All eyes on LRS as library looks to the future
August 2014
In a period of just three weeks, more than 300,000 items from the Blake Library’s lesser-used collection were moved off the shelf and into their new home, 20 metres below our new Alumni Green.
UTS’s state-of-the-art, underground Library Retrieval System (LRS) was completed in July following 18 months of construction – a huge milestone for the university. Following this, Richard Crookes Construction and Dematic (who built the LRS) handed it over to the Library for loading.
Mal Booth, University Librarian, says he was impressed with how quickly all the books were loaded.
“The loading process involved a degree of complexity with a number of different systems having to speak to one another but was actually a lot faster than we thought,” he says.
“Our removalists were loading an average of 20,000 books a day over the semester break, made possible by the use of RFID tags and scanners.”
More than 300,000 of the Blake Library's lesser-used items are now stored in the underground LRS.
More than 300,000 of the Blake Library's lesser-used items are now stored in the underground LRS.
How to: request a book
As soon as the first books were loaded into the LRS and in the system, they were being requested.
“We didn’t know how serious some of the requests being made were at first, however it was great to see people eager to try out the system,” explains Booth.
Initially, being semester break, a maximum of 30 books were being requested a day. This is expected to grow to as many as 90 books a day during peak periods.
“I think some people thought the process of requesting books was going to be difficult but all it involves is hitting the ‘request from LRS’ button in the catalogue. You can even give us your mobile number and we’ll send you an SMS when the book is ready to be collected from Blake Library.”
Seven deliveries are currently being made to the Blake Library per day (Monday to Friday), and four a day on the weekend. The deliveries are roughly at two-hour intervals.
Find out more about how to request a book in this new video or visit the Library website.
Room to move: what's new for the library?
The number of shelves in the library has been significantly reduced, and the shelf height lowered, as a result of moving books into the LRS. This has a number of benefits. Having the most used items, and less books, on the shelves will make it easier to locate frequently used books. Less shelves also means there is more room for students to study.
“There’s still almost 200,000 of the most popular items on the shelves in the Blake Library for staff and students to browse,” Booth explains. “But the Library, no longer primarily a book-storage facility, can now better support teaching, learning and research at UTS”.
Plans are well underway to construct a range of new study areas across levels 2-5 which include both collaborative and quiet spaces for individual study and research.
Construction is due to commence over the Christmas break and will include the following:
Level 2:
- Group study area: combination of open plan seating and closed booths
- Digital display lounge
Level 3:
- Group study area: combination of open plan seating and closed booths
- General access computing (26 computers)
- Existing learning commons (overlooking Ultimo Rd) will remain unchanged
Level 4:
- Group study area: combination of open plan seating, closed booths and break-out spaces
- General access computing (44 computers)
Level 5:
- Relocation of Scholar Centre from level 2. It will be bigger and known as the Enhanced Researchers Centre
- Individual/quiet study area: combination of study rooms, booths and a reading area
- General access computing (32 computers)
“We hope this will meet the diverse needs of undergrad and research students using the library”, says Booth, adding the library anticipates up to 1.5 million visits in 2014.
In 2018/19, the library will relocate from Haymarket to Building 2, as part of the UTS Central project.
LRS in numbers
- Size: 13,000m³ (equivalent of five Olympic-sized swimming pools)
- First book requested: "A CRM technology model for the telecommunication industry"
- Number of items in the LRS: 325,000 (approx.)
- Number of bins in LRS: 12,000
- Total capacity: 1 million books
- Books left on the shelf: 200,000 (approx.)
- Record load into LRS in one day: 28,000 items
