, so imagine standing there with 10 items - it took some time.’’
But the RFID reads multiple books in one go, he said.
‘‘We need that information to link the items being borrowed to a borrower.’’
All branches of the library, including the mobile library have the new system, which also makes returning books easier.
‘‘When you return items you used to put them down the slot and they’d go into some mysterious basement. Here you put your books on a bookshelf.’’
On that bookshelf wands built into the shelves automatically detect the book has been returned, he said. From there it can be borrowed again or returned to the shelf it was borrowed from.
‘‘When you issue the book the little tag which is in each book gets turned off, so when you go through gates it won’t set the gates off.
‘‘So when you are returning the book and you put it on the shelf the tag gets turned back on and says it’s now available. It will also flag it if somebody has a hold on that book or it needs to go out to one of the branches. It will tell the staff.’’
The slot in the wall where books have been returned for years will still be available, Day said.
‘‘There was a system where you could have a reader on the after hours slot, we didn’t do that, so they still need to be cleared.’’
Puke Ariki’s book collection, about 200,000 items in all, is worth more than $5 million.