As it does every Wednesday, my American Libraries email from the ALA arrived in my inbox. It's pretty dense, but I usually glean about five articles from each email, and the best article from this week was this one, I think:
Library "Robots" Now Operational, by Ellen Griffin
I immediately thought of one of mine and Jen's favorite songs from Flight of the Conchords:
As much humor as might come from this, I think this is a very elegant solution to the voracious space appetites of libraries. Many libraries are embracing the all off-site high-density shelving (and a great deal of hyphens, as well). The hybrid approach deployed by SF State I think is a great solution. First, there are still books in the library - high-use items, new items, as well as reference materials. Remember what I keep saying about library design - that libraries need an identity (read: need books on the shelves)? This system allows that, as well as improved access to those items. SF State estimates in the article that the robot system can retrieve a book for a patron in less time than it would take a patron to search for the book, find it on the shelf, and check it out. That's great - and I imagine it would also help cut down on misshelved items. In addition, patrons can request materials from their desktop interface with the OPAC. Very impressive. Here's a video of the robot in action:
What are your thoughts on this? What problems can you see?
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