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A new treat for bookworms – Unmanned libraries in MRT stations 捷運站設無人圖書館 書蟲不無聊

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Kaohsiung’s Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Central Park Station is set to establish the nation’s first ever unmanned micro library which will provide MRT commuters with 1,500 books that they can borrow free of charge. A fully automated management system will allow commuters to take the books back home for free by simply inserting their I Pass cards into a device. This new system will greatly increase reading pleasure for MRT commuters.

The unmanned micro library will use a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system and a book management program that was solely developed by Taiwanese companies. A fully automatic bookshelf will be divided into 32 separate shelves with each shelf containing 50 books. The books will be sorted by number on each shelf after each book has had a chip inserted into it.

Director of Kaohsiung Public Library Shih Tsun-fu says that this unmanned micro library system will be a smart library and that commuters will be able to insert their MRT I Pass cards into the system. Their cards will then be read by the system and commuters will be able to use a touchscreen to choose which shelf the books they wish to borrow are on. Once this has been done, the bookshelf will automatically open and when the commuters take the books, a scanner at the back of the bookshelf will automatically sense which book has been borrowed. Receipts showing that a book has been borrowed can then be printed out.

The fully automated library will be set up in the pathways of entrances two and three of the Central Park Station before the end of June. The total cost for the equipment is NT$3.8 million.

Those who hold Kaohsiung MRT I Pass cards will also be able to borrow and return books at a total of thirteen libraries.

Shih said that the automated system at Central Park Station will be a true unmanned library, unlike the library at Taipei City’s Ximen MRT station, which is promoted as an unmanned library, but in actual fact has managerial staff that organizes the book collection at fixed times. Shih also said that the system at Ximending does not have automated management that is carried out by fully automatic devices. He added that the special MRT library cards in Taipei City are incorporated with bankcards, which makes some people worry about the safety of their bankcards and means that use of the system in Taipei is not so widespread.

 (LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON)



高雄捷運中央公園站將設立全國第一座無人微型圖書館，提供一千五百本書讓捷運通勤族免費借閱，全自動化管理操作，只要憑一卡通插入機器內，即可免費將書本帶回家，增添捷運閱讀的樂趣

無人微型圖書館採用RFID（Radio Frequency Identification，無線射頻識別系統），管理軟體程式完全由台灣廠商自行研發，全自動書架分成三十二個櫃位，每個櫃位可以放置五十本書，每本書安裝晶片後，存放在不同編號的櫃位。

市立圖書館館長施純福強調，此套無人微型圖書館系統可說是智慧型的圖書館操作，只要持捷運一卡通插入系統讀卡，就可透過觸控式螢幕選擇想要借的櫃位書籍，然後書櫃會自動打開，民眾把書取走後，書櫃後有掃描器會自動感應，還可以列印借書憑據。

這套全自動圖書館設備計畫在六月底前裝置於高雄捷運中央公園站二號及三號出入口走道間，整套設備費用三百八十萬元。

另外，持高捷一卡通也可在全市十三個圖書館借書還書。

圖書館館長施純福表示，以捷運中央公園站自動化圖書館為例，的確是無人管理的圖書館，不像台北捷運西門站雖也標榜無人圖書館，但其實仍有管理人員定時出現整理書籍，並非由全自動機器進行自動化管理；而且北市圖借書證結合金融卡，對於有些人來說，因擔心金融卡權益受損，使用率並不高。（自由時報記者楊菁菁）

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