In my last column I described a tough but fair budgeting process that required some hard decisions. This week the library received three giant boxes full of fancy new equipment that are now sitting in a hallway on the library’s lower level. I feel I should explain.
We have purchased three new self-checkout machines. These will replace existing machines that have reached the end of their life. The old machines break down regularly and will not be supported after the end of this year, which is bad enough. But the insurmountable problem is that they run a old and non-upgradable version of Windows which will not work with our library catalogue after the middle of next year. The joy of technology is that it constantly improves, and the downside is that it ages quickly.
We considered eliminating self-checkout but this would be a false economy. We are dropping from four units to three but we wanted to keep some. The units relieve some work at the circulation desk; without them the lines would be longer and staff would have less time for other duties, or we would have to schedule more staff hours. The self-checkouts are also quite popular with those who want privacy, or those in a hurry. Kids are particularly fond of the unit in the children’s library. They like to use the strange machine and sign their stuff out themselves.
If you were frustrated by the old self-checkout units, I understand. It takes some technique to hold an item under the barcode scanner until the light goes off, and then slide it quickly forward to trigger the satisfying clunk that indicates the security strip has been deactivated. The new ones should be much better. Give them a try and see. They should be up and running within a week or so.
Necessary as these self-checkout machines were, it wasn’t gratifying to spend money just to keep what we already had. I am a lot more enthusiastic about a smaller purchase that we found some money for. We are getting new toys for the children’s area. I’m sure my Head of Youth Services would say that toys are the wrong word; these are brain building activity instigators which fit right in with current theory on early childhood development. But they will be fun as well. I hope this is just a first step in acquiring new equipment that adds to the benefits the library provides the community.
Ken Feser is chief librarian at the Medicine Hat Public Library.
