See SPoT' See SPoT Run

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See SPoT. See SPoT Run!
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See SPoT. See SPoT Run!An Overview of Grand
Valley State Universitys Automated Retrieval
System (ARS) Voyager Library Management
System Interface
Debbie Morrow, Systems Librarian Grand Valley
State University Libraries
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Welcome to the Steelcase Library!
GVSUs Steelcase Library opened in August 2000,
part of our new Pew Campus DeVos Center in
downtown Grand Rapids. The new branch library
includes an instruction room, a reference room,
and a very elegant reading room.
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And this is SPoT
The Steelcase Library is a blend of tradition and
high-tech, since its also the home of our
Retriever, 'SPOT. Library users can see SPOT,
our Automated Retrieval System (ARS), right
behind the circulation desk.
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SPoT s Pedigree
The Steelcase Library's ARS was installed in 2000
by Rapistan Systems of Grand Rapids, Michigan
for GVSU. It is presently one of fewer than two
dozen mini-load warehouse management systems in
use in libraries in the U.S. and other countries,
although this technology is common in industrial
settings. The crane was manufactured in Wetter,
Germany by another branch of Rapistan's parent
company, Siemens and the current server and
database management software were written by
Siemens Logistics and Assembly Systems in Grand
Rapids.
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Standards of the Breed SPoT s Vital
Statistics

• The mechanical and physical parts of the
  retrieval system consist of
• a mobile crane with an extractor,
• inside a secure vault which is in the form of
• an aisle lined on both sides with a rack
  structure,
• that is compactly filled with rectangular metal
  carriers.
• GVSUs Steelcase Library ARS consists of a
  single aisle and crane.

