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“Vicki” is available to anybody who has a library card with one of the many libraries associated with The Library Network in Oakland County.
Photo provided by Sandy Irwin
ROYAL OAK — “Vicki” has arrived.
The Royal Oak Public Library’s brand new library vending machine, “Vicki,” was unveiled on Dec. 19 at the Woodward Corner Market at 30955 Woodward Ave.
Library Director Sandy Irwin and members of the Royal Oak Public Library Board of Trustees celebrated the arrival of the LibCabinet with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The cabinet was made possible by a donation from the estate of Victoria Dickinson. The name “Vicki” is in honor of Dickinson, a longtime resident of Royal Oak and former library board president.
The cost of the cabinet, software, hardware, shipping and labor came out to be $33,500. Most of the money was taken from the $50,000 donation from Dickinson to pay for the LibCabinet. The Royal Oak Civic foundation also contributed $2,000 to help start up the project.
“We have been thinking about a way to better serve the residents on the north end of Royal Oak,” Irwin said. “I got an email, a newsletter that showed the LibCabinet at another library over in the Kent District, and I thought it was a good idea.”
Irwin said that the LibCabinet was a way to connect with the greater community of Royal Oak and provide a place to take out books that are in an accessible place.
“I think that for people who don’t really like coming downtown, this is a way to provide them with that reading material so they can have it in their hands again,” she said. “I also think that being right over by the hospital, if people need to spend some time over there with their loved ones, they can stop in, check out a book and be good to go.”
The special thing about this LibCabinet is that to check out a book, a user does not need to be a member of the Royal Oak Public Library, because the ROPL is a part of The Library Network, the largest library cooperative in Michigan, which connects 50 libraries through a shared system.
The mission of The Library Network is to “Create a vibrant, collaborative partnership among our libraries, driving access to shared services and resources.”
The Library Network makes it possible for people to use the LibCabinet as long as they are members of one of the 50 libraries in southeast Michigan.
“One of the biggest services we do is we run the shared catalog,” Director of TLN Steven Bowers said. “Our shared service catalog has a million titles and the public can directly request them for delivery to their local library, often overnight.”
The 125 books inside the LibCabinet are all a part of the catalog, according to Irwin, who said that the books are popular titles for children and adults, fiction and nonfiction.
To check out a book, a person must scan a library card or the barcode in their library app and open the door. The user can choose up to five books to take out, according to Irwin. Then, the person must close the door.
To return books, patrons just scan their cards, or barcodes, open the door and return the books.
“We have a collection of materials to bring over there to keep the machine filled,” Irwin said. “We get an inventory three times a day so we can keep an eye on that. It will just be a continually rotating collection.”
For more information on the LibCabinet, and the Royal Oak Public Library, visit ropl.org/1532/Library.
