RFID Technology in the Library

 Sharon Jones/Richard Saldivar                                                                                7505 Final Assignment                                            

RFID TECHNOLOGY IN THE LIBRARY

 

 

            Radio frequency identification (RFID) is the technology of automatically identifying an object or person by storing and remotely retrieving information from small transponders, called RFID tags.  These tags have a built-in antenna, which transmits and receives radio waves from a RFID transceiver. 

 

            There are two types of RFID tags: active and passive.  Active tags contain an internal power source and they can send out and receive radio waves from a RFID transceiver.  Active tags have more memory and a longer read-range.  Information can be stored on an active tag.  Passive tags require no power source.  A small electric current is created in the antenna, when an incoming signal reaches it.  This current provides enough power to briefly activate the tag, usually just long enough to relay simple information, such as an identification number or product name.  Passive tags are smaller than active tags and less expensive.

 

The History of RFID Technology

 

            RFID technology began in World War II, when Germany, Japan, The United States, and Great Britain were all using radar to detect approaching planes.  Because of the desire to distinguish between enemy and friendly aircraft, a signal was transmitted from the plane and an identifying signal was transmitted from the ground.

 

            The 1950’s through the 1960’s produced advances in these systems so that objects could be identified remotely.  Companies began commercializing anti-theft systems that used radio waves to determine whether an item had been paid for or not.

 

            Mario W. Cardullo received the first U.S. patent for an ative RFID tag with rewritable memory on January 23, 1973.  That same year, Charles Watlton received a patent for a passive transponder used to unlock a door without a key.  Los Alamos National Laboratory developed a system for tracking nuclear materials.  The system was commercialized, in the mid-1980’s, when it was used to develop automated toll payment systems.

 

            Further development came about with the work of Dr. Sanjay Sarma, in the mid-1990’s.  Dr. Sarma, along with his colleague David Brock, developed a system whereby an object, with the use of an electronic marker, notifies a robot of its presence.  With this system, a robot uses a database of information, in order to recognize the signal from the object.

 

            The first library suppliers of RFID technology came in the 1990’s.  At that time, most RFID technology was geared toward warehousing operations, which used large readers and low radio frequencies.  Libraries needed higher frequency waves and smaller, less powerful, and more portable readers.  Library suppliers manufactured what was needed.

            According to Singh, Brar, and Fong, the first American library to utilize RFID technology was in the library of Rockefeller University in New York in 1999.  The first American public library to use RFID technology was the Farmington Community Library in Michigan in 1999 (2006, p. 24).  Since then, many libraries around the world have adopted RFID technology.  In 2006, it was estimated that there were over “35 million library items tagged worldwide in more than three hundred libraries” (Singh et al., 2006, p. 24).

           

RFID Technology in Libraries

 

            RFID technology offers many benefits to libraries.  One such benefit is the use of self check-out kiosks.  Self check-out kiosks allows library staff to focus on other value-added services and provide patrons with better service.  Self check-out kiosks also offer patrons more privacy.  These kiosks also allow patrons to pay fines, further reducing the need for staff intervention. 

 

Patrons appear to be embracing these kiosks.  According to Josh Hadro, Salt Lake County Library Services (SLCLS) recently surveyed their patrons and found that 95 percent of those who responded gave a grade of either an A or B (equivalent to “very satisfied” or “satifsfied”) to the library’s self check-out system.  These results are especially encouraging considering that the director of SLCLS, Gretchen Freeman, says that they anticipate to circulate 70-90 percent of nearly 14 million items a year using self check-out (2009, p. S2).

           

            Self check-out kiosks can also offer money saving benefits, an appealing factor for cash strapped libraries.  Kieczykowski writes that when the San Bernardino County library system was considering the use of RFID, they estimated that self check-out kiosks would provide “a minimum savings of one staff hour for every a hour a library is open” (2009, p. S10).  Spread out over a year, these savings are quite considerable.

           

            RFID technology offers many benefits to the circulation functions of libraries even in the absence of self check-out kiosks. RFID tags are more efficient than barcodes because they allow multiple books to be both checked out and discharged at the same time.  This is because it is not necessary for RFID tags to be in direct line of site to be read unlike barcodes.

