[OPLINLIST] Tracking device on circulating bicycles

[James Hill]

Hi Kevin,

We don't have tracking devices, but our bike share is a little different than others; it does have a bluetooth lock that tells us when it's locked, but not it's minute-by-minute location.

We partnered with the Health District and city transit department and have kiosks at the library and within the community. If you're doing internal-only checkouts, it won't be hard to keep track of who has which bike. I will add that, if possible, try to get a bike that pretty different than anything commonly seen in town, that way if a bike does go missing it will be quickly recognizable by the police.

Concerning reporting theft, that's hard to do. Locally our police will try to retrieve a bike when needed, but we haven't successfully been able to treat it as theft without going to small claims court. The rationale is that it's not theft if you gave the patron permission to use the bike—lending periods be damned.

This is the company we've used for our bike share in Chillicothe: https://onbikeshare.com/

I'm happy to answer any other questions. Feel free to call or email.
James


_________________________________
James Hill
(he/him/his)

Executive Director
Chillicothe and Ross County Public Library
POB 185
40 W. 5th St.
Chillicothe OH  45601

jhill at crcpl.org
740-447-8200 mobile
740-702-4162 desk


LIBRARY MISSION—Enriching our community by providing free access to information, fostering a love for reading, promoting lifelong learning, and creating a welcoming space for connections and collaboration.

________________________________
From: OPLINLIST <oplinlist-bounces at lists.oplin.org> on behalf of Kevin Clark via OPLINLIST <oplinlist at lists.oplin.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 11:05 AM
To: oplinlist at lists.oplin.org <oplinlist at lists.oplin.org>
Subject: [OPLINLIST] Tracking device on circulating bicycles

We are starting a bike share program with the Clark County Combined Health District. The Health District has received grant funds to purchase items to begin a pilot program in Clark County.

Our question, due to the cost of these items, does any library that circulates bikes put a tracking device on the bike to help in recovery if it is not returned in a timely fashion?   The bikes would still belong to the Health District and the Library would be the distribution point circulating the bikes in a normal library manner.  The person I am working with at the Health Dept has stated that she would have no problem filing a police report to get their property (the bike) back after a predetermined overdue time frame.

Thank you in advance for your time and expertise in this matter


Kevin Clark
Reference Manager
Clark County Public Library
201 S. Fountain Ave.
Springfield, OH 45506
937-328-6903
kclark at ccplohio.org
www.ccplohio.org<http://www.ccplohio.org/>

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