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Loaning books from Oulu City Library is now officially far more fun as the library has installed a self-issuing machine which laughs or possibly makes animal noises. 
Though the new self-service device will undoubtedly make borrowing books more fun for adults, it is located in the children's section of the library and is primarily aimed at younger readers. As the book is scanned through the machine plays jolly, fruit machine type music and bursts out laughing (in what sounds a bit like an animal laughing) when the book is removed from the machine. 'This is not the first children's borrowing machine but it is the first one that laughs,' the head librarian for children's and teenager's books Meri Vaara told the Kaleva. 'We needed a new automatioc machine because the table surfaces of the adults ones were too small,' she continued. 'The laughter is an added bonus.' The librarian added the noises also help young people to learn easily how to use the automatic loaning machines. They have had very positive feedback about them and both children and adults have enjoyed using them. Though she admitted that the noises might get a bit irritating if you're a lot of books. Automatic loaning machines are becoming increasingly widespread in Finnish libraries, allowing librarians to concentrate on helping with searches. Before long, increasing numbers of these machines may well be laughing.
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