A new level of spring cleaning

By Soncirey Mitchell
Reader Staff

January’s wet weather has the East Bonner County Library District ready for an early spring cleaning project — and this year, the entire organizational system will receive a technological update. Library items will move away from the grocery-style barcodes of the past as workers institute a system of wireless tags that use radio-frequency identification, or RFID, to streamline location and checkout.

“All the patron will need to worry about is setting down their stack of books, watching a library staff member scan their card and place the stack on the RFID antenna, and they’re done and free to go. No more waiting on individual barcode scanning,” Interim Director and Principal Librarian Vanessa Velez told the Reader.

RFID cuts the time spent waiting in line, giving readers greater opportunity to lose themselves in the shelves and find the perfect bedside book. Like security tags in a store, the RFID will signal if an item has been properly checked out. If for some reason a book wasn’t scanned, an alarm will sound, alerting patrons before they leave and ensuring that the list of checked-out books remains up to date.

“It will be much easier for staff to find items that are on hold, missing, etc., thanks to a handheld ‘magic wand’ scanner that we can take into the stacks,” added Velez.

Switching to RFID will make librarians’ and patrons’ lives easier without changing the look or feel of the libraries. Still, this pre-spring cleaning project is a massive undertaking. 

Officials estimate that two trained workers can tag more than 200 books per hour, but the library district has budgeted several months for the project to ensure a thorough result without disrupting readers.

Community members looking to help out — and improve their own lives — should take inspiration from the district and begin their own spring cleaning duties early.

The library has books on cleaning and organizing almost every room to ensure your house is sparkling — and, while tidying, be on the lookout for any borrowed items.

“If you’re fearing judgment and condemnation from library staff, please don’t! Our staff work through an immense volume of materials every day. Unless there is a flag on the item telling our staff that something special needs to be done with it, no one is going to look twice at your account or judge you for late materials,” said Velez.

Finding and returning overdue items is the easiest way to support the library during this transition, as it keeps the task orderly and reveals which items are truly missing and which are simply misplaced. The library only charges late fees for personal Wi-Fi hotspots, so any overdue books left sitting on coffee tables can be returned with no consequences.

“The best way you can help your local library is to volunteer. We’re trying to minimize how this project will affect the patrons, but staff may have a greater workload on their plate during the project and will need increased help shelving materials and maintaining the items on the shelves during the project,” Velez said.

Give back to the library by donating a bit of time and energy, and make your home a little tidier in the process. For more information on how to volunteer, visit ebonnerlibrary.org/volunteer.