Libraries are changing. The next stage library is supposed to be u-library (ubiquitous library) where each material is equipped with an RFID tag and an agent runs on it. Agents also run on counters, shelves, and other library equipments. They communicate each other and with book agents. The library agent systems are unique in the sense: (1) The number is large; thousands in very small libraries and millions in larger libraries. The total number will rise up to billion by considering the inter-library loaning system. (2) The supposed life span is very long, at least twenty years and hopefully more than one hundred years. Due to the rapid progress of information technology agents in a wide spectrum capability and functionalities form a massively multi-agent system even in one library. In this paper we propose a concept of delegate agent system in order to uniformly deal with such massively multi-agent systems.
['Toshiro Minami']
Needs and benefits of massively multi book agent systems for u-libraries