SSU Library, highlight of move back home

Image credit: SSU Library

One of the highlights of our return to the Sonoma County area is the Sonoma State University Library. When I attended classes, the library was housed in the Ruben Salazar building — and it was easily one of the most significant places on the SSU campus for me.

For one semester, I worked in the library doing book repair. I’d have gladly continued working there but the person who supervised me told me there was no longer money budgeted for my student-job.

Since returning to the area, we’ve explored the library’s new home in the Jean and Charles Schulz Information Center.

This 215,000-square-foot building also houses Information Technology, the Center for Distributed Learning, the Writing Center, the Faculty Center, the Center for Community Engagement, and Charlie Brown’s Cafe (“About the Building,” SSU Library website).

As a paralibrarian, I’ve found many impressive aspects of the SSU Library. Two things especially stand out for me, for accessibility to resources.

The first is the library’s Automated Retrieval System, a “three-story, computer-managed storage system” with 750,000-item capacity (“Automated Retrieval System,” SSU Library website).

Archived journals, theses, and less-used items are kept in the retrieval system, which frees up space on the open shelves for more heavily-used materials.

In the ARS, items are grouped in boxes that are each identified by barcode. These boxes are supported by a metal framework that stacks them in three-story columns.

A person requests an item by clicking a link from the item’s record in the library’s automated catalog. When that happens, an automatic crane finds the box housing that item, and delivers it to a pick-up station.

“Human touch” is an essential component of the Automated Retrieval process. A person opens the box and removes the requested item. (S)he updates the item’s status in library-inventory with a barcode scanner, then packs the item into an automated carrier that delivers the item to the library’s Information/Check-Out Desk.

According to the website, the entire process takes about 15 minutes and can be seen from several viewing windows on the third floor of the library.

The second impressive aspect of library operations is the CSU+ interface that combines library catalogs throughout the California State University system.

With “OneSearch,” patrons can immediately browse all of the library’s holdings, and through CSU+, patrons can request materials from all other CSU libraries (“Welcome to OneSearch,” “News and Events” on SSU Library website).

I’ve long celebrated collaborative efforts by libraries to share resources between them; these partnerships expand offerings beyond what’s available at any one single library, and patrons are the richer for it.