Self-Check @ Your Library

The Friends of the Library will purchase a self check station that will be installed in the main library in January. Users will be able to check out their own materials simply by scanning each item’s library bar code; a date due receipt prints automatically. Staff anticipates about 125 users (25%) a day will use the self-checkstation. The Library Friends are donating the sophisticated equipment to help staff cope with record high use and a freeze on hiring that has left the library short 3 fulltime equivalent employees. Circulation Deskstaff will continue to check out materials and collect fines for those who prefer. At the Board’s Strategic Planning meeting in September, a self check station was identified as the #1 need. In voting to take the entire $17,000 cost from the Endowment Fund, the Board noted this extraordinary encroachment on the Endowment Fund principal was appropriate to meet the library’scritical staffing needs. The Board also decided to use the December Endowment Fund appeal letter to request donations to help defray the self-check station’s cost.The library staff greatly appreciates the Board’s support during this stressful period. Empowering users to use self-check will reduce the increasing workload on a shrinking staff.