Self-Checkout at Public Libraries: Different Rule Sets for Different Folks

I have explored self-checkout as implemented in a number of libraries and been involved in implementing self-checkout. There seem to be four main varieties of self-checkout, which employ increasingly restrictive rule sets.

Rule set #1. One way to implement self-check is to purchase a machine, put it somewhere convenient and wait. Oh, there will be publicity, brochures and signs, maybe assistance for perplexed users, but nothing really changes. Patrons can use it or not and there is no real pressure either way. Use might top out at as much as 20% of circulation. This is a maximally permissive rule set. As an end state, this is not very useful, but it is a good first step on a library’s way to a more thorough implementation. It can help work out the bugs, identify the bottlenecks, get materials and patrons identified in a way that the self-check will recognize, see how the staffing might change and purchase appropriate furniture.

Comments: If this rule set is a step in a plan for fuller implementation, then I like it. In fact, it is the process I helped plan and implement. We purchased two self-checks in 2003 and used this rule set until we removed our circulation desk a year later. Sadly, some libraries install self-checks without a solid long range plan or brisk follow-up. The machines aren’t magic. Like any tool they only accomplish certain tasks in specific situations. It is up to the librarian to recognize those limitations and create the proper conditions for success.

Rule set #2. A second approach is express checkout. In this implementation, self-checks are placed near the existing checkout desks. All steps are taken to encourage self-check, but this remains a very permissive rule set. Patrons can use either the express check or the existing circulation desk. It is totally up to the patron and very few changes are made at the circulation desk. This approach has definite advantages. The staff (and their union) is less likely to object, since job descriptions and numbers will remain unchanged. A minimum of new furniture is needed and existing floor plans can be adapted without wholesale remodeling. Use can be significant as patrons get accustomed to the system, as much as 50% of all circulation. The circulation desk staff will be able to focus more on non-checkout related tasks, such as registration and fines. Though the financial benefits may be delayed, this approach can allow a library to improve service or face increased use without expanding staff. In many ways, this rule set most closely models a business implementation, such as one would see at WalMart. In most retail settings, no shopper is forced into a self-checkout, though the shorter lines may make them attractive. As long as the use is significant enough to justify the cost of the stations, this is a good idea.

Comments: It is unclear whether this is a final state. Is this is just a plateau on the way to a higher peak or is this the best mix of efficiency / service for the community? I think it is a way station, but libraries may stop here for a decade or more with no ill effects.

Rule set #3. I have more familiarity with this approach, since it is the one I currently oversee. After a one year phase in period (under rule set #1), we took steps to fully maximize self-check when consistent with a high touch / high service approach. This is a pretty thorough implementation. We removed the circulation desk and replaced it with a circulation services desk in a new location. This desk is designed to handle registration, fines and only occasional checkouts. Staff will often operate the self-check for patrons rather handling the transaction at the desk, thus encouraging them to use it themselves in the future. Many job descriptions were rewritten to reflect the new workplace. This is a more restrictive rule set, with self-check the default outcome.

Comments: Despite that default, this approach does not abandon the patron. The self-checks are staffed, with staff able to monitor the patron’s screen and know when to assist. In our case, we run about 75% self-check, 5% on-line self-renewal, 5% done by staff elsewhere and less than 15% staff mediated at the circulation services desk. That 15% includes rentals, patrons picking up items for family members, lost / blocked / forgotten cards and interlibrary loans. While we could lower that number, we want to interact with patrons in certain situations. Also, keeping staff where they can be of most use to the patrons remains a high priority. Since checkout (even self-checkout) is a place where problems occur, it is where our staff should be. Even when patrons can handle it flawlessly, they should know that help is at hand if needed.

Rule set #4. The final approach has a maximally restrictive rule set. Self-checkout is all but mandatory. The library utilizes self-registration, kiosk based fine payment and other techniques to cut patron interaction (and staffing) to a minimum. There is no substitute for a library card in good standing. Staff mediated circulation is avoided by not having staff near the self checks. Circulation related services are provided at desks elsewhere in the facility, often out of sight of the self-checks. Though this approach could free staff for non-circulation interactions, it is also used to operate with a minimal staff. Some libraries facing extreme population and usage increases, such as Maricopa (AZ) County, have implemented branches with this approach.

