For a dozen years, this shrinking student appreciation of the immense value in their institution's library's print collections has been a big problem that no one wants to talk about. Efforts to ameliorate this problem include brief mentions in freshmen orientation packets and research projects assigned by some faculty members, but the most common and most effective methods used to get the digital generation to try something different is to use lots of visuals. Just as restaurants publish images of their dining areas and their menu items online, with the introduction of KIC Stacks View, libraries can now make images of their stacks and bibliographic records available visually online as well.
Professor Patterson distributes the required reading for his course to students electronically. His book selections are in the library and viewable from KAT Stacks View.
Students can verify the location of the books selected and reserve a scanning station in their library to scan excerpts for their course work, all within the KIC Stacks View application.
Just about every PC, tablet and smart phone provides access to Google, Wikipedia, etc. Your stacks should be just as accessible!
KIC systems can also be configured with KAT, so even students who don't have a smart phone or tablet can search your stacks from any KIC system your library owns.
KAT is Cloud-based, so no servers or other onsite computers are necessary. KAT can be accessed by any PC, tablet or smart device that has access to the Web.
Microsoft Azure
Total Up-Time: 99.9936%
Total Number of Servers: 11,000,000
When a WiFi-connected smartphone is used in the stacks to provide assistance in locating materials, to get instant access to bibliographic records, to search for related materials once a volume has been found, and to locate a KIC system for digitizing content, the WiFi bandwidth used will typically be in short bursts of one megabyte per second.
KAT Activity | Average Download Bytes per Scan | Recommended Min. WiFi Bandwidth |
---|---|---|
KIC Reservation Screens | 0.2 megabytes | 0.2 megabytes per second, intermittent |
KAT Search Screen & Bibliographic Screens | 0.1 megabytes | 0.1 megabytes per second, intermittent |
KAT Stacks View & KAT Shelf View | 1.0 megabytes | 1 megabyte per second, intermittent |
Most libraries have a lot of volumes that haven't been checked out in a long time, and libraries certainly can increase their relevance in the digital age by adding collaboration and study spaces.So it is rather compelling to cull books from the library.
The main argument against culling/moving books off-site is the unknown, but potentially great value that your unabridged collection can have in inciting the very uncommon, but equally special epiphany that a researcher can have while browsing the stacks and perusing the very books that are targeted for culling. The current head of the IMF in Beijing and professor of economics at Harvard University, choose to study
economics at Harvard because of its immense collection of books on economics. It's a difficult argument to ignore. However, relevance in the digital age is not easily pursued without compromises.
If your need to repurpose a lot of stacks space outweighs the value of keeping your full collection browsable, then before you proceed with the culling, let DLSG photograph your entire collection as it is today and make it browsable with KAT stacks view. Students abd researchers can browse your complete collection virtually, instantly see any book's bibliography by touching its spine, and with another touch, read books that have been digitized.