The appeal of automatic checkin of library materials is obvious. It’s a boring job, and the cost savings of eliminating people doing checkin makes the beancounters happy. I see this as false economy. The idea is that a machine can read the barcode, and pass the item checked in for sorting. The false assumption is that only library materials ready for sorting will be presented to the barcode machine. One reason computers crash so often is that all possible states or inputs are not considered in the design. The beancounters say it is not possible, much less economic to design that way. The result is that I sense a possible “Fate is the Hunter” outcome when I see a preschooler gleefully pounding on a computer keyboard. The strange audio problem with the Zenith and Insignia CECB granny boxes just was discovered. Usual finger pointing will begin soon, but with luck the cause of the problem will eventually be found. Is this really a surprise? As for the other granny boxes being rushed out, stay tuned.
If we limit the sorting machine’s input to expected materials, then a well designed sorting machine should work. A barcode reading machine doesn’t do that, however. If it reads the proper barcode, it assumes that the barcode was attached to expected material. The barcode reader can’t tell if the item was soaked in the rain, and is dropping off chunks of mud. The sorting machine was never designed to deal with chunks of mud, much less keep other clean materials separate from the scattering mud. Nothing prevents the mud from hitting the fan. If the barcode reader reads the cover of a book, it assumes that the pages below the cover are still attached to the spine of the book. The sorting machine doesn’t have provision for holding the book pieces together to keep them from being scattered within the machine.
We have a few patrons who have claimed the bookdrop ate the book they returned. I’m usually skeptical. One time a while back, I found a kid’s book lost in the bookdrop. Turned out, the patron was charged for the replacement cost of the book by then. That incident caused Circ to tighten up on checking bookdrops. Who will check up on the sorting machine to see that it isn’t losing anything? How will we with a straight face say that the sorting machine, far more complex than a bookdrop, couldn’t have lost something? Especially a sorting machine not specified by engineers and chosen because it “fit the budget”.
This is the point where I say that the Checkin Clerk will pass only materials ready for sorting and that a barcode machine fails to recognize problems. Unfortunately, I’m not totally convinced. I have had books on a cart to be shelved that were damaged. The Checkin Clerk does sometimes overlook problems, but I think a barcode reading machine will be far worse.
If we limit the sorting machine’s input to expected materials, then a well designed sorting machine should work. A barcode reading machine doesn’t do that, however. If it reads the proper barcode, it assumes that the barcode was attached to expected material. The barcode reader can’t tell if the item was soaked in the rain, and is dropping off chunks of mud. The sorting machine was never designed to deal with chunks of mud, much less keep other clean materials separate from the scattering mud. Nothing prevents the mud from hitting the fan. If the barcode reader reads the cover of a book, it assumes that the pages below the cover are still attached to the spine of the book. The sorting machine doesn’t have provision for holding the book pieces together to keep them from being scattered within the machine.
We have a few patrons who have claimed the bookdrop ate the book they returned. I’m usually skeptical. One time a while back, I found a kid’s book lost in the bookdrop. Turned out, the patron was charged for the replacement cost of the book by then. That incident caused Circ to tighten up on checking bookdrops. Who will check up on the sorting machine to see that it isn’t losing anything? How will we with a straight face say that the sorting machine, far more complex than a bookdrop, couldn’t have lost something? Especially a sorting machine not specified by engineers and chosen because it “fit the budget”.
This is the point where I say that the Checkin Clerk will pass only materials ready for sorting and that a barcode machine fails to recognize problems. Unfortunately, I’m not totally convinced. I have had books on a cart to be shelved that were damaged. The Checkin Clerk does sometimes overlook problems, but I think a barcode reading machine will be far worse.
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