Comments: These branches achieve their goals. They provide access to large shared collections through small service outlets that are inexpensive to build, staff and operate. Since much of the ordering is done on-line, a modest collection and staff is all that is needed at the branch. It is a stripped down version of the traditional library, but it might also be the future of the suburban branch library. I do not like this approach, not because of it’s self-service status, but because it strips something essential from the public library, but that is a subject for another day.

Some Tenets of Self-Service in Public Libraries

Some Tenets of Self-Service

1. A great deal of library service has always been self-service. Many patrons use the library without assistance and with minimal contact with staff and like it that way. They are not unsocial or dysfunctional. Many shoppers don’t like sales associates hanging around them either.

2. Some core functions can not be provided well by self-service. Reference. Reader’s advisory. Teaching people to use the library’s resources. Arts and cultural programming. Libraries should focus on making staff support of these as available and visible as possible.

3. Some core functions work quite well as self-service. Internet access with patron self-registration. Holds pickup. Wireless Internet access. Community gathering space. Displays. Remote use and placing of holds. These all require considerable work to make them function properly, but not at Point of Service.

4. Repetitive tasks should be automated as much as possible and, if physically burdensome, split among part-time staff. Good management and worker’s compensation demand nothing less.

5. The move to self-service will bring about disruption in staffing, procedures and routines. It is likely that certain kinds of positions (those that checked out books) will be phased out and new positions (service desk types) will replace them.

6. Staff is the most expensive part of the library. If you are not planning to move to self-service and the staff reorganization it will bring, you are not making the best use of that resource. Too much of library work is still in a pre-automation stage.

7. At some libraries, the reorganization will help handle growth in use without new staff. At other libraries, it will entail fewer staff and/or staff at new classifications.

8. A split between check-in/shelvers and service desk staff does not represent deskilling, but a recognition that they operate at different levels. Service desk staff will require a different (and higher level) skill set than checkout desk staff. Shelving is, unfortunately, mainly a McJob.

9. Self-service should always be optional, with staff on hand to assist patrons as required, even if it means operating a self-check station for the patron. Self-service as a form of abandonment is suicide for the organization. If self-service does not improve service, why is it being implemented?

10. Self-service will annoy some patrons, my mother among them. Many more will see it as a sign that the library is being responsible and technologically forward. Anyone under 30 will love it.

11. Like MARC records, automated library systems and digital resources, the self-service library will cause anguish in the profession for the next decade and then become the status quo. By 2015, no one will be quite sure what all the fuss was about.

12. Self-service either changes everything or it changes nothing. If you are self-checking 80% of your circulation, have patron pickup of holds, patron self-registration for workstations and wireless Internet, then you have changed just about everything. Welcome to the future. If not, then you have merely waded into the shallow end of the pool and have a lot of work ahead of you. Sooner or later, you will have to learn to swim. It’s a car, not a horseless carriage.

13. Throughout all this change, the public library can and must remain constant. Not constant in superficial things like the types of technology used or position descriptions, but in its mission. That hasn’t changed since the Boston Trustees first enunciated it in 1852.

I had this posted at my previous site, so I am porting it over to here.

Library Policy Hurts Privacy, Patron Says

A Washington Post article tells a troubling story. A library has gone to self-service and open holds. Open holds means that patrons can come in and pick up items they have on hold without staff intervention. It’s a good service, but the implementation is troubling. The library puts the patron’s name on the book and then shelves it in a public area. In Wisconsin, any information that connects a patron to a circulation is strictly confidential. To the point that even video surveillance camera footage can not be shared with police without a court order. It was only recently clarified that parents can see their children’s records.

I am unsure of the laws in Virginia and don’t really care. It is not good service to operate that way and it is totally unnecessary. As the article points out, American Airlines (and many libraries) use initial letters from the last and first name to identify items being held for pickup. It is sufficient for identification and patrons can’t check out items destined for another patron with a similar name, since the checkout system won’t let them. Why annoy patrons and violate their privacy for such a small advantage? Looks like an implementation that will last until the first law suit about it, then it will change to what it always should have been.

Finding a focus

As I have noted in the About Me section, this blog is being re-focused on two subject: book reviews and what ever I have to say about libraries. The former will be more common, since mI am less likely to be moved to comment about libraries and want to take great care about doing so, as it is my profession. I contribute to DailyKos (politics), Street Prophets (religion) and TimesFour (Packers).

