I think I thanked you all individually, but just in case I didnšt, thank you
all for your responses. They were very helpful to me. We haven't made our
decision yet, but we have a lot of input to consider.
Here is the HIT. First is my original request, then all the responses,
separated by *****
I will start my first job as a library teacher in September in a brand new
middle school. One of the many things I have to purchase is a security
system. I am trying to decide whether to go with the pockets and book cards,
or the metal strip that gets put along the spine or somewhere inside the
book.
Do people still use the book cards, and do the students leave them in the
books, or is the machine always going off when the cards have been removed
(coming back into the library)?
Is one system better than another, and is there another option that I'm not
aware of?
I am looking into Checkpoint and 3M systems. Any feedback on these 2
companies, or another?
Lastly, I'm not sure we can purchase the system before next year. Should I
decide exactly what kind of system I want before I order all the books this
summer, since ideally they would have either the pocket or strips in place?
Is this a huge job "after the fact" - if we just order the books without
knowing what we will eventually purchase for security? The high school will
be sending about 4000 books over for our collection, too. They use the book
pocket system, so we would have to convert all those books if we switch to
another type of system. I just don't know if the time involved in that
conversion alone is reason enough to go with the same type of system that
our high school uses.
It seems wasteful to me to put a book pocket and card in every book just for
the sake of the security system. Am I off track here? Do people think this
is still the best system?
*****
My county all has 3M and seem satisfied.
*****
We had 3M at my old school and have Checkpoint now ( cost and layout of the
room prevented us from using 3M. If I had my druthers I'd chose 3M and use
the strips in the spine. They are much harder for kids to remove ( or even
know they are there- most kids thought that the checkout process had
something to do with magnetizing the book!) The other types are vary visible
and easy for kids to either tear off the target or keep the cards or
whatever. I've also noticed that if I pile up several books that are not
checked out and take them through the "gate" they will not beep so the
books could still walk out that way. We've also had quite a few false alarms
when I can see no reason for the alarm to go off. Most generally when the 3M
alarm went off we would find a book or magazine ( we did put strips in
magazines for awhile to cut down on theft- once kids knew they would get
caught we stopped that except for an occasional copy) You can't put the
Checkpoint targets! in a magazine-- they are just too obvious.
*****
Congratulations on your new job!
The question you might want to ask is if at any future date will student
self-checkout be a possibility?
Therefore I would suggest that the metal strip security would be better.
In addition, with the cards there is no way to track a book leaving without
the proper checkout (no bells or beeps).
*****
I have the 3M system because I won the AASL/3M Grant. I've been very
happy with it, but it isn't perfect. Sometimes books don't beep. Our
public library has the same system and they don't debeep their books, so
I've had to train students with books from the public library to get
books out of their backpacks to pass around the gate, and often they
forget coming in.
Tagging the books takes a LOT of man-hours, and you absolutely CANNOT
have students do it. You don't want them to have any idea how it works
(whichever system you use). It would be MUCH better to decide which
system before ordering books. If you go with the strips, here's one
thing I learned the hard way--the strips have to go in the spine, no
matter what. College aides at my school did all my books, and they
thought it would be easier to put the tag under the dust jacket. The
problem is those books don't debeep the right way, so now I have to find
and fix them all.
*****
I would decide exactly what system you are going to order before you
order the books. That will make it so much easier. I let my book
jobber and the security system complan (Checkpoint) hash it out between
them. It is a long story. The shortened version is that B&T had only
3m strips on hand and checkpoint told them their system was compatible
with the strips. Well - they were compatible to an extent - but not to
the degree they should have been. After 3 tries over 2 years, we
finally have an acceptable system. If the books had checkpoint strips
there would not have been a problem. I fault both companies. B&T
should have been willing to purchase the checkpoint strips - even if we
were the only library that used them. But the people I blame the most
are Checkpoint. There were extremely unhelpful. It took constant calls
to get them to call back. And then they would just say "try this, try
that etc." The problem was that although the books beeped just fine -
we could not turn them off. At first it worked about 75% and then got
worse. They replaced the demagitezer - and it only improved a little.
Finally after a year of fooling around with this, they sent a
technician. The system at that point was only working about 25% of the
time. The technician was very nice, and saw our problem immediately and
confirmed that it was not our fault. I overheard him talking to his
boss on the phone. He said "IHey - I CAN'T tell them that it SHOULD
work. It DOESN'T work." So - they finally agreed to send us yet
another demagnetizer. It took forever for them to send it. I had to
call 2x and be promised it was going out that day. No sign of it. I
finally called and asked for our customer reps assistant. She was
outraged when she heard my tale of woe. She not only had sent it
overnight delivery that day - but sent an apology letter and called me
herself the next morning to make sure that it had arrived. In spite of
her excellent follow up, I still cannot recommend the company. I did
not get any choice in the system. The decision was made by the
architect. I was lucky to find out that we even had one in time to
order the books. School bureacracy is maddening!
After all that - I wish you luck and I will tell you that it has made a
big difference in our book losses. We used to lose about 100 books a
year - and now it is between 7 and 12. The truly determined are bound
to get out with what they want - but it does help with those that are
just too lazy to bother checking out their books.
*****
This is my first year as a media specialist, but when I was still an English
teacher, I volunteered to help our librarian and her aide put the strips in
the books for the new security system. It is a MAJOR undertaking. First you
have to handle each and every book (and any other materials, ie videos, etc)
in the library to put in the strips. Then, the students who figure out how
the system works delight in telling their peers and the new game of the week
becomes "Let's find the strip and take it out!" Of course, we made that
easier for them because we decided on a page. Bad move.
If you can figure out any other system, I'd use it. If you can't, make this
the time to weed, weed, weed. Just imagine you are moving the books cross
country and don't want to pay for any extra freight. You get the idea
*****
I have the pocket and card system in my library and I'd LOVE to get rid of
it!!
Yes, kids are always using the cards for bookmarks, thereby setting off the
alarm when they return the book. I give them bookmarks to use, but the cards
end up out of the pocket quite frequently. Also, if the card gets moved so
that
it's, say, half way out of the pocket, it goes off.
However, all in all, the system has been effective. Some of my other issues
with the system have come because of it's age, not because the system itself
is
bad. BTW, we have Checkpoint, which is an older technology, anyway. I have a
bid in to switch to 3M, which I hope will happen in the next couple of
years.
Save yourself time, and money and go with the security strips!
*****
Having had experience with both kinds of systems, I would definitely
recommend the spine strips. The kids can't seem to figure out where they
are. The ones that go with the book pockets get discovered quickly and torn
out. What's more, they end up on other kids' backs or backpacks, unbeknownst
to them (kind of a high-tech "kick me" sign!)
Whatever you use, the kids will not take long to get around it. At the
school where we used the spine strips, they found they could just hold the
books above the gate as they walked out. Maybe they are making the gates
taller now? Good luck.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law.
To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu
In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL
3) SET LM_NET MAIL 4) SET LM_NET DIGEST * Allow for confirmation.
LM_NET Help & Information: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/
Archive: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/
EL-Announce with LM_NET Select: http://elann.biglist.com/sub/
LM_NET Supporters: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ven.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------
LM_NET
Mailing List Home