California
libraries launch
pioneering automated service:
Library-a-Go-Go and Go Library
Originally
from Sweden where they are called “Bokamaten”
machines, the United States’ first automated
book lending machines are in California. With
support from the California State Library through
a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA)
grant, this summer two libraries—Contra
Costa County Library and Yuba
County Library—each have the robotic
machines which check-out and check-in materials to
library card holders in busy or remote spots where
there are no library branches.
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Yuba
County Library Director, Loren MccRory, introduces the
GoLibrary automated book lending machine to local
media.
[Photo courtesy Yuba County Library]
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Close-up
of automated book lending machine in the Wheatland Community
Center.
[Photo courtesy Yuba County Library]
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Called
Library
a-Go-Go in Contra Costa, and GoLibrary in Yuba
County, each free standing book lending device
holds up to 500 books. The self-contained
collections target the demographic of each
machine's location. In Contra Costa, for
example, the Pittsburgh Bay Area Rapid Transit
(BART) station Library-a-Go-Go includes popular
adult and young adult fiction and non-fiction
books which interest commuters. The soon-to-open
Library-a-Go-Go in the family-friendly Discovery
Bay mall will offer more children’s books. And
Yuba County’s Go Library in rural Wheatland’s
community center, which is also opening soon, will
hold books appealing to both residents of the
nearby senior center, and to families using the
neighboring athletic field.
Automated
service good for urban and rural communities
This
unique California libraries project is funded by
an Institute of Museum and Library Services
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)/LSTA
grant via the California State Library. The
equipment purchase was coordinated by Califa, a
membership-based California library network and
service consortium designed for cost effective
delivery of services.
State
Librarian of California Susan Hildreth addresses
media at Contra Costa County Library
Library-a-Go-Go opening at Pittsburg BART station
May 29, 2008.
[Photo courtesy Laura Martinengo]
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Audience
views Contra Costa Library Library-a-Go-Go
opening at Pittsburg BART station May 29, 2008.
[Photo courtesy Laura Martinengo]
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After
the Contra Costa County Library, which serves
917,886 residents, submitted a grant proposal to
acquire the automatic equipment for the busy
Contra Costa BART station, State Librarian Susan
Hildreth quickly saw how the machine would also
benefit rural California communities with few or
no branches. At Hildreth’s direction, the
California State Library included the smaller,
rural Yuba County Library, which serves 66,734
residents, in the project. “The automated
lending machine project is an excellent
opportunity” Hildreth says, ”to gauge how this
futuristic technology might serve both urban and
rural environments.”
Contra
Costa and Yuba County partners
Both
Contra Costa and Yuba County have attracted
partners to help launch their innovative book
lending stations. The Contra Costa County Library
has partnered with BART, a local shopping center
and the Bay Area Library and Information System (BALIS)
to incorporate Library-a-Go-Go into the
fast-growing East Bay’s community hubs. The Yuba
County Library north of Sacramento has partnered
with a city-owned community center near a baseball
park and senior retirement village in the town of
Wheatland where the unit there has been installed
on the center’s external wall and will be
available 24/7.
Cathy
Sanford, project coordinator for the Contra Costa
County Library, and Loren MccRory, director of the
Yuba County Library, both report the project has
already generated media attention, as well as
enthusiasm among staff, community and local
government officials. Contra Costa County
supervisor Federal Glover spoke at the Pittsburg/Bay
Point BART station launch on Thursday, May 29,
2009, an event to which the Contra Costa Times
gave upbeat
coverage. State Librarian of California Susan
Hildreth also attended the launch. “The first
four days after opening [on May 29], we loaned 45
books,” says Sanford. "We see this as a way
to put the fundamental resources of a library into
our smaller communities," says MccRory
Califa
provides further information about the GoLibrary
equipment and operation at http://califa.org/golibrary.php.
Or please contact Susan Kantor-Horning, Califa
Library Group at (650) 863-6552 or email at skantor@califa.org.
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