 

RFID technology also benefits circulation library staff because, when utilized, require less repetitive movement than using barcodes for checking in and out books.  According to Laura Smart, the San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) “spent $265,000 in direct costs for repetitive strain injuries over the past three years” and that they anticipate that “RFID will substantially reduce the risky motions and mitigate worker compensation expenses” (2004, p. 5). 

 

            Another great feature of RFID technology is the use of automatic sorting systems.  Patrons can return books in a book drop where they are fed to a conveyor belt.  The RFID reader can read the RFID tags on the books as they pass and sort the books “into bins or onto shelving carts according to item type, location code, or other information” (NISO RFID Working Group, 2007, p. 2).  Josh Hadro explains that these sorting systems “can also bring an assembly-line efficiency previously only found in factories and large-scale industry supply chain operations” (2009, S1).

           

            Perhaps one of the greatest and most time saving benefits of adopting RFID technology is inventory control.  Taking inventory of large library collections is both tedious and time consuming.  With the use of a handheld reader, it is possible to quickly scan rows of books without having to individually check each one.  Laura Smart writes about the experience of Rober Ferrari, stacks manager at the Long Beach campus of California State University.  Prior to adopting RFID technology, the library had never performed an extensive inventory.  With RFID, it is now possible for them to scan 5000 books per hour.  They were able to find 300 books that were recorded as either lost or missing when they did their first inventory.  She also describes how the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) was able to report savings of $40,000 in replacement costs after finding 500 “lost” items (2004, p. 5).

           

Privacy and Security in Library RFID

 

            Many libraries are starting to tag every item in their collections with radio frequency identification tags, raising patron privacy concerns.  Library RFID applications require item-level tagging, because RFIDs are used to manage each item in a library collection. 

 

            In an item-level tagging regime, the ability to track tags raises the possibility of surveillance of library patrons and their reading habits.  The lack of appropriate access control can allow tracking of people and books.  Today’s practices and standards fail to protect patron privacy and vulnerabilities are present at all layers of the system.

 

            There are two ways that RFID technology can be securely used in libraries.  First of all, the tags should be able to reveal their identity to authorized RFID readers, but not until after the reader has been authenticated.  Secondly, each tag should hold a different symmetric key, for prudent key management. 

 

            Libraries make use of a bibliographic database to track circulation information about items in a collection.  Each book is assigned a unique number, which looks similar to a retail bar code.  The RFID tag is read at a check-out machine and the status of the book is changed to “checked out” in the bibliographic database.  The RFID tag also acts as a security device.  Special RFID exit sensors are placed at the exit of a library.  When a patron exits, the sensors scan for books that have not been checked out.  When the book is checked back in, the tag is read again and the bibliographic database is updated.

 

            The concern for privacy comes about because of short range RFID readers.  The person seeking to ascertain the reading habits of a patron must have a RFID reader.  An example of a breach of privacy could be a reader set up at security checkpoints in an airport, and individuals with certain books on a list set aside for special screening.

 

 

            Libraries want RFID now.  Over 130 libraries in North America have installed RFID technology, and more are considering it.  The American Library Association has proposed best practices for the library use of RFID.   According to Stuart Ferguson, some of these practices include “limitation of bibliographic information stored on a tag to the unique identifier; the continuing security of bibliographic and client databases from unauthorized use; secure connections for all communications with Library Management Systems; and relevant staff training” (2010, p. 18).

 

            Good security practice dictates that each tag has a distinct secret key.  In the language of the technician, there must be a private RFID authentication scheme, with a triple probabilistic polynomial time algorithm.  A scheme is private if an adversary is unable to distinguish two different tags with different secret keys, and secure if an adversary cannot fool a tag or reader into accepting when it does not in fact know the secret key. 

              

RFID in the Future

 

            What do New Orleans, Seattle, and Shenzhen, China have in common?  They all have libraries that use RFID technology to track their book inventory.

 

            Proving that even a disaster, such as Hurricane Katrina, can have a bright side, when the New Orleans Public Library had all of its branches damaged, the branches were rebuilt with all of its books and CDs/VDVs with RFID tags, which will be used to check items in and out.  This new system will allow customers to self-check out items at new checkout stations.  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. 

