Library opens at Pittsburg/Bay Point Station

BART is the first transit system in the nation with an automated book lending machine

BART has teamed up with the Contra Costa County Public Library system to set up a novel automated book-lending system at the Pittsburg/Bay Point station.

A vending-like machine located at the station will hold some 400 books that can be checked out for free by anyone with a valid Contra Costa County library card. A patron will insert the card, get access to the available titles and check out up to three books. A robotic arm will retrieve the books. They must be returned to the book-lending machine within three weeks.

The public will have access to the machine during BART's normal hours of operation. The stock will include both fiction and nonfiction titles.

The county public library plans to install three other machines at the transit village at the BART station in Pleasant Hill, a site in Byron/Discovery Bay and another location, not yet determined.