Radio Frequency ID (RFID) tags are a replacement for barcode stickers.
Whereas a barcode has to be visible to a barcode reader, an RFID tag can be inside a book but be “read” by an RFID scanner anywhere in the vicinity.
- Imagine if library patrons could select their items for loan and then just walk out of the library, with the loan being recorded by the RFID gate as they walked out.
- Imagine doing a stocktake of your library collection by waving an RFID scanner along the shelves. No more having to pull each item off the shelf so that the barcode can be sighted by a barcode scanner.
- Tracing a misshelved item? Program the ID into the RFID scanner then wander around the shelves until the scanner beeps. Easier than using a Geiger counter to find Saddam’s nukes.
- Locating items missing from the library? Program the scanner then drive around town with the scanner hanging out the window of the car until you find the house where the item is. Is this possible? I don’t know but this sort of possibility is worrying the hell out of the Electronic Frontier Foundation who are opposing the use of RFID http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/RFID/20031002_eff_pr.php
Are any of these scenarios possible yet?
Tell us your experiences - the benefits, the pitfalls, anything that will help other libraries thinking about RFID.
University of Auckland Library is using RFID for the Short Loan collection in the Kate Edger Information Commons which opened in 2003. This was the first use of 3M RFID in an Australasian academic library.
The Botany Library in Manukau City had NZ’s first public library implementation of RFID for its 35,000 items when it opened in October 2004. Manukau Libraries selected the Checkpoint Meto system.
News release
RFID Log http://www.rfidlog.com and is a good way to keep up with what is going on with RFID technology.
The RFID Gazette
http://www.rfidgazette.org gives daily updates on RFID news.
