RFID Use in Libraries: The dream may not be all it seems!
First of all, personally I think implementing RFID systems in libraries is something most libraries have on their "wish lists". I say this because getting an RFID system installed into the libraries collection comes with many different problems that were addressed in the article and as useful and futuristic-ally appealing RFID may be, it does come with risk and issues.
1) Costly! Implementing ANY type of new technology in a library or institution is costly and libraries' dwindling budget usually hinders any major changes libraries would like to make. Cost is usually the libraries biggest obstacle and budget is it's worst enemy.
2)Self-service check outs: Aside from the lack of face-to-face time with librarians which the article brings up, these self service check out stations prove to be a technical problem. As we know, technology can always malfunction and librarians (especially in public and academic libraries are not always the most technologically savvy). This is the reason traditional librarians stray away or fight technological advancements, very simply, they don't want to have to learn ANOTHER technology and be expected to TROUBLESHOOT it as well.
Ultimately, I am more interested in how the article brought how libraries can off-set the cost of the implementation of RFID by the idea of return on investment and will probably research this idea more.
Another interesting issue that I did not initially think about when talking about RFID is that fact that these RFID tags can sometimes not be embedded into certain types of obscure materials like newsletters, magazines, CDs, etc.
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