Seattle Public Library Robotic RFID Book Sorting System

[shadyladynz08]

god i hope this never happens in our library...its so souless

[TheAspenTom]

@shadyladynz08 It's not at all useless. It sorts all of the branch materials into separate bins, but it also sorts by section, taking the books, turning them, and even placing them on the book carts to be taken to the stacks by the pages. Plenty of other libraries are adding them now, too.

[shadyladynz08]

LOL, I didnt say useless, i said SOULESS! Looks like a factory line..yuk

[TheAspenTom]

@shadyladynz08 Sorry not to have read what you said more carefully! Yes, soulless could be used to describe it. But it can move thousands of books to their carts in an hour, when the human factor kicks in again. I suppose it is no more soulless than the factories that manufacture books, though. Having been a page a long time ago, I guess I appreciate this invention that I didn't even dare dream about before.

[shadyladynz08]

LOL thats OK. A page??? Must be an American term that we don't use here in NZ. We are called Library Assistants but we do so much more than just issuing and discharging books and AV. I still don't like this "invention" but I guess wahc to their own.

[TheAspenTom]

@shadyladynz08 Pages (I used to be one!) are usually part-time employees who shelve books, move them around, fetch paper for copy machines, and so on. You might say that they are one level below "library clerks" who do more office work, staff information desks (not reference desks, normally, though) and who have mid-level duties. Some libraries also have library technitians, who are one level up from the clerks. And degreed librarians are the professional staff who staff manage libraries.

[shadyladynz08]

Thanks for clarifying that for me! :)

[QuesoChino]

RFID is an exceptional tool

[bertazoid]

why does this need to be automated?

Think how much all that equipment costs just to sort one single book every 30 seconds. more economic to have labour intensive process.

A person could do it just as fast if not faster, by looking at the cover.

Don't get me wrong though I love robotics.

[QuesoChino]

No - labor is one of the two most expensive process in business. The robotic system is about 1/10 the cost of labor.

[iamacyborg]

Then why isn't it the case that all labor is performed by robots?

Obviously, there's a trade off between the cost of building, maintaining, and powering a robotic system versus hiring someone to do the work.

[hilsenberg2010]

not cool say no to rifd

[hyperkris]

Why say no to RFID?

[Neeblor]

wtf

[hurovi]

kool