Hawaii State
Public Library System

Posted on: April 3, 2024 | Category: Spotlight

The equipment’s been installed, staff have been trained, and we’ve introduced a faster checkout/check-in process at Hawaii’s public libraries!

Checking out stacks of books, CDs, and DVDs – whether for you or your kids – just got much faster at your public library!

Benefits to our patrons:

• Pile them high! Libraries can now process plenty of things at one time.
• In a hurry? Feel free to use the optional self-checkout station.
• Faster check-in means readers can get returned books more quickly.
• In addition, books that might not be shelved in the right place can be found quickly, so you can get what you want to read.

The system, which reads a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag instead of scanning individual barcodes, took about a year to install across the system at a cost of $3 million. The Nanakuli Public Library has used RFID technology since its opening in 2018, and readers saw the benefits right away.

We are excited about the new efficiencies this system will create so library staff can better serve our communities.