Thank you to all who responded to my inquiry regarding auto doors. Responses below:

OG email:
We need to replace our exterior door. It currently has an automatic door opener that is the push button style. We're not very happy with that style- it makes the door difficult to open if you don't use the button. The button is slow. The button is also at toddler level and takes a lot of abuse. I would love to have a "Star Trek" door that just slides open when you walk up to it. If your library has one of these types of doors, please let me know if you like it. What are maintenance costs? What do you do if they stop working? Do they handle wind/snow well? I would love any advice you have to give.

Responses:
We had Assa Abloy automatic sliding doors installed several years ago and they work very well. Very little issues or maintenance over the years, nothing our DPS department wasn't able to take care of.

We have two sets of those. My observations:

• It's about once or twice a year that we have to have the exterior door serviced and the service techs come from Grand Rapids. It's never less than $100 for the service. Though honestly, I wish my plumbing and electrical issues were that cheap.
• When you first turn them on in the morning they run slow for the first couple of open/closes but then they are fine. People will sometimes run into them in the morning though because they expect them to move faster and that can throw them off the track.
• We don't seem to have any trouble with wind or snow. Our door is perpendicular to the lake like yours is to the water, so the wind doesn't generally blow straight into the door.
• Occasionally mom's will complain because their kids can run right at the door and it doesn't stop them but it's so infrequent I don't really worry about it.
• You have to keep the track clean, but sweeping works fine.
• We have the push pads at our Manton location and I prefer the automatic open.

We have the same kind of push button door. There is a way to reprogram the computer component of the door to different opening intervals that may solve part of your issue. We changed ours to stay open max to accomodate a specific customer. Though I have nothing for the toddler abuse. I've had the slide open doors in other libraries and they do tend to struggle the colder the weather is, but maybe if they are brand new that won't be the case. Good luck! Mary

We have a new exterior door and added an automatic opener to both the outer and inner doors. We haven't had them before but I'm really happy about the speed and "resistance". Since this is new it is hard to judge but these openers seem a lot easier to pull open than others I've experienced, maybe it's new technology? The open buttons are also wireless so we didn't have to run cables.

We have the same situation that you currently have and like it as much as you do, lol. But my previous library has a "Star Trek" door and it is great! Since I'm no longer using the staff door, I used it much more often now that I'm just a visitor and it's super easy, never fails (that I'm aware of), and does a better job of keeping the cold/heat out than our current push button door. This is because it closes faster although I'm guessing that if you take a long time to go through it, like with a wheelchair or something, it would stay open as long as it takes you to go through. At least I never heard of anyone getting caught in the door. Actually, now that I think of it, they replaced the push button door at their branch library with an automatic door, so I think that means they were happy about it. You can reach out to the Farmington Community Library if you want more specifics, but I think you'll be happy with an automatic door.