Robotic Self-Service Book Loan Kiosk Increases Student Access to Newman Library Materials

December 3, 2019

Baruch College students are now able to borrow course textbooks from a new robotic loan kiosk on the first floor of the Information & Technology Building. The kiosk is located across from the Subotnick Financial Services Center and next to a student lounge area.

The kiosk holds 210 duplicate copies of the most heavily circulated textbooks from the Library’s reserve desk.  Baruch students are able to borrow from the kiosk at any time that the building is open. This includes hours when the library’s circulation desk is closed and during midterm and final exam periods when the library is open 24 hours.

The robotic shelving system in the kiosk ensures that when an item is returned it is immediately re-shelved and available for loan to another student. Receipts for the borrowing and return transactions are sent to the user via email. The loan period and overdue fines are the same as for borrowing reserve textbooks over the counter.

The kiosk was funded by the student technology fee and the textbooks were funded by the Baruch College Association.

The glass front on the kiosk lets users see how the robotic arm retrieves and re-shelves books. Step-by-step instructions on how to borrow and return items are provided on the kiosk’s touchscreen. The instructions also appear on the covers of the books displayed through the glass on the front of the kiosk. These special book covers were designed by undergraduate students in the College’s New Media Arts program.

In addition, there is a two-minute video that shows how to operate the kiosk.

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