- A lot of folks think that a librarian
is just someone who checks books in and out of a library for you,
but that's not true.
"Librarian" is a highly skilled profession that requires a lot of specialised training.
It's about helping people research and access knowledge,
in whatever way makes sense.
Through the 20th century, that knowledge was held in books and on microfilm tapes
stored in central buildings in each town, like this one,
as a public good,
which is actually almost miraculous when you think about it.
The modern public library is a revolutionary, wonderful idea.
Knowledge and information should be available to everyone,
not just the rich and not just the clever.
In the 21st century, that's still true.
A lot of that information might be online now
and available through our phones,
but in-depth research, searching out truth from fiction,
shouldn't be just for people who are able to understand
complex academic citations and referencing.
If you don't know how to look something up,
if you don't even know really what you're looking for,
if you don't have the words,
the librarian's job is to help you find out.
In an ideal world that's what librarians would be doing,
not pushing a cart and moving books around by hand.
That's why here at Oodi, the new Helsinki Central Library,
those books are being moved by a robot.
- This Oodi building was built last year,
so it's a pretty new building
and that's why we have a lot of new technology
and new services in here.
It has been said that it's like a living room for citizens.
So, for example, in the first floor, we have a movie theatre.
Then, in the second floor, we have things to do.
For example, 3D printers and laser cutters
and music studios, and even a kitchen.
You can play computer games.
We have VR classes there, and gaming computers.
Oodi isn't that traditional library,
so in the third floor, where we have our books,
it's not that silent space.
People can talk there freely.
And so, we have a few classrooms for silent reading.
In normal big libraries,
there's usually some kind of returning machine
that sorts the books to the right places.
We have also that here.
The customers can return books from the first floor,
and they will come, using the conveyor, to this basement
and they will be sorted by genre and language.
That's pretty basic stuff,
but we are in progress of further automating it.
So, we have a couple of robotic arms,
and then we have three mobile robots.
Those mobile robots will pick up these boxes
and they will be transferred by them to the third floor,
where staff can shelve the books.
Small part of books will be shelved by our robotic arm
that will the put the books in shelves.
And when the shelf is full,
it will be transferred by those mobile robots.
Then we have some plans to use mobile robots
in nights to scan the books with RFID antennas,
so we know if there's any books in wrong places.
Those mobile robots that we are using
are planned so that they can avoid collisions with people.
If someone gets in front of our robot
it will calculate new routes
and find another way to get to the right position.
At least at this point, there hasn't been any accidents
or things like that, so the robots and humans
have been getting together very well.
And people are quite curious about them
and why we have them here, and what they can do.
- This library gets a lot of press for its robots.
There was even a design prototype with googly eyes
that guided people to the shelf they wanted.
But most people can read a map or follow directions.
The real job of the robots here
is the same as robots everywhere: automation.
Don't waste the librarians' time with tasks that a computer can now do.
If you think public libraries are just about collections of books then, yeah,
of course they seem outdated.
Public libraries in the 21st century can be where you go to borrow a book,
that's not going to stop,
but libraries were never just about books.
They're about information. Free at the point of use, no price tag.
They're about collaboration and communication.
And about making sure that everyone can find truth.
Most libraries don't have robots,
but every library does have librarians.
And they're what's important.
Thanks so much to all the team at Oodi for showing me around.
Find out more about them by clicking the link in the description.