Of maps and machines

Just two little things today:

First, from NorthTemple, check out Strange Maps. Very cool. (Yes, I’m a cartophile.)

Second, I recently started using the self-checkout machines at Provo Library (since the circulation desk pretty much shrunk to the size of a postage stamp), and wow, I love them! I originally had a few inhibitions — didn’t want the alarm to go off because the machine didn’t desensitize my books all the way — but I tried it and it works and it’s wonderful and I’m hooked. And it’s fun. Really. I get a little boost of happiness every time I hear the machine go “ching!” as it checks out my books. And there are fewer lines. I haven’t had to wait in line at Provo since they got the machines in. Ever. I’m now using the machine at BYU, too, and it’s just as wonderful. (The other nice improvement at Provo is moving the books on hold out of the back so you can just go to the shelf, find your book, and check it out. One minor concern is that you could — in theory — take someone else’s book and check it out yourself without anyone the wiser, but maybe they’ve got something in place to stop that.)

Anyway, if you haven’t yet tried self-checkout at your local library, do. It’s not as scary as it looks. :)

Yes, they’ve had those for a while at the Orem Library, and I love them. They still keep holds behind the desk there, but if you don’t have holds, it sure does feel good to walk right past those long lines and be out the door in two minutes. :)

These things are pretty cool. OK, confession: I usually use them when I want to check out some geek-/fantasy-novel I haven’t read since Junior High!

I love the self-checkout machines at libraries! My library card kind of becomes the family library card when I’m home because I’m the hermit that would live in the library if possible, and so I’m always asked to pick up books for other people. I end up with such a crazy assortment of books, and I’m paranoid that people thing I’m insane when I show up at the checkout counter with seven or eight (or nine or ten) books including stuff about weight loss, personal finance, explosions, guns, and my fantasy books and music.

I have the same paranoia when I’m at the grocery store and I’m getting random stuff. Who buys just shampoo and eggs?

DL: Exactly. :) (Incidentally, I was going to complain about how Provo no longer works with LibraryElf, but then I decided to go remove my card and add it again. And what do you know, it works now! Hello, e-mail notifications which save my life. :))

Gerrit: Yeah, there are some books you just don’t want the circulation desk people to know you’re reading. (Anything pink, for example. :P)

Mary: Luckily that’s really rather the norm at libraries, so I think you’re safe. :) As for the shampoo and eggs, well, if you could make a bomb out of them then I’d start to get worried. :P

That’s cool. I hadn’t heard of LibraryElf, but it sounds useful to the RSS-reading and the book-obsessed such as we are. I pretty much only go to the Orem Library these days, and they have email alerts for due dates and holds built into their system. Does the Provo library not do that too?

Provo does have e-mails for holds, but not for due dates (which is by far the more important of the two, I think, seeing as money is attached :)) (not that I think money is important in the grand scheme of things, though). I’d go to Orem Library more often if I had a car. I practically grew up there… (In fact, for this book I’m (slowly) writing, Amor Libris, the first chapter/essay/section is on the Orem Library. Writing it brought back a lot of memories. :))

Whew, nobody here’s allergic to parentheses, are they? :P