If you have ever used Exxon Mobil’s Speedpass, California’s FasTrak electronic toll collection, or the SmarTrip pass when riding the Metro in Washington D.C.; had your American Express Blue credit card scanned to verify your identity, gotten a US passport in the last 5 years, microchipped your family pet, or worn a Champion Chip on your shoelace during a marathon – all of these activities have been made possible by Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) (Courtney, N. (Ed.), 2005, pp. 42-43).
In Technology for the Rest of Us, Chapter 5, the author describes RFID as using a combination of radio frequencies and microchip technology to transfer data from an electronic tag to a reader. Though similar to barcodes, RFIDs are the next generation in tracking and identifying objects (2005, p. 43).
The technology got its start in response to war. In 1945, Leon Theremin invented a covert listening device for the Soviet Union that utilized radio waves. In the United Kingdom, similar technology was used to identify which aircraft was friendly and which belonged to the enemy RFID-Wikipedia, 2011).
Mario Cardullo patented a passive radio transponder with memory in 1970 that is considered the first true ancestor of RFID. He imagined his invention being used in transportation, banking, security and in the medical field. His vision wasn’t far off! (RFID-Wikipedia, 2011)
A basic system has three components: a tag that contains a microchip that stores a unique identifier along with other information; the reader that extracts the information from the tag; and the antenna that acts as the conduit between the tag and the reader.
This technology can be used within a library setting and there are a few early adapters who have installed an RFID system including the Rockefeller University Library (New York), Farmington Community Library (Michigan), Seattle Public Library (Washington), Marathon County Public Library (Wisconsin) and Tulsa City-County Library (Oklahoma).
How is it utilized?
Check out: the tag can be read regardless of position or orientation and doesn’t have to be visible; several items can be read at once and can even be piled on top of each other; self-checkout is easier for the user to do with fewer “operator errors”. This results in shorter lines at the counter and less repetitive strain injuries for staff.
Check in: multiple items can be checked in at once and, if a reader has been attached to the return slot, the items can be processed at that point. Some libraries have installed an automated materials handing system that puts the items on a conveyor belt that carries them past a RFID reader. The reader checks them in and sorts by category, directing them to the proper bin or cart. This saves staff time and reduces potential injuries.
Inventory: when a collection is fully tagged, a hand-held device can be passed along the shelves without removing the books, and lost/mis-shelved items can be located easily. The California State University Long Beach library reported that with their system, they can inventory 5,000 books per hour. After tagging its collection, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas library found 500 lost/mis-shelved items during the inventory process, saving $40,000 in replacement costs.
Security: RFID tags can have a theft-detection bit added to the microchip that gets deactivated at check out and reactivated at check in. Because the tag can be read regardless of the orientation of the object and at a distance, holding the item above your head or kicking it along the floor no longer works as a way to get past the reader without going through checkout.
(Radio Frequency Identification-Library Success, 2011)
A few problems remain
Though this system will probably become commonplace in libraries in the years ahead, there are still barriers to its use. The equipment and staff time required to install it is still quite a costly investment (conversion time alone is estimated at 11 months for the average-sized collection). RFID tags can be problematic on items that don’t have as much heft as books. Magazines can be too thin and flimsy for the tag, and the tags may be too close together if you stack up magazines to read them all effectively. Items with odd shapes and metal components can also be a challenge for some systems (RFID-Wikipedia, 2011; Coyle, K., 2010).
There is concern that a library patron’s privacy might be compromised since the tags can be read fro a distance. The tag itself does not contain personal information and to match up the data on the tag with the user information stored in the library’s secure system would be quite a task. More problematic is the fact that the RFID tag information and its link to a particular user is archived rather than destroyed on a regular basis, which other check-out systems can be programmed to do. There are experts currently working on this issue and I anticipate that a solution will be available soon.
If this technology is used in conjunction with self-checkout, a patron can come into the library, get what they want and leave, without ever interacting with a librarian. Building relationships will become harder and trained staff may be considered by the patron as irrelevant to the library experience. Though US libraries using this technology along with self-checkout have not reported that staff, in particular those involved in circulation, have been laid off, there is the potential for this to happen.
Citations
Courtney, N. (Ed.) (2005). Radio Frequency Identification. Technology for the rest of us: A primer on computer technologies for the low-tech librarian. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
Coyle, K. (2010). Management of RFID in Libraries. Journal of Academic Librarianship, v. 31, n.5, pp. 486-489.
Radio Frequency Identification – Library success: A best practices wiki. (last modified 2011, February 18). Retrieved from
Radio Frequency Identification – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (last modified 2011, November 12) Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio-frequency_identification
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