After 12 months of construction, the University Library’s Online Remote Collections Access (ORCA) is fully constructed but not yet “fully operational,” according to Henry DuBois, the associate dean of the University Library.
Essentially, ORCA is empty. The majority of the books that will soon fill the shelves of ORCA will be primarily research books and books not commonly used by students. Books that are used more frequently will continue to be shelved using the conventional method.
“Not all service points have been relocated, [and] new furniture and equipment will be installed over the next several months,” said DuBois.
The Cal State Long Beach library’s new robotic retriever has skills even R2-D2 couldn’t match.
Standing at three stories, the robotic system was designed with the intention of saving space in the library. ORCA will store up to 850,000 books in an area that requires only one-seventh of the space of previous conventional shelving methods.
The library intends on using the extra space for individual and group study, more computer workstations and more general room for library services.
The robotic retrieval system resembles a forklift on railings, and uses hydraulic engineering to move as it goes through a three-aisle building that is lined floor to ceiling with stacks of removable bins containing books.
After students make a request for a book that is listed to be in ORCA through the library’s COAST online search database, ORCA will get a signal to locate the bin that contains the desired book.
From there it takes the bin to one of six end-of-aisle workstations monitored by a trained staff. At this point, the staff is shown exactly where the book is located within the bin and sends it on a conveyer belt to the Circulation Desk.
The entire process is estimated to take about five minutes.
Four flat-screen televisions are also being installed in the Starbucks on the first floor of the library, one of which will enable library users to watch ORCA in action as books are being retrieved.
ORCA has cost an estimated $2.25 million. According to DuBois, California voters approved the bonds for higher education construction projects that funded the entirety of ORCA’s formation.
“The funds have absolutely no relation to student fees or the library book budget,” DuBois said.
