This is the machine in action. You just place your card in on the machine, and it reads it. Then you just put your books in one by one and the machine checks them out to you and desensitizes in one swift blow. 
It even features a nifty video screen showing patrons where to place their cards. They told us we can film our own "tutorials" and use them instead of the stock footage. The bar code scanner is a real laser, unlike what we currently use. It is set to scan the barcode three times to verify your patron ID is what it is picking up, but don't worry, it only takes one or two seconds to do this. Then you just put your books up and let the laser do its thing. Once you're done, you can just walk out. 
It also features a touch screen. You can choose whether or not you want to a receipt by selecting yes or no on the screen.
Of course I had to get a shot of the "guts" as well. It's pretty simple, just a Dell desktop running Windows XP pro. The really cool thing is that the system is RFID ready. We'll be making the switch to RFID labels for our AV collection when we implement the self check system so we can keep our items secure, but still let you check out by yourself quickly.Self check has been a long time coming, look for it in the near future here at the Missoula Public Library
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