PROVO — Long lines at the Provo City Library may become a thing of the past if the City Council approves a $500,000 proposal to buy the technology of the future for a new checkout system.

For several years, the library has squirreled away the cash to pay for the system, used in Utah only in the Salt Lake City and County library systems and at Utah State University's campus library. New checkout stands use radio frequencies to read a microchip tag placed in every book and with every CD and DVD.

Provo has an automated system, but the new one eliminates the need for a scanner to read each book's bar code one at a time. Instead, a library cardholder could stack books on the checkout pad and the system will read all of the books' radio frequencies at once. Each book's security system is immediately disarmed so no alarm sounds when the patron leaves the library and a receipt listing all the books is printed automatically.

"We're really jazzed about this," library director Gene Nelson said.

Provo is among the state's busiest libraries, with 1.5 million items circulated last year, an increase of 50 percent in five years. The current system is strained in several ways, from labor- intensive checkouts that include workers placing a sticker on each book to long lines and longer waits for a returned book to be reshelved.

"This will double the number of people we can help at any one time because it will double the number of checkout stands from five to 10," said Carla Zollinger, library support services manager. The plan is to have eight self-checkout stands and two staffed by library employees.

The new system would free up 370 man-hours a week, the equivalent of nine full-time employees. Nelson said the labor will be redirected to customer service and reshelving.

Provo library cardholders return 7,000 items a day. Each item is handled six to 10 times by employees before it is reshelved, a process that generally lasts three to five days. The new system would cut that to handling each item once or twice and allow employees to reshelve items in 12 hours, Zollinger said.

The Radio Frequency Identification System (RFID) will read each returned item as it is dropped into the chute near the circulation desk, check it back into the system and re-arm the security device.

Provo proposes to purchase the system from SirsiDynix, a Provo-based international library systems company that will provide its Horizon software and integrate it with hardware from 3M's SelfCheck system.

The City Council will vote on the proposal Jan. 2. The cost is $485,786, with nearly half, or $200,000, going to buy microchip tags for each item in Provo's collection. Nelson said one reason Provo waited until now to buy the system was the cost of the tags, which are now down to between 60 cents and 90 cents each because suppliers have agreed on a standardized tag. The tags are reprogrammable now, too.