RFID

RE: Re: RFID

2008-11-13T23:38:32Z

I know it makes good sense for some libs to do it now, but by and large it still seems like a "we're gonna end up doing this some day" sort of thing for most libs. And the smallest? Who knows if ever, eh?

Still, I'd love to find stories of libs that were just gah-gah over there success with RFID. Oh, and how do you spell "gah-gah"?

RE: Re: RFID

2008-11-10T17:17:31Z

When we were doing site visits to look at RFID in action, one library had an automated check-in system that was capable of checking in multipart items. The system contained the information about how many individual parts there were for a particular item, and would either check in the item if everything was present or would print an exception receipt. However, I suspect that checking in those types of items is not sufficient for most libraries. We manually inspect DVDs, CDs (including audiobooks), etc., because they are so susceptible to damage. Now, that would be one heckuva machine that could do all of that ;-) (and probably at one heckuva price, too!)

RE: Re: RFID

2008-11-10T17:02:36Z

When our head of circulation last attended a meeting involving libraries using RFID she brought back a couple of interesting tales.

The "management tale" is that RFID hasn't resulted in a loss of circulation staff.

Much of this is because a great deal of circ in a modern public library consists of AV material, which is composed of parts. An automated system can't open a DVD case and see that the DVD is actually there ... so someone has to do so. *If*(say) a DVD case gets on the shelf missing one of two DVDs there is no way to know who forgot/stole the one.

RE: Re: RFID

2008-11-07T00:48:25Z

I've been wondering about current price points for RFID.. Have they dropped with the same ferocity that Moore's law seems to be pushing component development? A couple years back some people were predicting prices (for materials, not staff time to process items of course) would get cut in half at least over the next 5 yrs or so. Anybody here know if that has panned out?

PS: What I wouldn't have given for this system back during my shelf reading days of yore:

Re: RFID

2008-05-16T17:27:24Z

I forgot about that. Twenty years ago (!) I was working at REI (an outdoor retailer) and we stopped a shoplifter with a foil and duct tape lined bag. We thought it was odd, until we puzzled it out. After that they started popping up with unfortunate regularity.

Re: RFID

2008-05-16T16:46:10Z

Heh. Shoplifters have been using aluminized mylar bags for years.

Re: RFID

2008-05-16T13:48:48Z

:-)

I'm going to go up to Basehor with my flip cam again soon to create a few more videos. I'll suggest the bookbag idea!

Re: RFID

2008-05-13T19:34:21Z

In the video: I love the aluminum foil workaround he mentions for the barcode issue. Maybe they should extrapolate up from <a href="http://www.rpi-polymath.com/ducttape/RFIDWallet.php">wallets </a>and make duct tape/foil <i>bookbags</i>?

Re: RFID

2008-05-13T18:29:35Z

I talked to the staff at Basehor Library in Kansas about their implementation of RFID. Here's a short fun video clip from the discussion http://www.flickr.com/photos/maintainitproject/2480638080/ . I plan to go up and have more in-depth discussions with them soon (which I will also videotape and post in the MaintainIT Flickr site).

Brenda

RFID

2007-11-26T16:42:41Z

Article: "Printing Cheap Chips: Kovio's new technology for printing inorganic transistors could lead to large-area displays and ultracheap smart cards." By Kevin Bullis, Monday, November 26, 2007 -- http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/19746/

Clearly this is preliminary. However, of particular interest is the section on RFID tags. One issue with widespread implementation of RFID is still the cost of the tags. If this process or a similar one can actually reduce the cost to a nickel or a penny per tag, that would make things much more feasible / attractive.