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	Report on: "RFID: Radio Frequency Identification - Implementation and Issues" -Presenters- Mark Shughart, Patrick Dillon, and James Salisbury Report by: Bridget Rawding - Merrimack College
October 28, 2005

RFID - The Vision, The Reality, The Roadmap
Presented by:  Mark Shughart, Sales Consultant, 3M Security Systems Division

Mark Shughart began by outlining the two realms of the library world today. The Physical World is the books, media and other materials, as well as furniture, hardware, and other physical assets. The Virtual World concerns the library's digital collections, website, and the network. RFID is used in the physical world for item identification, tracking, and management.

RFID = Database of items + tags + hardware + software

The vision of RFID, and why libraries can benefit from its use, is:

• Easy self check out/in
• Patron authentication
• Easy staff check in/out
• Automated sorting and materials handling (for example: "Smart Book Drops" where a patron drops a book, DVD, etc. down this chute and it scans and checks the item in as it drops)
• Interlibrary item tracking
• Smart shelf management and inventory control
• Improved security

The reality of RFID is that it is only just beginning to take off in libraries. Approximately 8% of libraries currently have RFID. Global growth is projected at 30% per year through 2006. Librarians are currently buying items such as RFID tags, conversion stations, self checkout kiosks, handheld inventory tools, and other RFID tools.

Librarians are investing in RFID for a number of reasons, including:

• Higher levels of customer self-service
• Productivity gains in Circulation and Inventory operations
• Smaller equipment profile
• Improved ergonomics
• Simple, easy-to-use equipment
• High-tech promise

Why are librarians not buying RFID?

• No perceived need for it
• No perceived value
• Lack of resources to handle the conversion
• Too expensive

Concerns about limitations of RFID, including:

• RFID tags are not concealed
• Lower security gate detection levels than EM
• Some interference from metallic materials in book covers, CDs and DVDs
• RFID tags relatively easy to shield or remove
• RFID tags are more expensive than barcodes and EM (approximately 75 cents per tag)

A roadmap for RFID success involves assessing the library's goals - what can RFID do to help accomplish them? Mr. Shughart suggests conducting an ROI analysis to measure the value RFID will deliver to the library. Assess your technology resources, and consider your Interlibrary Loan partners, and how this will impact your transactions with them. Libraries must plan their conversion process, and assess the organization's readiness for change. RFID may not be right for everyone at this time.

He also provided some tips for choosing a vendor. Librarians should educate themselves about the range of RFID products and features, prioritizing products based on the library's unique goals, priorities, and technology style. Consider the training, customer support, and other "value-added" services offered by each vendor, for instance, money back guarantees. He also suggests making sure that all products comply with the most current safety and regulatory requirements.

Mr. Shughart then outlined the technology basics of RFID. At its simplest, the barcode for each item is replaced or supplemented by an RFID tag that contains an antenna and an integrated circuit. RFID also requires some kind of hardware that "interrogates" the tag to read its data, and software for controlling the hardware and decoding the responses sent by the tag to the hardware. There is also an interface to a database that will maintain item information.

Basic technological requirements for RFID in library applications include an 18" range (shorter ranges are difficult to use; longer ranges are impractical, and touch upon privacy issues). Tags must be thin and compact, with a long life and re-writeable memory. Libraries have a particular interest in tags that use "neutral" adhesives and other archival materials. They also need compatibility with existing and future databases and other products.

Over the next few years, RFID technology will hopefully become more standardized among vendors. Lower cost, more memory, and better performance are all expected as this technology continues to evolve. Libraries are also looking for a greater variety of tag size and shape to accommodate different items such as books, CDs/DVDs, educational kits, and other non-standard materials.

Mr. Shughart addressed privacy concerns by noting that most privacy concerns center on longer range retail RFID systems. The relatively short read range of library RFID systems makes patron monitoring impractical. No library RFID system presently on the market tracks patrons or their reading habits, and librarians have an established history of respecting patron privacy. Legislation was recently passed in California to define specifically what library tags are permitted to do.

In closing, Mr. Shughart briefly described several RFID products offered by 3M.

Privacy Implications of RFID technology
Presented by:  Patrick Dillon, Reference Librarian, University of Massachusetts, Boston

Patrick Dillon noted that most of the items consumers purchase will have RFID tags by 2007. Hand-held readers are getting smaller all the time, and are therefore less obvious in public settings. While citizens give up a great deal of information voluntarily (with grocery store cards, EZ Pass technology for paying tolls, etc.), with RFID they do not even know that it is happening. RFID readers could be discreetly placed anywhere to create "Hot Lists" of what people are carrying and where they are going. The alarmist interpretation of this situation is that "Big Brother is watching you."

One solution to privacy concerns in retail is to "kill" the tag upon purchase (tag no longer transmits data once the item has been bought). However, libraries cannot use that technology, since books are checked out and in many times over, so we need to be very careful about how much and what kind of information we store on these tags.

Privacy concerns regarding use of RFID in libraries are being addressed in a number of ways. Mr. Dillon also referred to the recent legislation passed in California. He noted that the San Francisco Public Library received the funding needed for implementing RFID, but the Board of Trustees voted it down. One serious concern is that that the standard code currently used in library tags cannot be encrypted, so the data stored on that tag is not secure.

Mr. Dillon also described an "RFID Bill of Rights" being proposed by Simpson Garfinkel, a leader in the field of RFID technology. It is based on previously developed Fair Information Practices, and suggests that users of RFID systems and those who purchase items that contain RFID tags have:

1. The right to know if a product contains an RFID tag;
2. The right to have the tag removed or deactivated upon purchase
3. The right to first class RFID alternatives if they decide to opt out of RFID use
4. The right to know what information is stored inside their RFID tags
5. The right to know when, where and why an RFID tag is being read.

RFID Tag Implementation at Providence College
Presented by:  Jim Salisbur, Head of Access Services, Providence College

Jim Salisbury spoke about the experience of implementing RFID at Providence College. It began after the library conducted an inventory of the library collection, a process that took eleven months to complete.

One challenge they encountered was that there were six different security detection tags used throughout the collection, and all of these tags had to be physically removed since the metal in them could interfere with RFID tags. Another challenge emerged in the actual conversion process. Although they were using conversion stations, some of the aisles were not wide enough to accommodate them, and so books had to be taken off the shelves and converted elsewhere. Conversion was proceeding very slowly until they developed a workflow that streamlined the process.

There have been many advantages to implementing RFID. Only 242 of the 350,000 items in their collection remain unaccounted for. Shelf reading and inventories are much easier and more efficient. The inventory project that took eleven months to complete before RFID can now be done three times per year.

There have been some challenges as well. Because Providence College shares its catalog with a consortium, updates take a little longer than they would in a stand-alone ILS. On a related note, they chose to continue barcoding their books because their Interlibrary Loan partners in the consortium do not yet have RFID, and even if they did, different RFID systems are not always compatible with one another. Faculty were very skeptical at first, primarily because of concerns about privacy, but Salisbury reported that they have come around. Student workers like the system.

Mr. Salisbury was asked about staffing and workflow issues. He noted that they have chosen not to install a self check-out/in kiosk, because Providence is known for its "high touch" environment. While some staff positions were reallocated as a result of RFID implementation, no positions were cut.

In closing, Salisbury noted that it RFID implementation had been a long, sometimes challenging, process, but it created a sense of community among the staff, and the benefits have outweighed the drawbacks.