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I volunteer a few hours weekly a middle school library that doesn't have a librarian or cataloging system. "Checking out" books consists of leaving me notes.

The school is looking to get a cataloging/circulation system, and I think it would be nifty if we had one with a self check-out feature so students could send me digital notes instead of paper ones. (So that I don't have to search though a stack of papers to find out if a book has been checked out!)

Does anything like this exist?

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3 Answers

up vote 4 down vote

Any kind of ILS will eliminate the need for "notes" when it comes to items being checked out (assuming the kids can get out of the habit of leaving notes & into checking items out!).

Also, a self check-out feature will need some sort of stand alone kiosk along with a desktop set-up for you to do direct checking out. These can be costly so it is something to think about!

When I was in school, I volunteered in the library and did check outs for other students. This might be an alternative if a self check-out kiosk is too expensive.

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The problem is that kids are in the habit of checking out books when there's nobody around to work the ILS system. Luckily we do have an old computer on a desk that could serve as a self check-out kiosk. – majadirks Jun 14 '12 at 4:14
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Wouldn't the system need to restrict students only the check-out interface? A friend of mine had seen how without this protection, somebody entered the admin interface and struck out their fines before. – ObsessiveSSOℲ Jun 15 '12 at 12:06
@obsessivefoss, yes there would need to be some kind of restriction on the end that students would use. all the more reason for two check out points -- one for students and one for those in charge. the one for those in charge to access would have greater admin access than the student version. – KatieR Jun 17 '12 at 2:51
That would have been great if there was a software that could possibly scan the book barcode and the id card of the students (barcode on it) and do this automatically. but don't know if there is such software with a simple User Interface out there – Arash Milani Jan 13 at 9:01
up vote 3 down vote

Although this may be confusing to set up without much IT help, you may consider SimpleScan SIP2 which integrates with SIP2 ILS systems.(A list of some SIP2 ILS systems is here)

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up vote 0 down vote

If it doesn't have a cataloging system then it probably still has cards and pockets in the books. Students can sign the circulation cards and leave them in a Box. They could put date due cards in the pockets.

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