One of the items on my things-to-do-in-my-lifetime list is to become a librarian. Not so much because I love books (which I do!), but also because I loved the idea of scanning barcodes in the library books. Whenever stores or libraries offer self check-out lanes, I’m the first one there. IKEA also has a self check-out lane, which I’d like to use one day. I like the process of angling the barcode just so, so that the price shows up on the monitor. But what I like more than that is the little scanner pen that librarians used to use to check out books.

Only about 10 years ago, librarians wielded their silver scanning pen, scanned the barcode on my library card, opened up each book to find the barcode and scanned it. Then they’d take a small stack of books at a time and rub the book spines along a demagnetizer so that you wouldn’t set off the alarm when you walked out of the library.

I recently went to the super-cool library in downtown Seattle and was sorely disappointed at their check-out system. They did have a self check-out system, which I tried to use. There was a handheld scanner in a little holder to scan your library card–which I did. I didn’t read the instructions quite carefully enough and began scanning each book’s barcode. The librarian came over and corrected me. The scanner was for the library card, but only for that. The books were to be arranged side-by-side on a large metal plate on the counter. The computer would then detect the books, log them into your account, and demagnetize them–all without the brandish of a single scanning pen.

“What is this world coming to? That takes the fun out of checking out books!” I complained to Matt as we walked out of the library. What’s next? Will you just have to walk out with the books, and a computer will detect your identity AND check out your books without even having to line up at a counter?

Sometimes, technological improvements are good. At Costco, or what was then Price Club, two people used to be necessary to check someone out. One person would read the item numbers while the other entered them into the cash register. With a slip of a finger or an error of a dyslexic employee, you could end up buying a $30,000 diamond ring (which they DO sell there, and which I think is a crazy, idiotic thing to buy–but that’s another blog entry) instead of a $10 50-pack of toilet paper. The lines go a lot faster with a quick scan of the barcode instead of having someone read off of the item numbers. So yes, in that case, I applaud technology.

But with PDAs, crazy large do-it-all cell phones, and even e-mail (which I do love, but I like snail mail even better), I can’t wholeheartedly support all those things. Call me simple and a little backwards, but I still use post-its, a physical address book, and–if i’m lucky enough to have a penpal–stationery.

So when it comes to library check-out systems, I will be at the front of the picket line (and I think I can get Abby and Deb to join me) yelling out, “Bring back the scanning pen!!” After all, when I am retired or once my kids are in school, my fingers will be itching to hold the scanning pen.