INSIDE STORY:

Robots could soon be selecting and scanning library books on request for delivery over the Internet. John Shreeve reports.

AS A WRITER, I sometimes get into a blind panic trying to hunt information down. If what I need isn't on the web, I'm in real trouble. Especially if I'm working to a tight deadline. A worst case scenario involves losing valuable hours leafing through print tomes and journals at local public and university libraries.

University students have the same problem. If the book or research paper they want is not on the web, they are forced to scour the library stacks to find it. The fact is, the bulk of resources in libraries are still only available in printed form. Admittedly they're neatly numbered and arranged on shelves, but that doesn't stop them being a chore to thumb through.

This looks set to change, however. Researchers at John Hopkins University say that the bibliographic footwork in libraries of the future could be handled by robots linked to the Internet.

Remote Browsing
This isn't as far off as you might think. The researchers have already designed a robot that can scoot around a library and locate a book requested by a user. It can also remove it from the shelf and carry it to a nearby scanning station. In the final version of this system, the John Hopkins' team envisage a second robot at the scanning station, which would scan specific pages from the book the user is interested in. The user would then be able to browse through the book over the Internet from any location.

Along with providing convenient access to books and journals, systems like this could enable libraries to convert large volumes of printed material into digital format. The robots would do the labor-intensive scanning work. There are many advantages to this. Automated scanning systems could help libraries preserve historical collections in electronic form.

This year the John Hopkins' researchers plan to use their system to digitize a medieval French manuscript and Roman wood engravings from the 17th century. But the question is - will library archivists let the prototype robot anywhere near their precious tomes?

Today's Robots
Robots are already being used in a handful of libraries around the world. But none of them perform the complicated tasks for which the John Hopkins' robots are being designed. At the main library of California State University at Northridge, for example, an automated system retrieves boxes of books from a storage site and takes them to a processing station where a library worker picks out requested items.

But John Hopkins researchers are confident that their sophisticated robot system will be up and running within the next few years. Clearly, it will be sometime before such technology becomes commonplace. But when it does students, journalists, authors, and anyone else involved in research should be able to get any book or document they need over the Internet. A blessing when those deadlines loom...

DCLnews Editorial

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