[WEB4LIB] Re: Librarian Bots To The Rescue!

[Barbara Bernhart]

Here is an interesting reaction from an actual library user, after I asked whether
she thought librarians would go the way of dinaosaurs:

"There's much talk of that.  I think it's more likely that the vehicle for what they do
will change.  What they do is real, and irreplaceable.  I walk into Pacifica library
and they brighten and call to me that such and such is here that I might like, and help
me with all sorts of oddball seekings (and do so with awesome intellect and insight). 
So.... this function will always be needed (hence Giga, etc.) but the tools will be
different.  I think they will become expert tool users, which is really what they
already are, combined with being expert "translators" (translating what a client is
trying to explain he wants into something that can be effected)"
Barbara Bernhart

--- Roy Tennant <roy.tennant at ucop.edu> wrote:
> I hate to rain on their robotic parade (well, maybe I don't!), but they 
> have done an astonishingly incomplete economic analysis. Admittedly, 
> this is work done by a graduate student, but nonetheless after a lengthy 
> discussion of the costs of the robotic system, the only comparison made 
> with any other (one might say more attainable) scenario was limited to a 
> two paragraph discussion of ILL costs! How about a web-based requesting 
> interface linked to a live, warm, student assistant?
> 
> All of the costs for special boxes, lost storage space (due to the 
> necessity of not having any of the boxes touch!), etc. would disappear, 
> not mention the costs related to creating, manufacturing, and 
> maintaining the robot. The unfortunate thing is that their proposed 
> system may actually make some sense in particular circumstances, but it 
> is difficult to tell when the work is too incomplete from which to make 
> informed decisions.
> Roy Tennant
> 
> 
> On Thursday, June 27, 2002, at 05:01 AM, Blake Carver wrote:
> 
> > "In Remote Library Stacks, an All-Seeing, Scanning Robot"
> >
> > Here's One from The NYTimes on libraries of the future, partially run 
> > by by
> > robotic systems linked to the Internet. They now have a robot that can 
> > move
> > about inside a library and locate a book requested by a user, take it 
> > off
> > the shelf and carry it to a nearby scanning station. In the system's
> > envisaged final version, a second robot at the scanning station would 
> > scan
> > specific pages of the book that the user was interested in. The user 
> > would
> > then be able to leaf through the book over the Internet from any 
> > location.
> >
> > Here's the Realllllly Log URL:
> > http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/27/technology/circuits/27NEXT.html?ex=1025841600&
> > en=1f5771200b66974d&ei=5006&partner=ALTAVISTA
> >
> > This project is over at Johns Hopkins, and has A Web Site.
> > http://dkc.mse.jhu.edu/CAPM/
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------
> > Blake Carver
> > Web Librarian
> > The Ohio State University Libraries
> > carver.50 at osu.edu
> > 247-7424
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 


=====
Barbara Bernhart
Tel.: 415-452-8407
http://www.astragate.net/bbernhart/index.html

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