July 05, 2006
RFID Applications For Libraries
What do New Orleans, Seattle and Shenzhen, China have in common? They all have libraries that use RFID technology to track their book inventory.
The New Orleans Public Library had all of its branches damaged by Hurricane Katrina in late 2005. The Alvar branch was completely rebuilt, out of necessity, and is reopening in a few days. When it does, all of its books and CDs/ DVDs will have RFID tags, which will be used to check books in and out.
The new system will allow customers to self-check out items at new checkout stations. This is a necessity, as the library will be short-staffed due to insufficient funds. The RFID equipment, the implementation of tags, and the software integration were jointly donated by Tagsys and ITG.) Patron's library cards will still be barcode-style
New Orlean's RFID implementation is small in comparison to Shenzhen's new public library in China. The enormous library - over 500,000 sq ft - will have around 2 million books tagged. Tagsys was also involved in this project, as well as for Seattle's Public Library. Seattle's RFID library project is the largest in the world, with Shenzhen's second.
According to 3M, 2% of libraries in the US use RFID, and 8% worldwide. One such library is at the University of Guelph, in Ontario, Canada, which has had their books tagged since at least 1991, possibly earlier. It's not my alma mater, but I did finish my degree there.
When I first went there in the early 1980s, there were many foreign students, who paid a high premium for tuition. A practice that was self-admittedly common among them was to hide professor-recommended books, especially for science classes, so that other students could not find them. They would pass along the locations of books to other members of their community, giving themselves an advantage over "Canadian" students.
Although other measures were implemented to reduce this practice, I'm not sure that this is the reason RFID tagging was implemented. But by the time I returned in 1991 to work on my Master's, most of the library's collection had been tagged, with the exception of the antiquarian collection - which is kept in a special, limited-access, humidity controlled room. The library does not have self-checkout stations, however.
Sources: RFID Journal - New Orleans; 3M Library Services; Tagsys - New Orleans, Shenzhen.
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