TAGGING BOOKS TO PREVENT THEFT Kendra Mayfield For reference librarians, scanning endless bar codes is as tedious a daily task as dealing with stolen, lost or overdue library books. Now, a wafer-thin, microchip-based tag the size of a postage stamp could ease their workloads. Librarians can affix materials with security tags that contain microchips and an antenna that transmits information to a wireless reader using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. The technology could one day become as ubiquitous as the bar code. Unlike bar codes, which need to be scanned manually and read individually, radio ID tags do not require line-of-sight for reading. Multiple tags can be read simultaneously, through packaging or book covers. With radio ID tags, librarians can automate check-ins and returns. Patrons can speed through self-checkout without any assistance or ever even opening a book. An RFID tag can be read from just inches away, so librarians can simply wave a wireless wand while walking through stacks to record what books are on the shelves. The hand-held unit reads the chips and stores data that can be downloaded into the librarys circulation system. Instead of weeks or months, collection inventory would take just hours. Inventory of the collection, normally a time-consuming process, is made easy and quick, said Patricia Mackey, librarian for Rockefeller University Library, which uses Checkpoint Systems Intelligent Library System. Electromagnetic sensors guard library exits, so that only checked-out books leave the building. If a book isnt signed out properly, a hidden RFID tag will trigger the sensors and an alarm will sound to alert librarians to a possible theft. At Rockefeller University Library, a camera videotapes patrons in real time whenever an alarm is triggered, catching action that security guards might miss.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 13:32:19 +0000
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