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The adoption of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology by libraries promises a solution that could make it possible to inventory hundreds of thousands of items in their collections in days instead of months. In addition, it would allow patrons to check out and return library property automatically at any time of the day. Besides speeding up checkouts, keeping collections in better order, and alleviating repetitive strain injuries among librarians, RFID promises to provide a better control on theft, nonreturns, and misfiling of a library's assets. With an estimated 35 million library items tagged worldwide in more than three hundred libraries, this technology is generating ever-increasing interest. In October and November 2004, the industrial technology department and the Robert E. Kennedy Library at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, surveyed participating libraries, RFID electronic discussion groups, and Library and Information Technology Association (LITA-L) electronic discussion group subscribers to collect information with regards to the implementation of RFID systems in libraries. Opinions were gathered regarding such topics, actual or estimated, as RFID implementation costs and time; the impact of the technology on operations such as handling of volumes and security; and RFID system features adopted such as conversion stations, self-checkout units, and security systems. Information on the various RFID library components and the results from the survey are presented in this paper.
As libraries adopt the use of tiny radio frequency identification (RFID) tags for tracking their assets, it is becoming possible to inventory hundreds of thousands of items in their collections in days instead of months and to allow patrons to checkout and return library property automatically at any time of day. In 1998, RFID was proposed as a way to make possible the self-serve processing of books and media by patrons in North America. It was initially installed in the library of Rockefeller University in New York in 1999. The first public library to use the technology was the Farmington Community Library in Michigan, also in 1999.1 Since then, more than three hundred libraries have, or are in the process of implementing, an RFID system.2 According to the research service RFID Knowledgebase, United States libraries lead the world in RFID use, with the United Kingdom and Japan tied for second place. It estimates...