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• Contest Promotes Self-Checkout "Check Out and WIN"
  The grand prize winner will receive a laptop during November contest
  
  Library patrons in Aiken, Bamberg, Barnwell, and Edgefield have a chance to win an Acer Laptop by visiting their local public library between November 1 and November 30, 2007 and checking out library materials on the new self-checkout machines.
  
  Each time a library patron uses the new self-checkout station from November 1 to November 30, they are automatically entered to win a prize drawing. There will be a drawing at each of the eleven libraries using self-checkout for a 3M-provided gift box. There will be one grand prize drawing for an Acer laptop computer.
  
  The 3M self-checkout machines, installed in October at the public libraries in Aiken, Bamberg, Barnwell, Blackville, Edgefield, Jackson, Johnston, Langley, North Augusta, Wagener, and Williston, allow library users to check out books and audio-visual media without having to wait in line at the checkout counter. The machines utilize Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.
  
  The self-check machine will scan a patron’s library card and the RFID chip attached to library books and media. The machine provides simple, onscreen directions and a touchscreen monitor. It is similar to self-checkout technologies in use at grocery stores.
  
  “It’s so easy to use that I’m sure the self-checkout will sell itself but the contest makes it fun, “ said Mary Jo Dawson, director of the Aiken-Bamberg-Barnwell-Edgefield Regional Library System.
  
  “Our circulation has increased by 11% in the past year so the self-checkout stations allow our library system to enhance our services without adding more staff,” said Dawson. “It also affords our patrons greater privacy when checking out.”
  
  The self-checkout stations were made possible by a $300,000 grant from the Federal Institution of Museum and Library Services and the South Carolina State Library. Additional funding for the project was provided by Aiken County government and the S.C. Educational Lottery.