DIY library with self checkout
September 7, 2022 12:02 PM Subscribe
I want to be able to let people check out books, equipment, etc. I am thinking I can pop a little RFID sticker on everything, and register it, and then they can go ahead with it. I have hosting, is there a free (as in beer, also preferably as in speech) solution I can install? I would also like to have items be able to be reserved or booked for certain periods of time. So you can check out a DVD or book a meeting room in the same system. What am I looking for?
If you have ideas or advice about implementation let me know. Should there be a single point of check-out or should they be able to do it from their cellphones with rfid reader and so on.
If you have ideas or advice about implementation let me know. Should there be a single point of check-out or should they be able to do it from their cellphones with rfid reader and so on.
There are open source ILS (Evergreen and Koha are the big two) programs, but this might be severe overkill for what you're trying to do.
posted by box at 12:56 PM on September 7, 2022
posted by box at 12:56 PM on September 7, 2022
TinyCat is free for personal use, part of the great LibraryThing: https://www.librarycat.org
They will sell you an old CueCat, or you can get a cheap USB barcode scanner from lots of places.
Are you looking for the catalog & tracking piece, or the physical part -- or both? Either way, I think that TinyCat will do you.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:27 PM on September 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
They will sell you an old CueCat, or you can get a cheap USB barcode scanner from lots of places.
Are you looking for the catalog & tracking piece, or the physical part -- or both? Either way, I think that TinyCat will do you.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:27 PM on September 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
My turn.com is very effective for this
posted by parmanparman at 2:11 PM on September 7, 2022
posted by parmanparman at 2:11 PM on September 7, 2022
Response by poster: Thanks for these suggestions, I'm not in a position to test them yet, but when I have I will be back to report!
posted by Iteki at 11:38 AM on September 9, 2022
posted by Iteki at 11:38 AM on September 9, 2022
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I use the free version for managing my personal library, and it allows for checkout of books by scanning the ISBN on the back. You can also generate barcodes for items that you want to be checked out (although I believe Libib-generated barcodes require the paid version), which may cover the non-book use cases you’re interested in.
posted by standard candle at 12:37 PM on September 7, 2022