British Library packs its least requested items into new, robot-operated facility in Leeds

The British Library's just taken the wraps off a new facility up in Leeds where they'll now house some lesser used items (things like patent specs and Martin Amis' diner receipts). The new digs are a £26 million (that's about $43 million) building in West Yorkshire controlled by seven robot operators capable of pulling items and taking them to a retrieval area when they've been requested by librarians. Hit the BBC Source link to check out the futuristic system for yourself.

[John Stathakis Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:15PM]

Just what we need in this world, another toothy English grin.

[kris120890 Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:18PM]

@John Stathakis
Better than a fat grin where you cant tell if they are grinning

[d0mth0ma5 Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:24PM]

@John Stathakis Pipe down John.

I'm struggling against making a Yorkshire joke. This is going to free up a lot of space at The British Library for new/expanded materials though.

[GingerFox Posted Dec 3rd 2009 6:06PM]

@John Stathakis

Fuck you.

[glamajamma Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:20PM]

Should have just made it digital and lock up the originals.

[thehamsterman Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:27PM]

@glamajamma i was just about to say that. Wouldn't digital archives be cheaper then maintaining robots?

[Bad Manners Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:46PM]

@glamajamma In a video on the BBC news website, a librarian answers that question. In a nutshell: too many books, too little time.

[SamUK Posted Dec 4th 2009 7:04AM]

@glamajamma

No because in britain we have a little thing called history, we like to keep that intact.

[kid Posted Dec 4th 2009 7:10PM]

@SamUK

DON'T RESIST

[dustandechoes91 Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:21PM]

Santa Clara University in silicon valley has one. Its pretty cool to watch.

[Cheesestring13 Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:22PM]

I live in Leeds :)

[Jamma Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:23PM]

@Cheesestring13 MOT!!

[kris120890 Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:23PM]

@Cheesestring13
I live in barnsley.

[Joe Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:25PM]

@kris120890 Fail.

[Cheesestring13 Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:28PM]

@Jamma haha, no I'm not
@kris120890 agreed, with Joe (which is also my name :P) you fail!

[kris120890 Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:35PM]

@Cheesestring13
Coming from people who live in leeds that just happens to be known as the shithole of yorkshire.

[Cheesestring13 Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:37PM]

@kris120890 Yeah, you're right, I wasn't born in Leeds and I'm leaving next year I reckon :)

[Seven Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:44PM]

@Cheesestring13

I used to live in Leeds, then moved to Nottingham. Nottingham FTW! :)

[Tommo Posted Dec 3rd 2009 6:01PM]

I live in Leeds.
Its nice! The center anyway, i dont go elsewhere

[d0mth0ma5 Posted Dec 3rd 2009 6:04PM]

@(Unverified) +1 on that. My 2nd home.

[ilh Posted Dec 3rd 2009 6:29PM]

@kris120890
I work in Leeds and hate the place but seriously, the shithole of Yorkshire has to be Dewsbury or Bradistan.

[lainofthewired Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:22PM]

Nice setup until the robots decide we humans shouldn't be reading certain books...

[Joe Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:24PM]

I NEVER thought I would see my home town mentioned on Engadget, never mind libraries.

[jol Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:27PM]

This is seriously cool. I had this idea a while ago, I'm glad that somebody has been reading my mind.

[Eternity Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:29PM]

Well I for one welcome our new Librarian robot overlords. Collecting all the world's analog knowledge Google hasn't tapped yet for Skynet's birth.

[Lewis Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:55PM]

Us British never get portrayed in the best light! Whenever I look at American media they're either showing -
A) Gordon Brown
B) Susan Boyle
C) This Guy

[Ethan Posted Dec 3rd 2009 6:54PM]

Must be easier to keep the books in shape without all that pesky human contamination.

[Rambo Posted Dec 3rd 2009 6:58PM]

Wow, that's pretty sweet. I wonder if the librarians get bored and try to ride in one of the containers. I would.

On an unrelated note, I love how the BBC's video player can be turned up to 11.

[Laschoni Posted Dec 3rd 2009 7:15PM]

University of Louisville has one as well

[mofy Posted Dec 3rd 2009 7:47PM]

What if a librarian got lost in the warehouse, could you use a robot to find her/ him?

[asoden Posted Dec 3rd 2009 8:12PM]

The University of Nevada, Reno has one too.

If something ever went wrong and they lost the data that says where everything is, they would really be screwed. As far as I know, the books in the UNR system are not stored in any logical order. They just put them in bins of similar sized books and let the system keep track of what is where.

[cptcrackers Posted Dec 3rd 2009 8:43PM]

The Oviatt Library at CSUN had already had this for a while when I started there in 1990:

http://library.csun.edu/About_the_Library/asrs.html

[Bort Simpson Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:34PM]

Urgh.. I dont want to see robots making out in back in the rare-used books sections while I'm looking for the Necronomicon 2 by Douglas Adams.

[H2B Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:34PM]

This isn't news!

Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA has implemented this system when the library was rebuilt earlier this year

[Boss Skill Posted Dec 4th 2009 5:42AM]

@H2B This is News because it's the British Library, not exactly a small library.

[Chirimoya Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:39PM]

I wouldn't really say this is in Leeds, it's in Boston Spa - a little village in the middle of nowhere, Yorkshire approximately half way between Leeds and York. It is lumped in with Leeds though for local government purposes.

[frogman1 Posted Dec 4th 2009 12:55AM]

yea my college uchicago has been building one of these for a couple years now. has anyone actually been in one of these libraries? whats the interface like?

[Wwhat Posted Dec 4th 2009 4:29AM]

@frogman1
You are the student, pop over to one and report back :)
Maybe make a youtube docudrama?
You can be the resident expert who's in the know.

[frogman1 Posted Dec 4th 2009 5:10AM]

@Wwhat I totally would if the damn building ever gets finished. For now its just a fenced in mess, thats loud and ugly...

[Wwhat Posted Dec 4th 2009 4:28AM]

My adblocking makes it impossible for me to see BBC embedded news videos, and talking of ads, the BBC news site has like 4 different orgs (although I think 3 or all 4 are actually owned by google now) that run trackers/ads on it, how reliable..

Ironic that their need for money and their ads block their propaganda (which represents a good 40% of their news at least), I guess it shows you have to make a choice what you want to do with your victims eh.

[SamUK Posted Dec 4th 2009 7:06AM]

@Wwhat

Oh do shut up.

[Wwhat Posted Dec 4th 2009 10:47AM]

You don't have to defend the BBC just because you are a brit or have UK in your name you know, there are plenty of brits who know what's what.

[Kaph Posted Dec 4th 2009 11:24AM]

@Wwhat

Uhrm, BBC News has no ads, andddd has to be completely unbiased as it's funded by the taxpayer?

[Kaph Posted Dec 4th 2009 11:23AM]

Uhrm, BBC News has no ads, andddd has to be completely unbiased as it's funded by the taxpayer?