BENTONVILLE — The new machine meant to increase efficiency and provide better service for patrons at the public library has a new name to go with it.
The library announced via a news release Thursday its nine-bin Tech Logic automated materials sorting system was granted the moniker “Bookie Monster” after a naming contest involving residents.
The machine automatically sorts materials patrons return to the library into different categories through radio-frequency identification technology, according to Courtney Fitzgerald, the library’s senior circulation librarian. All items in the library have radio-frequency identification-enabled security tags.
The machine reads the tags when people return items and uses them to determine which items go in which bins while also communicating with the library’s database to check the items back in. Staff then check materials for damage before putting them in their correct place in the library.
Fitzgerald has said the nine-bin sorter is a step up from the three-bin machine the library had at the front of the building. The new machine will save library staff a tremendous amount of time previously spent sorting materials and allow them to focus more on interacting with and helping library patrons, she said. The library has another three-bin sorter in the back of the building.
The library received 114 submissions for a new name for the machine, according to Thursday’s news release. A panel of librarians narrowed the submissions to 11, after which 588 library users voted for their name of choice.
Bookie Monster received the most votes with 83, the release states. It came out ahead of ChewBOOKa — which got 80 votes — and BEAST (Book Eater and Sorter Too!) — which got 76 — followed by BOB (Belly of Books) and R2Book2. Library users Kelsie Land and Christine Salley submitted the winning name.
“Bookie Monster is a fantastic name for the new sorter,” Fitzgerald said in the release. “It reminds us of one of the most beloved characters in pop culture, and it aptly describes the voraciousness of the machine.”
The library will hold a ceremony to present Bookie Monster a library staff name tag at a later date, according to the release.