Occasionally, I will be unable to resist and some of those topics will spill over here, but I plan to keep that to a minimum.

Dropping Dewey – An Alternative Proposal

The Perry Branch of the Maricopa County Library District has gotten a lot of publicity lately for totally dropping the Dewey Decimal system. You have to give Maricopa County credit for trying out new ideas. After attending the Public Library Association conference in Phoenix in 2004, we came back prepared to adapt some of their concepts for use in our library. But note: adapt and not adopt. Maricopa is growing at such a pace (basically adding a new branch site a year) that they have no choice but to drink from the fire hose. The rest of us can implement the future at a more sedate pace.

Let’s start with what they seem to be doing. The new branch will have 24,000 items. Since it is sure to be heavily media oriented, I would expect no more than 6,000 of those to be adult non-fiction. No one expects DVDs, CDs or fiction to be in Dewey order, so the adult non-fiction is the heart of the matter. Moving Children’s non-fiction to display collections would be innovative, but much less of a concern. Children’s non-fiction is a much smaller collection and less specialized. While Perry says there will be fifty display collections, some of those will be used for fiction, so let’s estimate that there are twenty-five display collections for those 6,000 adult non-fiction books.  That works out to less than 250 books per display collection.

There are several things that stick out about the situation.

Perry is a small library, certain to be heavily focused on current and popular materials. For a collection of 6,000 adult non-fiction items, eliminating Dewey in display style collections is an option. Perry’s collection is necessarily thin, indeed, thin by design. Maricopa could have built fewer larger branches, but decided in favor of a larger number of smaller branches.

Perry is a branch. They can rely on larger collections elsewhere in the library district to meet the demand for in-depth or non-current material. In general, the smaller the library, the more it relies on items permanently stored elsewhere in the system. For a branch Perry’s size, it would not be surprising if 35% of what it checked out came from elsewhere. This definitely affects the size and type of the permanent collection needed on site.

For a highly visible library in a high tech city, it would not unusual if 25% of all circulation resulted from items requested over the Internet, with many of these coming from other libraries in the system. A great deal of Perry’s need for in-depth non-fiction will be filled this way. Patrons will order a title online and pick it up at the branch without knowing or caring where the book “lives” permanently. Even for in-library users, many are willing to wait a few days for delivery of a title they really need. Inter-library delivery is as fast as any Internet seller and free to the patron.

If Perry’s display collections run 250-300 titles, they are the right size. My experience is that that size display is large enough to attract attention and fill casual needs, but small enough to browse effectively. Richmond (B.C.) Public Library speaks of “critical mass” in a collection. The difference is that in the Richmond model, items age out of the display collections and move to regular stacks. It is quite possible that items will age out of Perry’s collections too, but be discarded instead.

Perry is planning to shelve items alphabetically by author in its display collections, while other libraries using display collections continue to use Dewey. The trade off is obvious. It is easy to shelve items in author order. If a patron knows the author, then author order is easy for them too. Author order does violate one of the expected rules for shelving – similar books should be shelved together. If a health section has six books on diabetes, four on schizophrenia and three on Parkinson’s disease, shelving by Dewey puts the books in subject order, but author order mixes them at random.

No matter how many display collections one creates, there are titles that don’t fit anywhere easily. This really is not an objection to developing display collections. Even in a badly chosen collection, a book benefits from being displayed. Patrons who want it can use the catalog to identify the chosen location. It is a problem if a book is permanently in a poorly chosen collection. In that case, it might be better off in a Dewey arranged stack, where it would at least be near similar titles.

In a properly sized display collection, the difference between Dewey and author order might not make too much difference. The collection is designed to be small and browsable. As long as the collections stay small, it will remain workable. Larger collections would demand Dewey. If a library had a mere thousand cookbooks, author order would create a jumble of ethnic, regional and diet specific titles. It is likely that Perry plans to remain in that “sweet spot” where author order will work.

Display collections are a great idea. Items on displays will circulate more than items not displayed. Few works flourish in the stacks. Stacks are designed for effective storage, not effective browsing. If a smaller library can shelve everything in display, keep those collections current and rely on collections at other libraries for depth, it will be a circulation dynamo.

If a library is larger than Perry, it can implement many features of their display collections, following the pattern established by Richmond (B.C.) Public Library and others. New and popular items are placed in display collections, retaining Dewey classification. As items age, they are moved to regular stack areas, where they will remain available but will not generate as much use. The displays are gateways to the stacks. Readers can find a new thriller and go to the stacks for more by the author. They can find one book on Alzheimer’s and use the Dewey number on it to find the rest of the library’s holdings.

