Glencoe Library takes curbside service up a notch with smart locker system

There is a new way to pick up your books from the Glencoe Public Library at any time — and you don’t even have to step foot inside or rely on curbside service. 

This month, the library will debut its new automated smart locker system located outside its building.

Although the lockers will help librarygoers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the project was something the library had been planning for years, said Danny Burdette, head of circulation services.

“It’s something we wanted to do for years to allow for 24-hour pick up and convenience,” Burdette said. 

During the pandemic, the Glencoe Library shifted to curbside service while the building was temporarily closed to the public. The locker system is an “evolution of that” and will be in place for years to come, Burdette said.

“We were thinking about our needs and then we revisited the locker idea that we had discussed before,” he added.

The lockers cost $30,256, according to library board minutes from an August meeting, and were installed by Bradford Systems. They are located on the west side of the library toward the back, adjacent to the downtown Glencoe parking lot. 

According to Burdette, the lockers are designed for patrons to pull up at any hour of the day and retrieve their library materials that they put on hold. All it takes is a personalized pin, which is sent from the library to the patron in an email or text message once the materials are ready. Access to the locker is then made available with the specific pin or by scanning a QR code as a touchless option. 

Installation of the lockers was being finalized last week, and Burdette hopes to have them up and running in a week or two, he said.

This project will make the Glencoe Library the first to have this type of pick-up service in the North Shore, Burdette added.

“It’s exciting,” he said. “We are part of a large library system in the North Shore and we are the only library in the system that will have [the lockers] at this point.”

Glencoe Library is currently open to the public. For more information and current service hours, visit glencoepubliclibrary.org.