 

            The enormous library, of over 500,000 square feet, in Shenzhen, China, has over two million books, CDs, VHS tapes, patron cards and other library materials  tagged.  TAGSYS was involved in this project and TAGSY plans to expand their business, in Asia. 

 

            Seattle, Washington has the largest RFID project in the world.

 

            Royal Philips Electronics has developed a new RDIF chip, which gives priority on data security and assets tracking.  This chip is especially useful in the library industry.  This chis meets many of the challenges that library management confronts on a regular basis.  Royal Philips Electronics maintains that using its standardized technology, they have developed standardized technology that is both ISO15693 and ISO18000-3 compliant for the library industry.

 

            TAGSYS has designed a WiFi enabled handheld, item-level RFID reader to enhance inventory tracking and management for libraries.  The new reader facilitates handy, fast, reliable, accurate, and secure tracking of books, periodicals, DVDs, CDs, documents, and other media.  This WiFi supported item-level RFID reader interrogates multiple items very quickly.  The library’s host PC or PDA receives the data via WiFi.  The reader can be easily carried, with a shoulder or belt strap, because of its lightweight and ergonomic design.

 

            3M has built a state-of-the-art RFID based collection management system for the business library.  This electronic self-checkout system works on tags placed inside each book.  With a single swipe of the RFID enabled library card, patrons can check out books.

 

            Checkpoint Systems has developed a RFID based Intelligent Library System.  This system registers ninety-nine percent of the books exiting the library.  This compares to only thirty-three percent under older style systems.

 

Conclusion

 

            RFID technology provides many benefits for libraries, including quicker and more accurate check outs/ins, improved inventory control, and security.  However, there are a couple of issues that may prevent libraries from adopting RFID technology.  The major issue is cost.  Adopting RFID technology can be expensive.  However as more libraries begin using the technology, the price will continue to drop.  Currently, RFID tags can be purchased for as little as 30¢ to 40¢ a piece for basic tags (Hadro, 2009, S1).  Aside from tags, libraries must purchase other equipment, including a tag programming station, new security gates, and portable readers.  Libraries may also choose to purchase a sorting station and self check-out kiosks.  It may also be necessary to hire temporary staff to aid in the tagging of existing library materials.

           

            Another issue that may prevent libraries from choosing to adopt RFID technology is the lack of standards and interoperability of RFID tags.  Although most RFID vendors make their ISO (International Organization for Standardization) compliant, the current lack of standards may understandably make libraries hesitant to adopt the technology.  To further complicate matters, there is now talk of switching from High Frequency (HF) tags to Ultra High Frequency (UHF) tags.  UHF tags offer lower prices and better performance over HF tags (Butters, 2008, p. 123).

 

            Even though converting to RFID technology can be expensive and the uncertainty over the lack of standards can be intimidating, the increase in efficiency that RFID tags allow should make librarians at least consider the technology.  Before a library decides to convert to RFID technology, it should be determined if RFID technology is appropriate and cost-effective for the library.  Jeff Narver (2009) describes 10 steps for libraries to consider when deciding to adopt RFID technology in his article "RFID and Library Financial Security." 

 

 

 

References

 

Butters, A. (2008). RFID for libraries: A comparison of High Frequency and Ultra High

            Frequency options. Australasian Public Libraries and Information  Services,

            21(3), 120-134.

 

Ferguson, S. (2010). RFIDs in libraries. inCite, 31(1/2), 18.

 

Hadro, J. (2009). Revisiting RFID in libraries. Library Journal, 134(1), S1-S2.

 

Kieczykowski, E. (2009). The case for RFID in San Bernardino. Library Journal,

134(1), S8-S11.

 

Narver, J. (2009). RFID and library financial security. Feliciter, 55(2), 46-49.

 

NISO RFID Working Group. (2007). RFID in U.S. libraries: A recommended practice of

            the National Information Standards Organization. Retrieved from

            http://www.niso.org/publications/rp/RP-6-2008.pdf

 

Singh, J., Brar, N., & Fong, C. (2006). The state of RFID applications in libraries.

            Information Technology and Libraries, 25(1), 24-31.

 

Smart, L. (2004). Making sense of RFID. Library Journal, 129, 4-14.