Youth Services News Nmythserv Digest, Vol 129, Issue 16

[Beth Nieman]

Hi, Nadine--

We used to have security gates at Carlsbad Public Library, but we no longer
do. We do use RFID tags currently, but it's mainly for ease of circulation.

We originally had security gates because we had magnetic strips in all the
books (before RFID tags were available). The gate alarms did not always
work, and if they did work, it required a staff member to come out from
behind the circulation desk and try to get the patron to come back and
check out again. This caused potential for a negative or embarrassing
patron interaction, especially if the patron had already gone through the
checkout line once.

One continuous problem we had with the gates is that children would climb
or swing on them while their parents had their backs turned at the
circulation desk. This caused a lot of wear and tear and I'm sure was part
of the reason they didn't always work. Of course it created another
opportunity for a potentially negative patron interaction if the staff
asked parents to have their kids stop climbing, etc.

I think what finally caused the library director to say "enough is enough"
is when we realized that, following one of our library-wide material
inventories, we learned that most of the lost/missing materials were not
stolen; instead, they were checked out to a patron, so we knew where they
were, even if the patron did not return them. At least we could place a
hold on their account until they returned or paid for missing items.

As for outright theft, we do use security cameras. They helped us catch a
DVD thief a few months ago.Our front-desk staff is pretty sharp, and they
notice when unusual things are happening. In these cases, which are
relatively rare, the librarians and front desk staff will be extra vigilant
until we figure out who is taking things, and our director will take the
appropriate action from there. If you have a lot of self-check out patrons,
maybe the security gates would be a good thing, but we always have at least
one if not two people working at the circulation desk, which is close to
the exit doors.


On Wed, Sep 22, 2021 at 12:00 PM <nmythserv-request at lists.zianet.com> wrote:

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>    1.  RFID (Nadine Jiron)
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> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2021 10:02:06 -0700
> From: "Nadine Jiron" <librarydir at grantsnm.gov>
> To: "nmythserv at lists.zianet.com" <nmythserv at lists.zianet.com>
> Subject: Youth Services News RFID
> Message-ID: <a7dbb55bd89741b988209b89833ac3bf at grantsnm.gov>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Good morning everyone,
> I'm seeking information on RFID tags and security gates. It has always
> been practice to place RFID tags on our materials, but our library dose not
> have security gates in place to read them. I am on the fence with investing
> in the gates so my question to you all is 1. do you have them in place 2.
> What is the maintenance of them 3. how effective are they and are they
> worth the investment.
>
> Nadine E. Jiron, Director
> Grants Public Library
> 1101 N. First St
> Grants, NM 87020
> 505-972-0310
> librarydir at grantsnm.gov
> What we do has far greater impact than what we say....
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-- 

*Beth Nieman, *MLS
Youth Services Librarian

101 S. Halagueno Street
Carlsbad, NM  88220
575-885-6776
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