Judging by the emails I have received reaction to my latest ramblings in the Gazette is pretty mixed. Somewhat to my surprise there is quite a bit of support for the notion that RFID should indeed replace the LMS(ILS).

I still think that’s something that needs more thought. Existing systems represent significant investment for libraries and the introduction of something as radically different as RFID could chnage things in unexpected ways.

The undoubted success of RFID self service has somewhat obscured the fact that library stock in the RFID library simply “works differently” from those using barcodes. With so many new and exciting RFID products appearing on the internet day by day it is not at all surprising that companies supplying the equipment should be eager to sell these to their clients. Indeed the libraries themselves are often the prime movers in pushing for innovation.

And that’s a good thing of course, but (of course there’s a “but”)

Out there in RFID world, where cats can be seen leaving their home in Oregon thanks to RFID and Twitter, the technology is generally the servant of the application. Somone identifies a problem, and RFID is used as part of the solution. So an application is written – built around RFID – to provide it.

But what libraries are doing  is effectively “retrofitting” RFID to applications that were most often designed and written – by a different supplier - before anyone in a library had even heard of it. So there is a potential disconnect between the application’s design and the  operational technology. A bit like adding an outboard to a pick-up.

This never mattered with self service of course. The rules by which it operates were already well established and understood – even standardised – and the tags were only used as “smart labels”. Now things have changed/are changing. The labels can carry data and interact in different ways and the need for libraries – and their suppliers - to understand the implications have never been greater.

Maybe someone will design an RFID based solution for libraries that does more than circulate stock. Certainly some of the solutions coming out of Asia look worthy of closer inspection, but in the meantime I don’t think anyone should assume that someone else is necessarily thinking through all the issues involved in marrying up RFID enabled stock to your OPAC for example. They may be, but it’s always a good idea to check.