For some time now I’ve been concerned about the relatively narrow focus of the London Library RFID conference. To be honest was never sure why RFID was seen as something ‘separate’ from other aspects of library automation. I have even wondered at times if the existence of the conference might in part be responsible for the disconnect between library management systems and RFID based solutions that appears to exist in some librarians’ minds.

In reality RFID applications generally don’t exist in isolation but are inextricably linked with the LMS/ILS – not always in as integrated a manner as we might hope – but reliant to a very large degree on each other.

So why have different events for management systems and RFID solutions?

Then there are the new mobile technologies – NFC equipped smartphones and tablets bring new apps and location-aware services into our increasingly mobile lives. How do they fit into the bigger automation picture?

So when Andy Walsh and I followed the R2 conference on Twitter last year we made contact about the possibility of running something similar in the UK. Andy – being a far more industrious person than I put in a prodigious amount of effort into venues and programmes and announced that a new event – i2c2 – would take place in Manchester from 6th-7th March 2014.

I’m delighted to have been asked to help promote the event – and to try and persuade the RFID industry to do likewise. The aim of the conference is to encourage innovation, inspiration and creativity in libraries. My hope is that this won’t just apply to the many librarians that will be attending – but also to the suppliers that will hopefully help to make it possible. Closer contact between technology suppliers is as essential as between them and their clients.

So this year there will not be a CILIP RFID in Libraries conference in November. Save your pennies to get to Manchester in March 2014 instead!

19. April 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

Last week I accepted a long-standing invitation to visit Bibliotheca’s impressive new facilities in Cheadle Hulme. Happily for me the meeting (almost) exactly coincided with the launch of their latest library products. More »

01. February 2013 · 6 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags:

 

It has been a far from quiet week in library RFID land…

One issue has been exercising librarians on both sides of the pond this week – security. More »

31. January 2013 · 4 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

Gary-GreenAt CILIP’s 2012 RFID in Libraries Conference I spoke about creative uses of RFID, focusing on the world outside the library sector, but linking back to possible opportunities for development within libraries. The following post is a write-up of my presentation. To give it some context, I came across these interesting RFID examples whilst keeping an eye on developments in RFID use in libraries for my library service. I wondered how they could be translated into library use and how they could benefit libraries and library users. The main focus of many library RFID systems is still stock circulation and stock management, but the following examples hope to move beyond that scope – into the areas of collecting and sharing information.

You should bear in mind that this is blue-sky thinking and doesn’t take into consideration RFID issues around data privacy or data standards. More »

17. December 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

It’s been more than three years now…

On the 26th October 2009 the RFID Alliance – a loose affiliation of the UK’s leading RFID suppliers at the time – published their ground-breaking statement on data standards. For over a year RFID, stock and LMS suppliers, librarians, and representatives from CILIP, the BL and BSI had worked together through their common membership of BIC (and under my chairmanship) to agree a common data standard for UK libraries. More »

12. December 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , , ,

The fifth annual survey of RFID use in UK libraries (and now 2nd global) takes place in January. Originally begun as an attempt to take an audit of UK public library use of the technology for the late lamented MLA it has grown over the years both in terms of its geographical coverage and range of questions. In 2012 the survey went international for the first time – with over 600 replies from all over the world. More »

29. November 2012 · 3 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

A bit of a departure from RFID but several people have asked me to post my summing up from this afternoon’s highly enjoyable debate about the relative merits of Open Source and Proprietary systems and this is the easiest way I know!

I confess I had prepared a summary of what I had anticipated might be the main issues and added in the references to what was actually said as the afternoon progressed. It was a good natured debate with both sides recognising the value of Open Source to the future of automation in general and libraries in particular. I think the question is more about the kind of business models that can be constructed around them – rather than the merits or demerits of the software itself.

More »

22. November 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , ,

Lori Ayre began the afternoon session with her review of the US RFID market. To make sure her audience weren’t dozing off after the splendid buffet lunch she asked everyone to stand up if they had already installed RFID in their library. I think she was somewhat taken aback by the response (the vast majority of the room were standing) since – as she told us later – the US have been much more cautious in adopting the technology. More »

Last week saw the CILIP RFID conference take place at the Bloomsbury Hotel London, the eighth for CILIP and the fourth that I have organised for them.

Once again Martin Palmer Interim Manager of Essex County Council Libraries and author of “Making the Most of RFID in Libraries”, kindly accepted my invitation to chair what was a pretty demanding programme of events. More »

08. November 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , ,

(This article first appeared in RFID Arena)

With the demise of the printed word widely predicted on an almost daily basis librarians everywhere are having to respond to the challenge of finding a new role for the library. Add to this the financial constraints of reduced budgets – and often a lack of IT expertise – and that challenge begins to look overwhelming. More »

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