The first 24-hour unmanned public library in Taipei City will open to the public at Youth Park next year, the Taipei City Government said yesterday.
The latest branch of the Taipei City Public Library will use solar energy and exhibit the city’s energy-saving measures, library director, Tseng Shu-hsien (曾淑賢) said.
GROUND-BREAKING
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) presided over the ground-breaking ceremony for the branch, saying he expected the “green building” to educate residents on the importance of energy conservation, as well as provide a comfortable environment.
The 660m2 branch will feature a library on the first floor, and an exhibition center and conference rooms on the second floor. The branch will be the second “green library” after the library’s Beitou branch.
The branch will be the first unmanned public library to open 24 hours, and will be equipped with an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) system, an automatic identification method that stores and retrieves data through chips attached to each book, Tseng said.
Readers can borrow books by inserting their cards into a machine and then placing the books on a pad for automatic identification. The machine will then print out a receipt. Customers can return the books to any branch they choose, she said.
PRECEDENTS
The city opened two other unmanned libraries at Carrefour’s Neihu branch in 2005 and MRT Ximen Station in 2006. The two branches are open until midnight.
Tseng said the two self-service libraries were popular with the public, and the library would seek to set up more unmanned branches around the city.
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