Walk-Thru Library

Coming from a town that loves its library, and being a longtime library patron, I've seen many changes over the years to the way the system operates. It used to be that people used card catalogues to find books. Now they use computers. At my library, people once had to go to the checkout desk to take out their books -- now the library has installed self-checkout machines to speed up the process.

The thing is, however, that a lot of people can't seem to keep up with the times. They either can't understand [ :/ ] or don't want [ >:( ] to use the machines, so they always go to the desks to bother the library staff with it, taking up everyone's time.

I propose this: when you walk out of the library with your library card, an RFID chip embedded within is scanned, and your account is read. The scanning machine, which is placed in the gateway of the library, then scans the books that you are holding and checks the books out to your account. People can only go through the gates one at a time, rather like at a subway turnstile, so the machine doesn't register your account with more books than you're carrying.

This way, you needn't worry about waiting in line for checkout, having your card out and ready, or learning how to use a (very simple) self checkout machine!