Will we see a spate of libraries dropping Dewey and moving to display style collections? I don’t think so, though Maricopa might well be on target with this branch. At a very low level, size will preclude libraries from breaking their entire non-fiction into small collections. A relatively small non-fiction collection of 30,000 titles would require about one hundred collections. That many collections would be confusing, not helpful, to browsers. Dewey provides real advantages in providing fine-grained browsing. The War of 1812, home schooling and Japanese cooking all deserve their own space on the shelf, but are too small for their own collection. Dewey gathers them together and keeps them in context. Display collections would mix them into broader topics.

Monkeewrench by P.J. Tracy.

I broke a reading rule with this one. Generally, I read mysteries but not contemporary ones set in the US. I can get all “torn from the headlines” crap I want on TV and I don’t like it there that much. I make an exception for ones that take place in either Wisconsin or the UP, since I like to see just how well they handle a subculture that I know well. For example, Neil Gaiman did a nice subplot in American Gods that was set Up Nort. The Alex Knight series is set in the UP without condescension.

Monkeewrench is set in Minnesota and I only discovered the Wisconsin subplot while reading it. From the sound of it, the mythical “Kingsford County” might actually be Michigan rather than Wisconsin, but I think they wanted to keep the accents down and Yoopers have to be played with a broad accent I fear.

Now as for the book, liked to quite a bit. Serial killers (not so fond of them), standard quirky cast of characters (check), divorced and separated cops (as always). Scary but not gory (appreciate that). Twists, but ones that you could have seen if you had been paying more attention. Good characters that grow on you, but not enough for a sequel.

Bloodthirsty Bitches and Pious Pimps of Power : The rise and risks of the conservative hate culture by Gerry Spence [book review].

Spence is a Western Populist and it shows. He is not afraid of speaking his mind, of broad strokes and bold ideas.

Spence starts on familiar and comforting territory. Aren’t those Republicans thugs, bullies and generally despicable people? If he stopped at chronicling the outrages of Coulter, BillO and others, this would be a useful title, but far from unique. He has much more on his plate.

He views the Hate Culture as a deliberate creation, a means for those that have to control those who have not. Spence views the cultivation of hate as a way to distract people from major issues. Thus we should be mad at the Dutch about how they let a drunken American teenager disappear in Aruba, but not with Congress for letting drug companies loot the treasury.

It brings to mind a Feingold moment. He was traveling in the Deep South and couldn’t understand how those with so little could vote for a party that was run for the rich. Southern newspapers took him to task as a Northern elitist. Apparently they have never been to Wisconsin, which is not an elite kind of place. It was because they let themselves be distracted, by either hate or something else, that Southerners could vote for people who can’t wait to sell them out.

He looks at the Nazis, which, in a lesser hand, would be a sign of desperation. Instead, he is examining the foundations of modern propaganda. The Nazi’s goals were to build patriotism as a cover for a free-floating anger that could be aimed where they wished. They tragically succeeded. Spence contends that this is what Rove et al are about and quite profitably.

He also shows just how successful all this is at quieting the opposition. Free speech is unpatriotic and even un-American if you can just spread enough hate. One look at what was done to Cindy Sheehan is enough to demonstrate the costs of standing up and speaking.

Spence is understandably worked up about lawyers. He shows just what happens with “tort reform.” Malpractice insurance doesn’t go down, but insurance company profits do go up. He explication of the McDonald’s hot coffee suit is enlightening. It never gets mentioned that the woman involved was hospitalized for a week and needed skin grafts for her third degree burns. She has holding the coffee over her lap trying to get the lid off when she was burned, so I’ll leave it up to your imagination where those skin grafts were needed. It is now nearly impossible to sue a major corporation, no matter how deliberately negligent they have been.

Spence is not just upset, he is ready to get Biblically righteous on them. He views the rise to power of corporations as an accomplished fact, one that may be beyond correction. He calls for radical reform, reform which he does not think will happen under our current corporate masters.

