As makers of self check equipment we are acutely aware of patron privacy needs. THIS ARTICLE from HYPER PUBLIC, A SYMPOSIUM ON DESIGNING PRIVACY AND PUBLIC SPACE IN THE CONNECTED WORLD HARVARD UNIVERSITY is quite interesting.
2011-05-20
Rebooting Library Privacy in the Age of the Network
As makers of self check equipment we are acutely aware of patron privacy needs. THIS ARTICLE from HYPER PUBLIC, A SYMPOSIUM ON DESIGNING PRIVACY AND PUBLIC SPACE IN THE CONNECTED WORLD HARVARD UNIVERSITY is quite interesting.
2011-05-18
2010-03-16
ALLCIRC: A REVOLUTION IN MEDIA SECURITY AND SELF-SERVICE IN LIBRARIES
SOMERDALE, NJ, March 12, 2010: Library Automation Technologies, Inc. (LAT), a leader in library automation products, is pleased to announce the release into production of the next generation model of its popular allCIRC™ system, the allCIRC-X™, that combines 100% media theft security with complete load / unload patron self-service and a full-featured book self-check in a smaller portable footprint with greater capacity, significantly faster throughput, higher value and new features.
Building on knowledge and feedback of a number of existing installations throughout the country, allCIRC-X™ redefines the self-service concept by creating a one-stop self-service station for all materials in the library – “It’s a circ-desk in a box.” commented Mandi Bottle, a Circulation Desk Manager.
Fully ADA Compliant, the allCIRC-X™ provides a secure CD/DVD/BluRay dispensing and book self-check as well as patron media loading capability all in one ultra compact, fast system. Staff involvement is minimized as patrons themselves can now also easily and securely load the checked out items directly into allCIRC-X™ upon their return back into the library.
“From the ground-up, we have fully redesigned our approach to self service to create a fully ADA compliant system that not only eliminates the need for libraries to spend money on security, but also allows patrons to load items back in, thereby fully eliminating extra staff involvement in self-service process. Simply drop the disk into the machine and that’s all – anyone can do it.” commented Oleg Boyarsky, President and CEO of LAT. “In today’s hard economy allCIRC-X provides an unprecedented value proposition for libraries, because it eliminates the need to spend already limited resources for media security and handling, while simultaneously providing 100% theft protection for most prized media collections.”
The size of a small desk, allCIRC-X measures 33”x20”x34” and offers a totally “fluid” component placement, so that the library can position the machine in any orinentation and still have a completely ergonomically pleasing environment. With an included Meganite® top and Apple®-like translucent plastic sides, the machine loads and dispenses disks through a single slot, thereby allowing anyone to simply “take” or “drop-in” media.
Costing less than a typical book self-check, allCIRC-X will be exhibited at the PLA Conference in Portland, Oregon at the LAT’s booth #: 1400 Additional features and capabilities are described at: www.allCIRC.com
For more information about all of LAT's technologies and products, jump to: www.LATcorp.com
Building on knowledge and feedback of a number of existing installations throughout the country, allCIRC-X™ redefines the self-service concept by creating a one-stop self-service station for all materials in the library – “It’s a circ-desk in a box.” commented Mandi Bottle, a Circulation Desk Manager.
Fully ADA Compliant, the allCIRC-X™ provides a secure CD/DVD/BluRay dispensing and book self-check as well as patron media loading capability all in one ultra compact, fast system. Staff involvement is minimized as patrons themselves can now also easily and securely load the checked out items directly into allCIRC-X™ upon their return back into the library.
“From the ground-up, we have fully redesigned our approach to self service to create a fully ADA compliant system that not only eliminates the need for libraries to spend money on security, but also allows patrons to load items back in, thereby fully eliminating extra staff involvement in self-service process. Simply drop the disk into the machine and that’s all – anyone can do it.” commented Oleg Boyarsky, President and CEO of LAT. “In today’s hard economy allCIRC-X provides an unprecedented value proposition for libraries, because it eliminates the need to spend already limited resources for media security and handling, while simultaneously providing 100% theft protection for most prized media collections.”
The size of a small desk, allCIRC-X measures 33”x20”x34” and offers a totally “fluid” component placement, so that the library can position the machine in any orinentation and still have a completely ergonomically pleasing environment. With an included Meganite® top and Apple®-like translucent plastic sides, the machine loads and dispenses disks through a single slot, thereby allowing anyone to simply “take” or “drop-in” media.
