An Enhanced Robotic Library System for an Off-Site Shelving Facility

This paper describes our continued work of a unique robotics project, Comprehensive Access to Printed Materials (CAPM), within the context of libraries. As libraries provide a growing array of digital library services and resources, they continue to acquire large quantities of printed material. This combined pressure of providing electronic and print-based resources and services has led to severe space constraints for many libraries, especially academic research libraries. Consequently, many libraries have built or plan to build off-site shelving facilities to accommodate printed materials. However, given that these locations are not usually within walking distance of the main library, access to these materials, specifically the ability to browse, is greatly reduced. Libraries with such facilities offer extensive physical delivery options from these facilities, sometimes offering multiple deliveries per day. Even with such delivery options, the ability to browse in real-time remains absent. The goal of the CAPM Project is to build a robotic, on-demand and batch scanning system that will allow for real-time browsing of printed materials through a web interface. We envisage the system will work as follows: an end user will identify that a monograph is located in an off-site facility. The user will engage the CAPM system that, in turn, will initiate a robot that will retrieve the requested item. The robot will deliver this item to another robotic system that will open the item and turn the pages automatically

Emerging Tools for Evaluating Digital Library Services: Conceptual Adaptations of LibQUAL+ and CAPM

The paper describes ways to examine how digital libraries are valued by their users, and explores ways of permitting the allocation of resources to areas of user-identified need. Pertinent models from marketing, economics, and library assessment and evaluation are reviewed, focussing on the application of the LibQUAL+TM and CAPM methodologies. Each methodology, which was developed independently, provides a useful framework for evaluating digital library services. The paper discusses the benefits of a combined methodology that would provide even greater potential for evaluation of digital library services

Improving Library Material Shelving Time By Implementing An Autonomous Book Truck

DissertationThe prompt shelving of returned library books is an important task in any traditional library. To help speed up the shelving process, this dissertation proposes an automated book truck capable of moving returned library books from the return desk back to the shelves. By making use of the design and creation research methodology, software algorithms, sensors and robotic hardware are evaluated and then selected to construct an autonomous book truck. It is determined that an autonomous book truck should consist of a robotic body that has the same footprint as an average human. Furthermore, the sensor skirt should consist of at least a LIDAR or equivalent sensor to be used for obstacle avoidance and that sonar sensors should be used for localisation. A simulator is created to test the selected components with the simulation data suggesting that shelving time – and therefore the dead time of returned books – is reduced by a significant factor. The research also provides a possible prototype which can be used for further development.

A Robotic Library System for an Off-Site Shelving Facility

This paper describes a unique robotics project, Comprehensive Access to Printed Materials (CAPM), within the context of libraries. As libraries provide a growing array of digital library services and resources, they continue to acquire large quantities of printed material. This combined pressure of providing electronic and print-based resources and services has led to severe space constraints for many libraries, especially academic research libraries. Consequently, many libraries have built or plan to build off-site shelving facilities to accommodate printed materials. An autonomous mobile robotic library system has been developed to retrieve items from bookshelves and carry them to scanning stations located in the off-site shelving facility. In subsequent stages, remote users will be able to trigger this process through a web interface in order to achieve real-time browsing of printed materials. Enhanced commercial robot systems are used in this project. The developments of the robot design, control systems, simulations, experiments and results are presented