The Daily Athenaeum, August 22, 2006

The Downtown and Evansdale libraries have recently installed a new checkout system that will enable students to get their books in a timelier manner.

The new system, called 3M’s SelfCheck, is very similar to what students run across when doing a self-check out at the grocery store.

Billy Wolfe/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
Senior chemistry major Emily Perteete attempts to use the new self-check out counter at the downtown library, but has problems with the scanner. According to librarians, not all books have barcodes placed on them properly and oversized books will not work at the new station.

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Your next trip to the library might be a little quicker. New self-checkout stations at the Downtown Campus and Evansdale libraries allow users to avoid long lines when checking out materials.

This new option, 3M’s SelfCheck, is similar to using a self-checkout at the grocery store. Simply touch the screen and animated instructions guide you through the process.

“It’s a nice alternative for those days when the lines are two or three people deep and you just need to check out a book,” said Mary Strife, Evansdale Library Director and circulation policy committee chair. “This is a fast way to get it done and go.”

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The hottest new titles from area bookstores are available for browsing in Eliza’s, the Downtown Campus Library coffee shop. Whether your taste runs to current events, fantasy, science, or fiction, there are plenty of books to entertain you as you relax with a cup of Starbuck’s coffee or a snack. And if you discover something you want to take home, you don’t need to buy it. Books from Eliza’s are available for loan. Just be sure to bring your WVU ID card when you visit the library. It is your library card, too.

Are you interested in food? Eliza’s collection includes The Nasty Bits, the latest from Anthony Bourdain and Bill Buford’s Heat : an Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-quoting Butcher in Tuscany. Sports fans might enjoy John Feinstein’s Last Dance : Behind the Scenes at the Final Four or perhaps Clemente : the Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero.

The collection includes critically acclaimed graphic novels like La Perdida by Jessica Abel, as well as new works of fiction from John Updike, Gail Godwin, T.C. Boyle, and Elizabeth Strout. Mystery fans will find Lee Child’s latest Jack Reacher novel, The Hard Way, but for those who prefer a gentler mystery, set in an exotic location, the collection also includes the newest installment in Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series.

Eliza’s collection is accessible whenever the library is open, even at times when the coffee shop is closed. To find Eliza’s titles in the MountainLynx catalog, search on the keyword, “elizawv.” New titles are added frequently, so stop by often to see the latest additions.