Building Expansion Project

Fast Facts on the Robotic Retrieval System & The McConnell Center for Political Leadership

Ekstrom Library Expansion will include:

• Tulip Tree Café, serving Starbucks ™ coffee and an expanded selection of sandwiches, soups, and desserts
  
• Additional seating and study areas
  
• Three new library instructional labs
  
• New 150 seat auditorium
  
• Circulation Desk in new location
  
• Robotic Retrieval System (RRS)
  
• Designated 24-hour study area
  
• The McConnell Center for Political Leadership

Robotic Retrieval System (RRS): What is it and what will be in it?

• The Robotic Retrieval System (RRS) will be housed in a temperature and humidity-controlled structure that has 7,444 steel bins installed in racks arranged in columns and rows.
• The initial capacity is 600,000 volumes with full capacity of 1.2 million volumes.
• Selected books and bound journals from the libraries will be in the RRS.

How will materials be requested and retrieved?

• Minerva, the Libraries' online catalog, will provide a gateway to books and journals in the RRS.
  
• If a book or journal is housed in the RRS, Minerva will offer a
• request
• button for the reader to send the message to the RRS.
  
• Upon receipt of the request, the RRS will send a robot moving between racks full of steel bins holding books and journals identified by bar codes. The robot will select and retrieve the appropriate bin for the book or journal requested, and deliver it to a pick-up station.
  
• At the pick-up station, an attendant will pull the item and deliver it to the Circulation Desk to await arrival of the reader. The entire process takes only minutes.

McConnell Center for Political Leadership:

Established in 1991, the non-partisan McConnell Center brings influential political leaders, business executives, and accomplished scholars to the University of Louisville. The new facilities for the McConnell Center will support:

• Lectures
  
• Seminars
  
• Panel discussions
  
• Conferences
  
• Offices
  
• Exhibits and displays
  

HR, DN, MS, NWPG, RRS Subgroup, AA-M/aa-m
06/02/05