Introduction

RFID stands for radio frequency identification. Be prepared to hear this acronym or some variation of the term a lot over the next few years. Everyone is getting on the bandwagon: warehousing, retail, goverment, military and libraries are all exploring the new found usefullness of this old technology.

Developed in the 1940's, the technology has been making great strides since 1995 but when Walmart announced that it would require all suppliers to be RFID compliant by 2006 [1], the RFID technology became mainstream.

The technology can be used for many applications each requiring its own set of tag parameters, standards, radio frequency and power capabalities. Far too many configurations for this assignment to cover. For this project, the focus will be on RFID and libraries.

RFID is far more than a new style of barcode. When the system is implemented in a library it impacts every work process and staff member, changing how the staff interact with patrons, how the staff process material, and most importantly how the public interact with the library and it's collections.

The technology has great potential but also some very concerning costs. The ability to save time and be more accurate is a great opportunity to increase public service, but this potential comes at the price of people's privacy. The system requires no line of sight and no staff/public interaction to gather information. These issues will be explored along with the benefits of the system in the following pages.