THE Randtriever: Its use at the Ohio State University
| Published date | 01 March 1990 |
| Pages | 71-81 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb047800 |
| Date | 01 March 1990 |
| Author | Barbara VanBrimmer,Elizabeth Sawyers |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
THE RANDTRIEVER:
ITS
USE AT THE
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
Barbara VanBrimmer
and
Elizabeth Sawyers
Sidebar by Eric Jayjohn
Of
all
first generation automated storage
and retrieval (AS/R) systems installed
in
libraries
in the
United States,
the
most
complex
and
ambitious installation was
at the
Health Sciences Library
at
Ohio State
University.
The
system was designed
to
have
twelve aisles,
but
only eight were installed,
along with four calling stations/circulation
desks located
at
both ends
of
the machine
on
each
of
two floors
of
the library.
The
system,
which originally cost $811,799, required
constant maintenance resulting
in
expenditures
of $889,191 through June
1990,
plus $139,575
for conversion/renovation
of
the system
in
recent years.
In 1989, the
university made
the decision
to
remove
the
Randtriever
in
conjunction with anticipated expansion
and
renovation
of
the library.
A
sidebar
by Eric Jayjohn compares
the
Rand-
triever with contemporary
AS/R
technology.
INTRODUCTION
In the
late 1960s and early 1970s
the
Sperry
Rand
Corporation marketed
a
compact storage device called
the Randtriever. This device was built
for
them by the
Supreme
Equipment and Systems Corporation of New
York, which manufactured its own automated storage
and retrieval (AS/R) system—Conservatrieve—for use
in various warehousing operations. Sperry Rand
had
seen the possibilities
for
using such
a
device in library
applications
and
sold five
of
them, which became
operational
in the
early 1970s.
One
of
these
was
located
in the
Netherlands
at
Erasmus University
in
Rotterdam
(see
sidebar
and
separate
article in this issue
of Library Hi
Tech by
Leen
Meyboom), but the remaining four were located
in li-
braries in the United
States:
the
Health Sciences Library
at
the
Ohio State University
in
Columbus, Ohio;
the
Logansport
Public
Library
in
Logansport,
Indiana;
the
Monroe County Public Library
in
Bloomington,
Indiana;
and
the
Des
Moines Area Community College
Library in Ankeny, Iowa.
For
ease of reference, these
libraries
will
be referred
to
subsequently
as
Rotterdam,
Ohio State, Logansport, Monroe County,
and Des
Moines, respectively.
The Rotterdam installation served
as the
initial
pilot project
in 1969, and all
subsequent installations
made
modifications based on previous
experience.
All,
however, were essentially prototypes,
and all
were
plagued with machine problems
of
various
kinds,
as
VanBrimmer
is
coordinator
of
Collection Devel-
opment
and
Technical Services, John
A.
Prior Health
Sciences Library, Ohio State University. Sawyers
was
director, John A. Prior Health Sciences Library, The Ohio
State University,
at the
time this article
was
written.
— THE RANDTRIEVER AT
OHIO
STATE —
ISSUE
31
-
(1990, NO.3)
71
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