RFID Libraries

RFID technology is its deployment in Libraries. This technology has slowly begun to replace the traditional barcodes on library items (Books, Journals, Magazines, CDs, DVDs, etc.). The RFID tag can contain identifying information, such as a Books Title, Author, Subject, Publishers or Material type, without having to be pointed to a separate database.

The information is read by an RFID reader, which replaces the standard barcode reader commonly found at a library's circulation desk.  It may replace or be added to the barcode, offering a different means of inventory management by the staff and self service by the borrowers. It can also act as a security device, taking the place of the more Traditional Electromagnetic Security Strip.

While there is some debate as to when and where RFID in libraries first began, it was first proposed in the late 1990s as a technology that would enhance workflow in the library setting.  Singapore was certainly one of the First to introduce RFID in libraries and Rockefeller University in New York may have been the first academic library in the United States to utilize this technology.

Worldwide, in absolute numbers, RFID is used most in the United States (with its 300 million inhabitants), followed by the United Kingdom and Japan.  It is estimated that over 30 million library items worldwide now contain RFID tags.

At the time of 2011, the largest RFID implementation in academic library is the University of Hong Kong Libraries which has over 1.20 million library items contains RFID tags whereas the largest implementation for public institution has been installed in Seattle Public Library.

RFID has many library applications that can be highly beneficial, particularly for circulation staff. Since RFID tags can be read through an item, there is no need to open a book cover or DVD case to scan an item. This could reduce repetitive motion injuries. Where the books have a barcode on the outside, there is still the advantage that borrowers can scan an entire pile of books in one go, instead of one at a time.

RFID tags can also be read while an item is in motion, using RFID readers to check-in returned items while on a Conveyor Belt reduces staff time. But as with barcode, this can all be done by the borrowers themselves, meaning they might never again need the assistance of staff. Next to these readers with a fixed location there are also portable ones (for librarians, but in the future possibly also for borrowers, possibly even their own general-purpose readers). With these, inventories could be done on a whole shelf of materials within seconds, without a book ever having to be taken off the shelf.

A concern surrounding RFID in libraries that has received considerable publicity is the issue of privacy.  Because RFID tags can depending on the RFID transmitter & reader be scanned and read from up to 100 Meters (330 ft) and because RFID utilizes an assortment of frequencies (both depending on the type of tag, though), there is some concern over whether sensitive information could be collected from an unwilling source.  However, library RFID tags do not contain any patron information and the tags used in the majority of libraries use a frequency only readable from approximately 10 feet (3.0 m). Libraries have always had to keep records of who has borrowed what, so in that sense there is nothing new.

RFID would complicate or nullify this respect of readers' privacy. Further, another non-library agency could potentially record the RFID tags of every person leaving the library without the library administrator's knowledge or consent. One simple option is to let the book transmit a code that has meaning only in conjunction with the library's database.  Another step further is to give the book a new code every time it is returned & if in the future readers become ubiquitous (and possibly networked), then stolen books could be traced even outside the library. Tag removal could be made difficult if the tags are so small that they fit invisibly inside a (random) page, possibly put there by the publisher.  RFID Technology is very useful for libraries & Stock verification.

Pawan Kr. Jain

Jyotish & Vastu Consultant

Jyotish Praveena, Jyotish Visharada, 

PGCQMHC, MLISc, BLISc, 

B.Com, Lib.(Auto. IT), e-Lib, 

Phone No. +91 - 9868886621 (M) 

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