Barbara Frum District Blog

If you are a regular user of the Centennial Library expect above normal noise levels next week. 

If this made you frown, hopefully this cheers you up: a new check-out system is on its way, which grants you the ability to check-out your own library materials.  All this is made possible through a new technology called Radio Frequency Identification or RFID for short.  Many of you have likely interacted with RFID technology.  Take for instance, your micro-chipped cat or dog, any recent purchase of a laptop, car or cell phones – most of these items have embedded RFID technologies.  In the library setting, RFID technology allows you to check-out your own materials in a fast and convenient manner.

If fast and convenient self-service is not enough then consider this hypothetical situation.  Have you ever been at the library and wanted to take out a book but didn’t because you were embarrassed that someone would see?  If you can’t think of anything immediately, take the tweeny vampire series, the Twilight Saga as an example.  Perhaps, at some point you saw it on our library shelves and wondered why teens are jumping off the walls for it.  Looking through the peak holes of the shelves, you nervously grip the book in your hands and wait for your heart beat to settle. You then decide to leave the book behind because Sally, your neighbour who criticized the series over the phone last night, is waiting to have her books checked out and you don’t want her to see that you’ve succumb to vampire fever.  If a self-checkout system was available, you could have circumvented the whole issue.

If you resonate at all with this particular example or the overall situation, then you will be pleased to know that RFID technology offsets these uncomfortable situations.

So if you hear some added noise at Centennial Library this week, remember that a fast, convenient and private check-out option is underway.