NYPL Debuts "World's Largest Automated Sorter of Library Materials"
Should save 60,000 hours per year of staff time
LJ Staff -- Library Journal, 04/22/2010
The New York Public Library (NYPL) today debuts what it calls "the world's largest automated sorter of
library materials, a 238 foot, room-sized system of conveyors, lasers, computers and book bins," at the new Library Services Center in Long Island City.(Here's coverage in the New York Times.)That refurbished warehouse happens to be in Queens, outside of NYPL's service area, but it's all part of a strategy to streamline processes and also move certain functions out of central facilities so they can be used for public service.
The library explained how the sorter works:
When a book located at a branch in mid-town is requested by a library user in the Bronx, for example, the volume must go through a sorting process to reach its final destination. In fiscal year 2009, the Library sorted nearly 11 million items by hand. The Library's new automated book sorter, manufactured by FKI Logistex, sorts 7,500 items per hour, doubling the capacity of materials the library can process with the same staff on a daily basis and decreasing the patron wait time for requested items. Once a volume is placed on the 238-foot sorter, its bar code is read by a laser scanner. Based on patron request information from the Library's catalog system, the item is automatically routed to a bin set for delivery to one of the Library's 90 sites. When the bin arrives at the local branch, all its contents are automatically checked in through a single barcode scan. It is estimated that this feature will save 60,000 hours per year of staff time.