Costing less than a typical book self-check, allCIRC-X will be exhibited at the PLA Conference in Portland, Oregon at the LAT’s booth #: 1400 Additional features and capabilities are described at: www.allCIRC.com
For more information about all of LAT's technologies and products, jump to: www.LATcorp.com
2010-02-14
DOJ & ADA Mandate Ebook Readers Be Accessible to All
... Shouldn't we do that for all equipment that is designed for public use? At LAT we have spent $1000s to make sure that all of our products, and especially the upcoming allCIRC, fully comply to ADA standards and don't discriminate against users with disabilities; others, would rather spend more on an extra RFID tag :)
Now that DOJ is in the loop, things will start to happen.
Read About It Here
Now that DOJ is in the loop, things will start to happen.
Read About It Here
2010-02-10
2010-01-29
Review: A Far Cry From Kensington
A Far Cry from Kensington New Directions (2000), Paperback, 192 pages
I was handed this fictional memoir, by someone I trust to provide quality literary experiences- he assured me of its solid storytelling, and richness of content.
For me, prior to being handed this book, Muriel Spark really brought two things to mind: lighting cigars, (get it?) and books like Please Don't Eat the Daisies , which in reality share nothing with her.
I had no idea.
In his book, Rotten: No Irish No Blacks No Dogs, one finds out just how literary minded John Lydon is and how he was a fan of lots of great literature (Graham Greene's work springs to mind)... I was shocked when preparing to write this that Muriel Spark's Book The Public Image was where Lydon got the name for PiL. Had I not read his book I never would've guessed it but my suspicions were piqued when reviewing Spark's body of work.
In A Far Cry From Kensington, one gets an accurate portrait of post-war London life, with cramped and damp, recession and thrift, and during the progression of the book it's subsequent awakening from its 6 year nightmare.
Being an Anglophile I might've been satisfied with that and would have been polite about it, but disappointed with its lack of plot arrow.
The plot arrow is large and sharp and accurate: An overweight widow in a boarding house and works at a publisher, insults a literary world hanger-on, which in subsequent years, leads to adverse circumstances over and over again for her, all the while reaffirming her belief that the pisseur de copie "pisser or copy" is just what he is, an opportunistic second banana with no moral compunction about exploitation of personal relationships, and it being a small world, capable of infecting more than just the working world of Spark's protagonist, Mrs. Hawkins.
As A Far Cry From Kensington progresses, Mrs. Hawkins loses the insulation she grew during the war; both emotionally and physically- it falls away in the form of weight loss, the loss as allegory for her maturation, as evidenced by her questioning her faith, learning to stand firm when challenged about her interpersonal convictions and rising to the occasion when called upon by her neighbors who have revealed formerly private crises, that stemmed from character flaws that Mrs Hawkins shows us without a word of avarice, only predictive empathy, from someone who by virtue of being a war-widow, feels it necessary to conduct oneself with more maturity than others of her age.
I've hit the spoiler wall; let me just say within all the wool and teacups and rugs and wallpaper there's crazies, death, fist-fighting, insults, medical emergencies, injustice, karma, foreigners, revenge, hoodoo and more. A perfect mix of atmosphere and activity for anyone looking to read outside of genre.
It was also surprising for me, because I thought she was a 1940's & 50's writer (like I said I didn't know anything about her - just the name) - her style in this book doesn't give away that it was written 1988. Her arc runs from Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1961 to 2004's The Finishing School.
I suppose that since I'm a PiL fan I'll read The Public Image next and see what more she has to offer.
Final words: read A Far Cry From Kensington, already.
1st ed cover
2010-01-12
O Canada!
Photos of Prince George, BC allCIRCs - a beautiful library with smart people working there!
2010-01-08
First Round of Broadband Stimulus Funds Announced, Three Awards to Libraries
From Library Journal:
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6712811.html?nid=2671&rid=#reg_visitor_id&source=title
Punk Ass Book Jockeys!
This is hysterical. Please enjoy, those of you forced to wend their way through local politics.
2009-12-11
SELF CHECK OF A DIFFERENT KIND…….
LAT’s keywords are Flexibility – Innovation – Collaboration. But without the outer two, we can’t get to the inner one – innovation. So while we are always saying that “Librarians design our equipment!” by virtue of the fact that their observation of technology in that real-world environment cannot be replicated in our labs (and boy, do we try!), we still tend to be amazed what does present itself in the real world some time.
