[WEB4LIB] Re: Librarian Bots To The Rescue!

[Jean Hewlett]

Interesting idea.

Sonoma State University currently has a robotic book retrieval system. Their storage facility is on-site, on the ground floor of the library. The books are stored in huge stacks of
bins. The patron locates the book in their online catalog and clicks a button to request retrieval. The robot (which is not at all anthropomorphic, more like a large automated
forklift) automatically retrives the correct bin and delivers it to a processing station, where a library employee removes the book and takes it to the circulation desk.

I wonder how long it takes for a robotic scanner to scan an entire book? How does it turn the pages? Wouldn't it be less expensive to use student employees?

Jean Hewlett
University of San Francisco, North Bay Regional Campus, Santa Rosa CA
hewlett at usfca.edu

All opinions are my own, and do not represent those of my employers.

Jerry Kuntz wrote:

> My first impression was that this is a vision of a future that I guess does not include the original texts being in electronic format. Maybe all the robots have Pat Schroeder faces?
>
> ---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
> From: Blake Carver <carver.50 at osu.edu>
> Reply-To: carver.50 at osu.edu
> Date:  Thu, 27 Jun 2002 04:56:43 -0700 (PDT)
>
> >"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
> >
> >
> >
>
> --
> Jerry Kuntz
> Electronic Resources Consultant
> Ramapo Catskill Library System
> jkuntz at rcls.org
>
> --



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