RE: Reliable Self-Check?

[Eric Rhee <erhee at chulavista dot lib dot ca dot us>]

Hi William - I don't know if you intended to ask this on the list or to a
specific individual, but we recently moved our self-checks front and center
as the primary methods for guests to checkout (credit goes to San Jose
Public Library [CA]for the inspiration).  Formerly, staff would put an out
of order sign on the machines at the slightest hint of a problem. Now we do
95% of all checkout including magnetic media and CD/DVD's in our largest
branch using three 3M 6210's circa 1996 lined up on the former circ counter.
I have one 3M 7210 circa 2000 in the Children's room. We transitioned to
this August 19 and to date not one of the machines has had an out of order
sign nor have I called for service. I have one staff member assisting guests
and tending the machines at any given time. Staff training was the big issue
and I starting purchasing 733 foot-long paper rolls vs. the standard 238'
rolls. My library administration has been pleasantly surprised at how
reliable the machines have been.  Biggest design problem in my opinion has
to do with keeping the library card in the recess on the cradle throughout
the transaction. A slightly bent card will be dislodged as the item is moved
across the cradle. The second issue is, although we have our barcodes on the
front cover, people seem to go for the ISBN barcode on the back cover, but
the machines gives an on-screen graphic and text referring them to use the
other barcode.  Staff have issues with some aspects of the changes [nobody
was laid off or demoted or placed in a demoralizing job] but there have been
absolutlely no complaints about the machines since I empowered them to open
the side panel and fix paper jams, the majority of which are caused by
impatient guests pulling on the receipt before it is cut by the printer.
Our service from 3M has been excellent, but the annual maintenance contract
is not cheap nor are the machines - about $26k depending on options. 3M has
increased the cost of annual maintenance each year. There are no issues
regarding the SIP2 interface between the machines and Millennium and they
have worked equally well through all Millennium upgrades, presently running
Silver. Hope there was some useful info above. Eric Rhee

-----Original Message-----
From: William Gray [mailto:wgray at greenwichlibrary dot org]
Sent: Friday, September 24, 2004 12:32 PM
To: estokes at suffolk dot lib dot ny dot us; IUG INNOPAC List
Subject: RE: Reliable Self-Check?


May I ask what model number of 3M Self-Check you have?

Thanks,

--Will 

-----Original Message-----
From: estokes at suffolk dot lib dot ny dot us [mailto:estokes at suffolk dot lib dot ny dot us] 
Sent: Friday, September 24, 2004 3:29 PM
To: IUG INNOPAC List; William Gray
Subject: Re: Reliable Self-Check?

William Gray <wgray at greenwichlibrary dot org> said:

> I'm looking for opinions from library staff experienced in using and 
> maintaining patron self-checkout machines: what is the most reliable 
> patron self-checkout machine on the market today?
> 
> When I say "most reliable", I mean a machine that does not regularly 
> become inoperable because of constant paper jams, software crashes,
> keypad lock-ups, scanner malfunctions, print errors, etc...   
> 
> I'm trying to identify a patron self-checkout machine that requires 
> only a bare minimum of staff attention in order to keep it running.
> 
> Please post replies to the group so that we may all benefit from this 
> information.
> 
> Thank you in advance,
> 
> William Gray
> Library Technical Assistant, Lending Services Greenwich Library
> 
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               Mr. Gray, 
                          I have been useing the 3M self checkout
machine for
  6 years. Our library has a daily checkout of 1500 or so items, I would
say at
  least 100 or more checkouts are done at the self-checkout machine.
Other than
  putting in a refil of paper, I haven't touched that machine in years. 
-- 
                                                   Elizabeth Stokes
                                                   Library coor./asst.
Head of Circ
                                                   Riverhead Free
Library
                                                   330 Court st
                                                   Riverhead n.y. 11901



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