Phone boxes are being decommissioned all over the
Wait a minute…. Did we say “real world? When you think about it, it'd be a great way to sort of float your weeds for a while.....
.....but we don't have cool phone booths here in the US!
2009-11-17
DAMAGE!
Book Patrol has a post about stuff done to materials by vandals including British playwright Joe Orton.
Here's one of my own:
Stealing the covers to overlay on more valuable books - dastardly!
Here's one of my own:
Stealing the covers to overlay on more valuable books - dastardly!
2009-08-16
Beautiful Bookplates
Over at Princeton's Graphic Arts blog they have a nice selection of Celebrity Bookplates - I'm gonna make me one.....
2009-06-18
"They shall not shave off the corner of their beard." - Leviticus
Lex11 (Steve) has done it again, first my Dad farting and now:
Producer of Life Behind Beards. A half hour documentary detailing one man's journey, along with a coterie of colorful (and hairy) companions in his quest to have the best beard competition NYC's money can buy. Humorous, but also insightful as to the attachment and emotion that serious beard growers develop. Available soon at the www.lifebehindbeards.com site, you can view the first trailer below: (More trailers soon.)
Producer of Life Behind Beards. A half hour documentary detailing one man's journey, along with a coterie of colorful (and hairy) companions in his quest to have the best beard competition NYC's money can buy. Humorous, but also insightful as to the attachment and emotion that serious beard growers develop. Available soon at the www.lifebehindbeards.com site, you can view the first trailer below: (More trailers soon.)
Life Behind Beards Trailer from Steve Hanulec on Vimeo.
2009-05-04
CD Format Obsolete in Libraries - NOT !!
If there was any doubt about the future of the CD/DVD form-factor, especially in libraries, you can put those concerns safely to rest.
Take a look at: http://www.twice.com/article/CA6654671.html
With the ability to store a whopping 500GB !!! on the same form-factor CD, we are smiling for sure that our allCIRC for libraries, has just extended its lifespan by a few decades.
2009-04-24
2009-04-20
RFID in Libraries vs. Smoking
To me, the more I travel and speak to libraries about RFID, the good, the bad and the reality of it, the more I begin to compare RFID in libraries to smoking. Let me explain. When I was young, "smoking" was explained to me as a response to social awkwardness in kids - that is, this was something to do with your hands, and you looked cool doing it. As I got older in high-school, "smoking" was akin to fitting in..."everyone is doing it, you should too". As I progressed towards adulthood I saw smoking for what it really was, an addiction that does provide some momentary gratification, but at a huge cost to your family and your well-being.
I see the same trend towards RFID in libraries as when I was young. It has that "cool" effect, with very little substance, yet it does give this appeal to libraries that gives an apperance they are doing something worthwhile. How else can you spend that "efficiency grant" money, or your "friends" money - on traditional self-checks, or on this new, cool thing called "RFID". Its a four letter acronym, it sounds high-tech, it must be good.
According to 3M, only 2% of libraries in the US use RFID, and 8% worldwide! Yet, you hear about it all the time.
YET...virtually every library that talks RFID, has very little understanding of its complexities, benefits, true costs, problems, future support and a myriad of other key questions. When I was attending U of P, one of the first questions you were are asked at Wharton was "What is the ROI?" Well, if someone has it related to RFID in libraries, please, please let me know before I light up :)
Disclaimer: Running a successful business supplying various technologies to libraries, I would like to emphasize right away, that as a vendor, we love to sell you anything RFID related, such as gates, tags, readers, software, staff-stations, self-checks...etc., anything. Talk to us about a full array of RFID enabled products and services that we offer should you ever decide to move towards that direction.
I see the same trend towards RFID in libraries as when I was young. It has that "cool" effect, with very little substance, yet it does give this appeal to libraries that gives an apperance they are doing something worthwhile. How else can you spend that "efficiency grant" money, or your "friends" money - on traditional self-checks, or on this new, cool thing called "RFID". Its a four letter acronym, it sounds high-tech, it must be good.
According to 3M, only 2% of libraries in the US use RFID, and 8% worldwide! Yet, you hear about it all the time.