If you want a peak at Western Progressives and their critique of where the country is headed, this is a good place to look. If you want to re-perceive the crimes of the current administration and make sense of why Coulter and others are so valuable to the Republicans, this is essential. Don’t stop while he gets through the listing of the outrages and get to the real meat of his argument – how the hate culture is vital to enslaving America. His weakest section is his proposed solutions, which call for a radical restructuring of the political system and reflect his view on how serious this is,

1 - Hate Sells: Meet Its Prime-time Peddler, Nancy Grace

2 - The Queen of Hate: Ann Coulter

3 - Hate, the Road to Power, and the Elitists of Laura Ingraham

4 - For I Have Sinned: The Saga of Bill O’Reilly

5 - Hate, Hypocrisy, and the Pimps of Power

6 - The Noxious Garden: The Cultivation of Hate in America

7 - Freedom of Speech: The Unheard Voices of People

8 - The Ghost of Goebbels, Propaganda, and the Rock-Hard Right

9 - Hate for the Love of Christ: Pat Robertson and the Christian Right

10 - Kill All the Lawyers: The Rise of the New King

11 - Hate and the New American Slavery

12 - The Rise of the Fourth Reich: Entrance to Hell

13 - The End of Hate: Return to the Garden

What Paul Meant by Garry Wills [book review]

Garry Wills follows up his best-selling What Jesus Meant with What Paul Meant. In many ways, the follow up is a better book. Many authors have searched for the ‘real’ Jesus in the Gospels, with very mixed and inconsistent results. Indeed the results say more about the authors than about Jesus. Paul is much clearer.Diaries ::
–>

Once you clear away the Pauline epistles and set aside what Acts has to say about Paul and read what Paul has to say about Paul, you have a considerable body of work. Indeed, there are few ancients whose work is so well attested and so personal. It is in clearing away the debris around the historical Paul that Wills excels.

As in his previous books, Wills works to strip away the anachronisms. The Road to Damascus takes place in Acts, but Paul never mentions it. Paul would not have considered that he converted. He was a Jew among Jews, who came to believe the Jesus was the promised Messiah. There was no “Christian” church to convert to. Not only that, there was nothing that we would call a church.

Paul pre-dates the Gospels and is the only writing we are certain was composed within the lives of the Twelve, while there were many witnesses alive. Far from creating something out of the death of a carpenter, Paul emerges from his own words as a most faithful follower of his Risen Messiah. This is a book I highly recommend.

Wills, Garry, 1934-What Paul meant.
Introduction : “the bad news man”
1 - Paul and the risen Jesus
2 - Paul and the pre-resurrection Jesus
3 - Paul “on the road”
4 - Paul and Peter
5 - Paul and women
6 - Paul and the troubled gatherings
7 - Paul and Jews
8 - Paul and Jerusalem
9 - Paul and Rome
Afterword : misreading Paul
App - Translating Paul

The Responsive Public Library : how to develop and market a winning collection by Sharon L. Baker and Karen L. Wallace.

I am wildly enthusiastic about half of this book, which is much better than being half enthusiastic about the entire work. When the authors are talking about: how to apply research result to make the library better; how to perceive the library from the user’s viewpoint; how to minimize barriers and maximize incentives to use; creating access; and the characteristics of hard-core and marginal users – they are on target. This is some of the best library writing I have ever seen.

I am less enthusiastic about some of their process. I am not a fan of the Public Library Association planning process, which they promote. I don’t think that you can construct a mission from it that is as good as that that could be cribbed from the Report of the Boston Trustees. To fully explore all my reservations would involve either a long article or a book, so I will hold most of them for that forum.

But do not think that I am damning this book with faint praise, since I recommend it highly and am ordering a copy for my library. I am sure I will refer to it, especially for the many studies it refers to.

The Art of the Long View : planning for the future in an uncertain world by Peter Schwartz

Despite being 15 years old, this is by far the best book I have ever read on planning. It blows away all library-related long range planning books and processes. Peter Schwartz is a true guru, not because he is always right about the future, but because he is an expert at the process. Too bad he has never co-authored a book with Paco Underhill (the marketing genius).

Best takeaway: The importance of re-perceiving – being able to look at a situation with fresh eyes and without the dead weight of the past. This is vital for any business, but harder to do that it appears. It differs from re-inventing in that re-invention often changes the entire mission or ethos of an enterprise, while re-perceiving often involves re-interpreting that mission in up-to-date terms. In my profession, it means looking for fresh ways to accomplish the traditional mission of the library, not re-inventing the library in a way that does violence to the mission