Keeping up with self-check

Keeping up with self-check

Keywords: Technology, Customer service, Materials management, Library services

By the time you read this article, some of it undoubtedly will be out of date. That is because changes in self-check, especially those involving RFID(radio frequency identification) tags is so rapid that few of us can keep up. As anyone who visits an expanding number of US supermarkets, hardware stores and discounters like Sam's and K-Mart can see, self-check generally, and RFID particularly, is reshaping the retailing experience. Along with speed, the international character of self-check and RFID makes it difficult to keep up with trends in this field.

My framework for this article is a research experience that Germany's Bertelsmann Foundation International Network of Public Libraries gave three library directors a few years ago. With funding from Bertelsmann, Jens Larsen from Herning, Denmark, Ton Von Vlimmeren from Utrecht, Holland and I were given the opportunity to observe self-check and related materials-handling processes in the libraries of three different nations. A 72-page paper of the findings of that research can be downloaded from the Bertelsmann Foundation's Web site (www.public-libraries. net/en/x_media/pdf/selfservice_engl_mit_ fotos.pdf). If you have trouble single-clicking the paper – and some browsers apparently do –go to www.public-libraries.net,the Web site for all the papers produced by persons participating in Bertelsmann's International Network of Public Libraries, and navigate through"Abstracts" or "Site Map" to locate the self-check publication.

That paper explains how public libraries use a great variety of traditional and innovative tools to help patrons help themselves. These range from digitization and virtual distribution of paper materials to open-shelf reserves and in-library training tutorials and virtual reserves. Another section discusses how current tagging (bar-codes and security strips) and scanning technology are used now in self-service practice. There are, for example,discussions of how Malmö Stadtsbibliotek in Sweden, Herning Centralbibliotek in Jutland, Denmark and the Ridgedale Branch of Hennepin County Library in the USA use self-check technologies to achieve very different self-service environments, each with a different set of costs. Also, there is a comparison of how Marine Parade Community Library in Singapore uses RFID to achieve 95+ per cent of its millions of check-outs annually, and Gloucester County Library, NJ, USA, using the same technology, after several years self-checks less than 30 per cent of its thousands of transactions.

The sociology of different library staffs and different expectations of library leaders affect the adoption and use of self-check technology. "Because other libraries have it" is not a good reason for the adoption of a self-check system. Self-check saves time and money only when those who plan its installation create worker-and-user environments – and sustain user-training efforts – that ensure heavy use of any new technology investment. The changing cost and capacity of RFID technology and software will play a heavy role in library self-service. Four changes in particular will affect everything else in the self-check and RFID equation.

The first of these is the increasingly ubiquitous character of security tags,especially those inserted at the point of manufacture. CDs, over-the-counter drugs and tools are just three large categories of "containers" that retailers can specify to arrive at their sales point with manufacturer-installed security tags attached. No doubt, somewhere in the world, expensive books are already arriving at bookstores with the same kinds of security tagging. If not,they soon will be. How could public library operations generally, and self-check specifically, be improved if every item arrived with its own built-in security/identifier tag?

Second, although it is not discussed very much in library literature, prices of goods have an enormous impact on how organizations and users adopt new technology. RFID tags, with their multiple benefits of easy shelf-identification, inventory control and security sensitivity, have already dropped in price. These prices will come down even more. When widely adopted,the worldwide market will be so large that at least some tagging companies will drop their prices radically to win market share. If an RFID security tag that now costs 80 cents to 1 dollar drops to between 10 cents and 25 cents, along with more efficient self-check, what other library operations might be improved because of the change?

Third, in a related area, RFID tagging is already is being sold for its relatively strong signal that can be scanned at a farther distance than security tags are now. Tag makers promote RFID tagging because of the ease it offers for inventory control. How could public libraries be improved if this tagging technology evolves to the point where individual patrons can ask a computerized library catalog to deliver an in-building location message so that a user may move quickly to any place to take any book off any shelf?

Fourth, how can we improve public libraries when antennae in entry/exit gates use a patron's smart card carried in a user's pocket or purse to connect with an uneven pile of books carried in a patron's book bag or under the arm to check in or check out materials? Smart cards, antennae and RFID tags are now being tested that make this self-service linkage possible.

Two publications will help you keep up on the rapid developments in RFID tagging. The Technology Committee of the Public Library Association has published a brief article that offers relative newcomers a good place to begin in sorting out the issues concerning RFID in libraries. This article, by library technology scholar Dick Boss, is available as one of the "Tech notes"published on the Public Library Association Web site. Because a lot of ALA Web pages are in reconstruction, navigation options may be uneven. As I finished this article I navigated to PLA, clicked "Tech notes" and pulled up the Dick Boss article. The members of the Technology Committee who select and review"Tech notes" have already revised the RFID article once – resulting in the current article by Boss. No doubt other revisions will be forthcoming.

A second useful publication is a net-circulated newsletter called "RFID in Europe". It is available electronically at www.rfidinternational.com. The title suggests the publication's focus. The articles tend to be short summaries related to RFID use in the private sector. The newsletter is especially useful because it helps its readers recognize that electronic tagging innovation is not just a US phenomenon. The newsletter almost always captures tagging innovations as they are anticipated or announced. Also, it gives special attention to price drops. Tagging innovation is changing not only in North America and Europe, but also in companies operating out of nations like Singapore and Australia as well. As part of your market study, look for options from countries other than those in the US and Canada.

Robotized materials sorting is often installed at the same time that libraries adopt self-check/self-return innovations. One company Web site,Tech-Logic (www.tech-logic.com),offers especially clear graphic and written explanations of robotized materials sorting. At my request, Tech-Logic sent me PowerPoint graphics of its technology and some of its illustrations. These proved very useful in explaining robotized sorting to Board members and to staff.

For those who are just getting started in considering self-check adoption,what follows is a brief list that Larsen, Vlimmeren and I developed for one of the concluding sections of our Bertelsmann article:

• 1.

  Policy issues

• Clear reasons for adopting self-service.

• Numerical target for self-check and self-returns. That's another way of asking what outcomes a library expects for its investment.

• In-building locations. The choice is between distributed and clustered locations.

• Steps to make self-service convenient.

• Steps to make self-service full proof.

• How to organize one-to-one instruction.

• How to ensure continuing staff support and advocacy for self-service.

• Any options to self-service investment.

• Estimation of work (i.e. staff) impacts because of self-service installation. How will the innovations improve the quality of staff work options.

• 1.

  Technology issues

• Location of bar-codes/tags on library materials.

• Types of library materials that lend themselves to self-service.

• How is anti-theft protection integrated into self-check?

• How can self-returns be set up at the same time as self-check?

• Possible role of pin codes.

• Need for transaction receipts.

• Does the new system create access for all users?

• Space requirements.

• Calculation of number of self-service stations.

• Costs of self-service equipment.

• Related role of robotized materials handling.

To reiterate, neither this checklist, this article, nor the cited sources offer the last word on the self-check subject. There is a lot to learn before spending a great deal. By introducing self-check and/or self-returns, my own library has been able to move specific staff assignments from "working the desk" to walking through library stacks and computer terminals offering suggestions and one-on-one service.

As all of us know from our own shopping experiences, having a staff member welcome you personally as an individual shopper demonstrates a proactive, rather than a passive, service environment. My own library's use of self-check technology has given our staff the same kind of proactive service opportunity. Self-check/self-return along with related robotized materials handling may be able to help you move your library from a relatively passive to a more proactive service orientation.

Glen HoltExecutive Director of the St Louis Public Library, St Louis, MO, USA