YET...virtually every library that talks RFID, has very little understanding of its complexities, benefits, true costs, problems, future support and a myriad of other key questions. When I was attending U of P, one of the first questions you were are asked at Wharton was "What is the ROI?" Well, if someone has it related to RFID in libraries, please, please let me know before I light up :)
Disclaimer: Running a successful business supplying various technologies to libraries, I would like to emphasize right away, that as a vendor, we love to sell you anything RFID related, such as gates, tags, readers, software, staff-stations, self-checks...etc., anything. Talk to us about a full array of RFID enabled products and services that we offer should you ever decide to move towards that direction.
2009-03-27
LIBRARY AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGIES TO PRESENT AT TLA BOOTH #2825
Library Automation Technologies, Inc. (LAT), a leader in library automation products, is pleased to announce it will be exhibiting at the Texas Library Associations Annual Conference (TLA) at George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on April 1-3.
LAT will be demonstrating the ultra-small MAXine™ Self Checkout System which will be setup for hands-on demonstrations.
LAT will be demonstrating the ultra-small MAXine™ Self Checkout System which will be setup for hands-on demonstrations.
2009-03-26
SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY EMBRACES SELF SERVICE
Library Automation Technologies, Inc. (LAT), a leader in library automation products, is pleased to announce it has completed the phase-one rollout plan for the San Diego Public Library, which encompassed over 36 machines in 18 branches.
The operation and patron interface were customized to meet the library system’s requirements while the physical looks were modified with custom table tops to match the library’s décor. The installed machines provide an easy, seamless and integrated environment for both patrons and staff.
Oleg Boyarsky, President and CEO of LAT commented, "San Diego Public Library is a unique customer who understands both the value and need of self-service in the library, as well as the patron’s desire for an easy-to-use system that simply works, and works simply. Using interchangeable portable and floor-standing models as needed, with identical user interfaces and Corean® tops, made units fit right in and they have been easily accepted.”
As Brian Ruark, a Technical Resource Program Manager for The City of San Diego’s Public Library commented: ”We like the simplicity and reliability of the LAT self-service machines. Patron usage continues to grow as they become used to the technology and as we refine how to best present the technology. LAT has been very innovative, making improvements based on our suggestions. They have also been responsive and quick to resolve any technical problems. “
LAT-Max™, LAT-MAXine™ and LAT-MAXwell™ is a family of self-service machines for libraries based on FlashScan™ technology. By providing multiple form-factors, such as desktop, floor-standing, kiosk and even wall-mount, all with the same patron interface and multiple finishes, the machines allow libraries to take advantage of the modern self-service technology regardless of their physical space constraints. Coupled with an array of impressive features and capabilities, such as on-demand, field-upgradable RFID capability, desensitization support, wireless networking, included multi-language support, as well as over 400+ features and settings, these machines are installed in hundreds of libraries worldwide and have gained a solid, industry leading reputation for value.
For more information about LAT's technology and all library products, jump to: www.LATcorp.com.
The operation and patron interface were customized to meet the library system’s requirements while the physical looks were modified with custom table tops to match the library’s décor. The installed machines provide an easy, seamless and integrated environment for both patrons and staff.
Oleg Boyarsky, President and CEO of LAT commented, "San Diego Public Library is a unique customer who understands both the value and need of self-service in the library, as well as the patron’s desire for an easy-to-use system that simply works, and works simply. Using interchangeable portable and floor-standing models as needed, with identical user interfaces and Corean® tops, made units fit right in and they have been easily accepted.”
As Brian Ruark, a Technical Resource Program Manager for The City of San Diego’s Public Library commented: ”We like the simplicity and reliability of the LAT self-service machines. Patron usage continues to grow as they become used to the technology and as we refine how to best present the technology. LAT has been very innovative, making improvements based on our suggestions. They have also been responsive and quick to resolve any technical problems. “
LAT-Max™, LAT-MAXine™ and LAT-MAXwell™ is a family of self-service machines for libraries based on FlashScan™ technology. By providing multiple form-factors, such as desktop, floor-standing, kiosk and even wall-mount, all with the same patron interface and multiple finishes, the machines allow libraries to take advantage of the modern self-service technology regardless of their physical space constraints. Coupled with an array of impressive features and capabilities, such as on-demand, field-upgradable RFID capability, desensitization support, wireless networking, included multi-language support, as well as over 400+ features and settings, these machines are installed in hundreds of libraries worldwide and have gained a solid, industry leading reputation for value.
For more information about LAT's technology and all library products, jump to: www.LATcorp.com.
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