Can you disable the exit alarm in a library?

[John]

Hi,

I have a question that may sound strange to you.
I used to go a library at a university some years ago.
A student used to sit at the library exit where they had a kind of
electronic alarm that would go off if you have with you a book that
has not been checked out by the librarian. Presumably the student was
there to take care of things when the alarm did go off.

My question is can the student disable the alarm right there at the
exit if he or she wants to? Is there an alarm switch at the exit that
can be turned on or off?

This question has bothered me for many years for a personal reason. I
would appreciate it if you share your knowledge in this matter.
Thanks!


John

 

[A.J.]

There is no reason to shut off the alarm. Once it has gone off, it will
reset by itself.

Same as those gadgets in department stores and video rental stores.

 

[fly in the ointment]

A.J. wrote
....

There is no reason to shut off the alarm. Once it has gone off, it will
reset by itself.

Same as those gadgets in department stores and video rental stores.

He wants to know how to disable the alarm.
js

 

[Octa Ex]

Hi,

I have a question that may sound strange to you.
I used to go a library at a university some years ago.
A student used to sit at the library exit where they had a kind of
electronic alarm that would go off if you have with you a book that
has not been checked out by the librarian. Presumably the student was
there to take care of things when the alarm did go off.

My question is can the student disable the alarm right there at the
exit if he or she wants to? Is there an alarm switch at the exit that
can be turned on or off?

This question has bothered me for many years for a personal reason. I
would appreciate it if you share your knowledge in this matter.
Thanks!


John

Of course it could be turned off.
Drop the power and there will be no energy to sound an alarm.
Do you suspect a deliberate hushing of the alarm to allow books to be
stolen?
X X
X
X X

 

[thesatguy]

Its the tag in the book that must be disabled - not the exit door.

 

[J. Sloud]

My question is can the student disable the alarm right there at the
exit if he or she wants to? Is there an alarm switch at the exit that
can be turned on or off?

Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) systems require a sticker or tag
be attached to the item (the book in this case). When this sticker or
tag gets within range of the dection equipment, an alarm will sound.
There are ways to defeat these systems, although the newer ones are
less prone to at least one of the common tricks. It could be a matter
of simply removing the sticker on the book, unplugging the unit, or
the defeat of the system may be a bit more creative. I won't detail
any "tricks" in a public forum, but suffice to say, these systems are
not foolproof.

 

[Frank Olson]

Its the tag in the book that must be disabled - not the exit door.

Dohhhhhh!!! Here I thought it detected "dishonorable intentions"...

 

[John]

Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) systems require a sticker or tag
be attached to the item (the book in this case). When this sticker or
tag gets within range of the dection equipment, an alarm will sound.
There are ways to defeat these systems, although the newer ones are
less prone to at least one of the common tricks. It could be a matter
of simply removing the sticker on the book, unplugging the unit, or
the defeat of the system may be a bit more creative. I won't detail
any "tricks" in a public forum, but suffice to say, these systems are
not foolproof.

Thanks for all the replies. The kind of Electronic Article
Surveillance system in question is fairly common 10 - 15 years ago in
university libraries. You had this metal bar that you push thru when
you go into and out of the library.

Let me tell you a funny story...
I was a freshman in a university. I saw a book I like in the library,
I did not have my library card with me. I put the book in my backpack
and intended to go home get the card and come back to do the proper
checkout. Why? Because I don't want anybody to get the book before me
- I wanted the book that bad. The alarm went off when I tried to exit
the library. The girl sitting there asked me to go thru it again. I
did. This time the alarm did not sound. The girl smiled and said
"don't worry, go ahead". I went home and sometime latter returned to
the library to do the proper checkout.

I have been wondering since then. Why did the alarm not go off the
second time? Did the girl turn off the alarm - seeing how nervous I
was? Did she do that out of kindness? Or was it just a fluke and the
alarm simply did not work the 2nd time around?

As I said before, it is a strange question. But it means something to
me. I was very grateful that I was not publicly humiliated - even
though I never had the intention of stealing that book. There you go,
now I told this personal story to the whole of the Internet community.


John

 

[petem]

Jonh what you are taling about are panic bar?

if so some of those bar can be connected to delay timer that can unlock an
electro magnet after a set times...
here the usual setting is 3/15 push 3 second on the bar then 15 second after
the initial push the door will unlock..
and the buzzer could still buzz or stop all depends of the settings...

the timer could be different but i think that 3/15 is the longest i've
seen..

after the ublocking delay the door wont relock untill someone do a reset on
timing device..

hope it helped

(by the way id did something similar about a video game in a video store
once...i was 17..)
the store owner was very mad at me cause i got out of his store with a video
game cartridge...but he didnt do a thing cause i came back with the cash to
rent it 10 minute later and thats how he knew i had the cartridge

i remember that he got all those door under electro magnet control the next
week...
ADT must have loved me in those days...LOL!!!!

 

[StealthUK]

John, if you had left your card at home why didn't you just hand it to
the librarian to reserve it for you until you came back?