The British Library is the national library of the UK and the second largest library in the world. Its collections include manuscripts, sound recording, drawings and around 14 million books. A security system in place for 20 years was struggling to keep up with technology, and the changing needs of the institution. A formal review saw the London site replacing its legacy analogue cameras with Canon network cameras providing Full HD resolution.
The library’s grand architecture and high ceilings present a challenge. Cameras cannot be attached to walls and from ceiling height, the analogue cameras had been unable to zoom in without losing image quality. The library had to use two cameras to effectively monitor the same area under different lighting, that is, day and night. This had to be replaced by a single camera, performing a day/night operation. A British Library user has to follow guidelines when handling the books – many of which date back centuries. Food, drink and pens are prohibited in case of accidental or deliberate damage to property. Still, the library has seen some damage to books. The library sought a camera that was capable of covering areas both above and below the reading desks from a distance.
The library’s tender outlined a need for the cameras to provide analytics to help protect the institution from acts of terrorism and vandalism and cut the cost of unnecessary storage. Faced with a system where four-fifths of the cameras were analogue, Bhanu Goud, Security Systems Manager at the British Library, was looking to overhaul the library’s CCTV system. The library required network cameras that could integrate with the video recording system and enable high quality live imagery to be monitored and recorded from the library’s control room. He said: “The cameras here were 20 years old and needed an extremely quick upgrade as some were failing and others weren’t available. We required a standard IP camera that had a high quality of image and could compress effortlessly with our existing media.”
After a competitive tender, Canon’s VB-H610D fixed dome network camera was trialled. The library selected it to become its standard camera due to its Full HD resolution and wide angle of view with limited fish-eye effect – resulting in a cost saving. Despite the ceiling height and lighting, the VB-H610D’s optical zoom lens makes it possible to capture an image and zoom in up to three times while still maintaining detail in images. The product’s wide dynamic range function, Smart Shade Control (SSC), helps to optimise exposure, improving highlights and correcting dark areas in backlit scenes and is as effective in low light, according to the makers – converting hard-to-see silhouettes to a clearly identifiable object.
To help protect its most valuable books in the reading rooms, the Canon VB-H41 is used. This Full HD Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) camera with its 20x optical zoom lets the security staff identify any potential threats of theft or damage, while causing minimum disruption to the visitors. The cameras’ analytic functions activate recording once they have identified a pre-defined level of threat, such as movement in restricted areas and missing objects. To accommodate this type of detection, the manufacturer worked with the digital recorder supplier Tecton to integrate these analytic functions into their recorders. The British Library now has a far wider coverage area than was possible with the analogue cameras previously. With fewer cameras covering a larger space, the library saved about £250,000 in camera costs and associated installation charges.
The camera’s H.264 encoder and multi-streaming capabilities deliver Full HD imagery in a compressed form to reduce storage requirements. The analytics to trigger the recording of only predefined events helps to further reduce the storage needed. The British Library has already introduced 110 cameras in a little over a year. The site aims to more network cameras covering 95pc of the building over the next three years.
The manufacturer says it provided continuous support to the British Library throughout the installation, helping to address any challenges along the way. These ranged from the significant lighting and positioning issues to small scale problems and Canon worked with the library team to provide onsite training and support. Bhanu says: “Canon’s support throughout the project has been first-class, quickly tackling any issue we have – no matter how minor.”
The library aims to install another 290 models taking the total system to 400 network cameras to complete its upgrade project by 2015.
Bhanu Goud said: “Canon has supported us in many ways – not only with its high quality cameras, but also with its excellent levels of post-sale support. The great thing is that Canon continues to help us whenever we need assistance with tasks such as camera adjustment, so we always have the reassurance of that ongoing expertise. We are so impressed by Canon’s high quality network cameras that we’re looking to increase the number of models on site to 400 cameras by 2015.”
