News

Reading made easy in New York library

February 10, 2011

Readers at the Sayville Public Library in Sayville, New York, will be able to quickly check out books when the library's RFID program is finished. And the security system will also make it tough for people to smuggle out books, according to a story in the Sayville Patch.

"We have been planning for it since 2007 when funds were allocated toward purchase," said Alice Lepore, library director "By allocating funds, the library will not go out to the taxpayers for new funds for this project." The cost is approximately $120,000 and it will be done in a two-phase process, in which teams will tag all the books and then the self-checkout system will be installed."

There will be three stations at the circulation desk, which can also be turned around for staff use. According to Lepore, benefits include:

• Self-checkout, which is easy for patrons to use with this system.
• An easy inventory-taking process. A "wand" waved over the shelves will identify missing items.
• A security system at the doors. If a tagged item has not been checked out, an alert will be communicated to the circulation desk with the title of the item.
• Time savings for employees. RFID reduces repetitive motion for the staff when a whole group of books can be checked out at the same time by placing them on the RFID pad together. Audiovisual materials will be unlocked just by placing the case in the unlocking unit.
• And savings in the salary line.