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Standards of the Breed SPoT s Vital
Statistics Crane
The vault is secured with a locked entrance and
emergency stops because of the speed of the crane
in motion. The crane travels horizontally along
its embedded floor rail at 12.6 ft. per second,
and vertically at 4.3 ft. per second. A carrier
can be picked up and stored, and another
retrieved from rear to front, in under a minute.
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Standards of the Breed SPoT s Vital
Statistics Vault
The vault itself is 100 ft. long, 15 ft. wide,
and 40 ft. high. We can "shelve" approximately
250,000 volumes in the ARS material that would
take some 25,000 square feet outfitted with
conventional library shelving and 36 in. aisles
fits in the roughly four-story space that has a
footprint of just 1500 square feet. Our initial
load was about 70,000 items, about a third of the
total capacity.
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Standards of the Breed SPoT s Vital
Statistics Rack Bins
The rack structure on both sides of the 100-foot
aisle holds 2,660 metal carriers, which are each
4 ft. long and 2 ft. wide. Space in the carriers
and the rack overall is optimized by having rows
of carriers 10 in., 12 in., and 15 in. in height,
and storing each item in the shallowest carrier
it can stand in.
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SPoT is house trained
The crane extracts carriers of up to 350 lbs.
from the rack and delivers them to one of three
operator stations. Sensors on the crane test for
overweight and overheight conditions before a
carrier is taken from a pick delivery
station to be returned to its place in the rack,
and operators are signaled to correct these error
conditions should they occur.
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When SPoT was a puppy
Before Spot could do any fetching for us, we had
to load the ARS. The system manages items in
completely random order except for size
something defined as a 10 in. item must only be
placed in a 10 in. deep carrier, or reconfigured
in the system to permit placement in a 12 in. or
15 in. deep carrier.
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SPoT, this is Voyager
The initial loading process was completed when we
used a program in Voyager, our LMS (Library
Management System), to check and change location
codes in holdings detail records and item records
for each barcode the ARS indicated was now
physically present in the retrieval system.
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Training SPoT, or Training SPoTs Masters?
After the initial system loading, the new
Steelcase Library staff had to switch gears
learning to manage retrieval requests and
restoring returned items to the system was an
entirely different workflow from the loading
operation that wed learned to do very
efficiently. But, once the Librarys doors were
opened, we and our users put SPOT to work
fetching
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Voyager requests Making SPoT Fetch
Library users locate desired items in Voyager,
our online public catalog, and are instructed to
place a request. Using a Patron Initiated
Request, users "page" items in the ARS. If an
item is a journal volume or multi-volume set, the
user selects the specific item desired from a
drop-down menu on the request screen. Using
another drop-down menu, users indicate the
service point where they'd like to pick up their
requested items.
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Fetch, SPoT, Fetch!
Voyager confirms that a successful request has
been made, and now its up to SPOT.
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A Voyager request behind the scenesSysAdmin
To implement the Voyager ARS interface, we first
created a location, STEELCASE Stacks, and then
identified it as an Automated Storage-enabled
location in the Circ Policy Definition in which
it is included. The Voyager ARS interface
includes a system-defined Remote Request, which
can be edited in the SysAdmin module. Editing is
pretty much limited to the form name, the
Instructions text, and selecting eligible patron
groups.
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A Voyager request behind the scenesOn the
Voyager Server
Interface files on the Voyager server are
designated with names which include mhs for
materials handling system. When Voyager is
running, the mhs_msg dæmon is started. The
dæmon checks for and sends messages which have
been stored in the table REMOTE_STORAGE_QUEUE.
The table is checked at a specified interval, and
messages found in the queue are sent to the
interfaced ARS via a standard TCP/IP connection.
Theres a log file, mhs_msg.log, which pretty
much only confirms each time the script is
started and shut down.
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A Voyager request behind the scenesPre-Packaged
Reports
The REMOTE-STORAGE-QUEUE table can be viewed in
the Voyager Pre-Packaged Reports. It reflects
each Steelcase Retrieval Request (Remote
Request), and also each item barcode added or
deleted from the Voyager database. Each entry in
the table is a message with a command (ADDI,
DELI, REQI) queued by the Voyager/ARS
interface to be passed off to the ARS
system. Using a query created from several
Voyager tables, we have the capability of
tracking and trouble-shooting requests sent out
across the interface between the two systems.
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Is that a book youve got for me, SPoT?
Once each minute, the Voyager/ARS interface
script passes accumulated requests to the ARS
server. Work orders are generated in the ARS,
and 2 ft. x 4 ft. carriers are retrieved from the
rack and delivered to operators at "pick and
delivery" (PD) stations behind the circulation
desk.
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Good dog, SPoT!
Operators process the arrival of a carrier, and
follow instructions on the screen to identify and
retrieve the correct item. The item's barcode
is scanned to signal its removal from inventory,
cell status is updated, and a pick slip is
printed out and inserted in the book. Items
are sorted to be routed to the pick-up locations
indicated on the pick slips.
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And back on the Voyager side
Voyager keeps track of items which have had
retrieval requests placed on them, so that
additional requests will be refused until the
item is once again discharged in Voyager CIRC and
replaced (or binned) in the ARS.
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And back on the Voyager side Some workflow
issues
The Voyager/ARS interface is very minimal, and
keeping the systems in synch depends, in part, on
workflow.

• Scanning both systems must be told whats
  happening to an item when it is removed from, or
  returned to, SPOT.
• New additions after the first few semesters of
  living with SPOT, we created another new
  location, STEEL new, which is NOT ARS-enabled.
  This location is assigned as the Item Record
  Permanent Location on newly cataloged items
  destined for SPOT, until they are actually on
  site to be binned.

