A self-checkout machine at GW's Gelman Library. I rarely enter Gelman since it's the undergrad library at GW and law school generally doesn't demand a lot in the way of library research anyway. But I've had reasons to visit a bit recently and have enjoyed the self-checkout machine immensely. The self-checkout combined with the online catalog means I can get the call numbers for the books I want before I go to the library, walk in, grab the books from the shelves, slide them through the self-checkout, and be on my way w/out ever having to interact w/another human being. It's kind of strange, actually. The first time I did this I sort of expected the alarms to go off as I left the library with a bag full of books that no librarian had even touched. But no; the self-checkout machine has the alarm desensitizer thingy, too, so it's all good.

Do librarians like these machines because they free librarians from the mundane task of checking out books, or do librarians dislike these machines because they threaten library jobs?