[Publib] The Cashless Library

[Dusty Gres]

Particularly with the idea of paying $20 and then having the remainder stay
as a credit on the patron record I would advise you to check your state’s
banking laws


 

 

Dusty Gres

Director

Ohoopee Regional Library System

610 Jackson Street

Vidalia, GA 30474

http://www.ohoopeelibrary.org

"Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different
speeds.
A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing."
William James

  _____  

From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org]
On Behalf Of Emily Horner
Sent: Thursday, October 01, 2009 4:19 PM
To: Lise Chlebanowski
Cc: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: Re: [Publib] The Cashless Library

 

The large urban library system where I work has been cashless for almost two
years now. 

 

Essentially, patrons use their library cards as ATM cards. We have a kiosk
that patrons can use to add money to their library cards to pay fines, and
pay for printing and photocopies. The kiosk accepts payment from
credit/debit cards, bills, and coins. 

 

The biggest disadvantage to this is that sometimes the kiosk goes out of
order. It's finicky about accepting paper money, and although it seems to
generally work now, we had a period a few months ago when the kiosk at our
branch was breaking down every couple of weeks. And patrons were very angry
that they wouldn't be able to check out a book if it wasn't *their* fault
they couldn't pay their fines. (Ideally, of course, circulation staff should
override fines when the kiosk is out of order). 

 

The other disadvantage is that we can't refund someone's money for a print
job that went wrong, or a bad photocopy, without going through a whole
procedure of paperwork. I don't want to say "Tough luck, you should have
used print preview," but that's what it comes down to, and it's not great
customer service.

 

Also, if you pay with cash, the kiosk doesn't give back any change. If you
want to pay a $6 fine, and all you have on you are $20 bills, you have to
pay the entire $20 and the rest stays on your card. Patrons don't like this
much either. 

 

Patrons sometimes need a lot of hand-holding with making their way through
the touch screen interface, inputting their PIN number, forgetting their PIN
number, figuring out how to scan their card right, figuring out how to put
their cash in. It's probably not as time-consuming as cash once you have
your patrons trained. 

 

Handling cash has a lot of problems to. When I worked at a branch that used
cash I didn't like having to spend fifteen minutes every night counting
pennies, and since the library where I work now is a somewhat high-crime
area, it makes me feel better to know that we don't have a cash register.
But I have some mixed feelings about it. 

 

On Oct 1, 2009, at 3:50 PM, Lise Chlebanowski wrote:





Good Afternoon everyone,

 

My boss is very interested in having both of our branches become "cashless".
He wants all transactions to be with plastic or through funds placed on
library cards. Has anyone done this? 

 

Pros & cons would be appreciated. Thanks in advance! 

 

Lisë Chlebanowski

Library Manager

Sam Garcia Western Avenue Library

495 E. Western Ave.

Avondale, AZ   85323

623-333-2611 D

623-333-0260 F

 <mailto:lchlebanowski at avondale.org> lchlebanowski at avondale.org

 

Now Reading on my Kindle: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Now Reading: Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler

Now Listening: An Unacceptable Death by Barbara Seranella

 

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