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SPoT is a working dog
SPOTs StagingDirector front-end program
provides us with a variety of statistical
information on demand. Around the beginning of
each month we gather activity statistics. Since
going into regular operation in August of 2000,
weve monitored activity levels. Weve
consistently averaged about 6 deliveries an hour,
or one every 10 minutes (based on a 16-hour
service day). The actual number of requests per
hour varies considerably from month to month,
depending on the time of the school year but in
general outstanding requests at any given time
are well within the scope of the systems
capacity.
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Keeping SPoT healthy
We have a service contract with Siemens in Grand
Rapids to cover maintenance and repair of crane
hardware. The contract provides for maintaining
a critical parts depot, performing monthly
preventive maintenance, and restoration of
service within four hours if the system goes
down. If necessary, we are able to alert users to
significant service delays by making a change in
the text of the location display in the online
catalog, and adding a note in the
patron-initiated request confirmation.
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Teaching SPoT New Tricks?
In the summer of 2002, after working with SPOT as
part of our library family for two years, Siemens
arranged for us to upgrade to the current ARS
front-end, StagingDirector. StagingDirector is
a Windows/GUI-based interface with an underlying
Win2000 server and Oracle 9i database. The final
stages of StagingDirectors development in 2002
were based on feedback from GVSU Steelcase
Library staff, and the system has been
considerably customized with the potential
library market in mind. SPOT is happy to learn
new tricks!
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Is SPoT a good Service Dog?

• Is there really a place for high-tech warehouse
  management systems in libraries? With a good
  online catalog like Endeavors Voyager as an
  interface, we say, Yes!
• Voyager CIRC client and Voyager web catalog
  features that make SPOT work for us include
• Excellent search capabilities
• Clear indication to users of location of, and
  directions for requesting, items
• Users can place their requests themselves, from
  home, office -- wherever they may be
• Users can choose a convenient pick-up location

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Shake hands, SPoT!
Thanks for coming to meet SPOT! We love to have
company, and would be glad to talk with you more
about living with an automated retrieval system
and interfacing it with your library management
system. Please feel free to view the GVSU
Librarys Voyager online catalog and you can
e-mail questions to GVSUs Systems Librarian,
Debbie Morrow, at morrowd_at_gvsu.edu
Start Over
Aerial photo of the DeVos Center by Ditmer Co.
Photography digital photos of SPOTand Steelcase
Library interiors courtesy of Mary B. Morgan,
GVSU Library Information Technology Specialist
screen shots of the Voyager ILS with permission
of Endeavor Information Systems, Inc. screen
shots of StagingDirector with permission of
Siemens Dematic Rapistan Material Handling
Automation Division, Grand Rapids, MI, USA.
End Show
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GVSUs Steelcase Library
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Steelcase Library Lobby
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Steelcase Library Reference Room
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Steelcase Library Reading Room
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Steelcase Library Circulation Desk
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The Vault
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SPoTs Floor Rail
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Carriers in Rack Structure
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Patron Request log-in
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Outstanding Work shows the queue of items
currently requested, but not yet retrieved.
External Work shows the queue of any items
currently requested, which the ARS shows to be
not currently binned these are generally on a
cart waiting to be reshelved or binned.
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Item(s) to be picked from this bin which has been
delivered to a PD station show in the list
here. The operator clicks on Perform Work to
continue the retrieval process.
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StagingDirector visually identifies the cell in
the retrieved carrier which contains the
requested item, and shows the last two digits of
the item barcode. The Author, Title, Requester,
and Pick-Up Location information passed through
from the host library management system are also
displayed here.
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Cell no. Barcode digits
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At the time that the barcode of the retrieved
item is scanned into the system, the cell status
can also be updated to Full or Not Full, and the
operator can choose whether or not to print a
pick ticket for this item.
32260000976466
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Any cells status (Full, Not Full, Empty) can
also be updated here, after completing a pick and
returning to the Arrivals screen for the carrier
currently at the PD station.
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We havent had to alert users with system down
messages since 2002 notice how much our catalog
interface has changed since then!
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Has Voyager sent this request yet?
Voyager Queue ID
Date / Time Voyager Assigned Remote Request
status to this item
Requesters LastName FirstName
Brief Title
Call Number
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PD Station