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Language: en

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- A lot of folks think that a librarian

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is just someone who checks books
in and out of a library for you,

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but that's not true.

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"Librarian" is a highly skilled profession
that requires a lot of specialised training.

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It's about helping people research
and access knowledge,

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in whatever way makes sense.

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Through the 20th century, that knowledge
was held in books and on microfilm tapes

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stored in central buildings in each town,
like this one,

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as a public good,

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which is actually almost
miraculous when you think about it.

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The modern public library
is a revolutionary, wonderful idea.

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Knowledge and information
should be available to everyone,

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not just the rich and not just the clever.

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In the 21st century, that's still true.

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A lot of that information
might be online now

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and available through our phones,

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but in-depth research,
searching out truth from fiction,

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shouldn't be just for people
who are able to understand

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complex academic citations
and referencing.

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If you don't know how
to look something up,

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if you don't even know really
what you're looking for,

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if you don't have the words,

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the librarian's job
is to help you find out.

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In an ideal world that's what
librarians would be doing,

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not pushing a cart and
moving books around by hand.

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That's why here at Oodi, the
new Helsinki Central Library,

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those books are being moved by a robot.

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- This Oodi building was built last year,

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so it's a pretty new building

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and that's why we have
a lot of new technology

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and new services in here.

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It has been said that it's
like a living room for citizens.

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So, for example, in the first floor,
we have a movie theatre.

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Then, in the second floor,
we have things to do.

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For example, 3D printers and laser cutters

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and music studios, and even a kitchen.

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You can play computer games.

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We have VR classes there,
and gaming computers.

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Oodi isn't that traditional library,

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so in the third floor,
where we have our books,

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it's not that silent space.

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People can talk there freely.

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And so, we have a few
classrooms for silent reading.

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In normal big libraries,

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there's usually some
kind of returning machine

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that sorts the books to the right places.

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We have also that here.

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The customers can return
books from the first floor,

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and they will come,
using the conveyor, to this basement

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and they will be sorted
by genre and language.

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That's pretty basic stuff,

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but we are in progress
of further automating it.

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So, we have a couple of robotic arms,

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and then we have three mobile robots.

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Those mobile robots
will pick up these boxes

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and they will be transferred
by them to the third floor,

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where staff can shelve the books.

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Small part of books will be
shelved by our robotic arm

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that will the put the books in shelves.

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And when the shelf is full,

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it will be transferred
by those mobile robots.

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Then we have some plans
to use mobile robots

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in nights to scan the books with
RFID antennas,

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so we know if there's any books
in wrong places.

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Those mobile robots that we are using

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are planned so that they can
avoid collisions with people.

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If someone gets in front of our robot

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it will calculate new routes

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and find another way to
get to the right position.

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At least at this point, there
hasn't been any accidents

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or things like that, so
the robots and humans

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have been getting together very well.

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And people are quite curious about them

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and why we have them here,
and what they can do.

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- This library gets a lot
of press for its robots.

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There was even a design
prototype with googly eyes

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that guided people to
the shelf they wanted.

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But most people can read a
map or follow directions.

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The real job of the robots here

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is the same as robots everywhere:
automation.

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Don't waste the librarians' time with
tasks that a computer can now do.

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If you think public libraries are just about
collections of books then, yeah,

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of course they seem outdated.

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Public libraries in the 21st century
can be where you go to borrow a book,

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that's not going to stop,

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but libraries were never just about books.

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They're about information.
Free at the point of use, no price tag.

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They're about collaboration
and communication.

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And about making sure that
everyone can find truth.

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Most libraries don't have robots,

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but every library does have librarians.

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And they're what's important.

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Thanks so much to all the team at Oodi
for showing me around.

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Find out more about them
by clicking the link in the description.