Bentonville, AR... Bentonville Public Library (BPL) announces final selection for naming the new state-of-the-art Tech Logic automated materials handling (AMH) RFID system.
One hundred and fourteen submissions were narrowed down to the final eleven candidates by library leadership. Finalists are:
- AMHy - Automatic Materials Handler
- B.E.A.S.T. - Book Eater and Sorter Too!
- B.O.B. - Belly of Books
- BookBot
- Bookie Monster
- Bookworm
- B.O.S.S. - Back on the Shelf Sooner
- ChewBOOKa
- Dewey
- R2Book2
- TyrannoSORTus Rex
Patrons can submit their vote from now until close on Saturday, July 6, in the ballot box on display inside the library. Patrons are asked to submit only one vote per person from the selection provided on the ballot.
The name of the new book sorter will be announced the week of July 8. Anyone who submitted the winning name will be contacted ahead of time using the contact information on the library account associated with the submission.
“So many people submitted fantastic names. Our community is so creative!” said Library Director Hadi Dudley. “It was so hard to narrow it down to 11.”
Honorable mentions BPL would like to celebrate include Sorty McBookface, Sir Sorts-a-Lot (Baby Got Books!), The Sorting Hat, SORTimus Prime, and Bifrost (a bridge to the nine realms/bins), but there were so many interesting and fun names. Also admirable were many submissions that played on the words book, bin, and Bentonville/Benton County.
In its first month, the new book sorter has circulated 34,636 items with an accuracy rate of 97.50%, meaning the machine gets each item to the correct bin almost 100% of the time. In 2023 alone, BPL’s circulation increased an unprecedented 33,000 items, an average of over 100 additional items daily. That number is expected to grow as the population of Benton County increases. The machine was selected, in part, because it can be easily upgraded to 15 bins as circulation increases with the community’s demand.
Staff find the advanced automated sorting feature frees their time to work more closely with patrons, and patrons delight in watching through the viewing window as the machine transports their books and drops them in the designated bin.
Tech Logic is a sole source, proprietary vendor for certain RFID hardware and software installed at Bentonville Public Library.
For more information about the Bentonville Public Library expansion, please visit the Bentonville Bond Extension page for BPL.