The first results from this year’s RFID usage survey are finally ready and may be downloaded here together with a list of the questions that were asked.. Analysing the data was rather more complex a task than anticipated. 259 replies were received, of which 244 proved to be genuine and relevant to the UK. 6 were removed as they were from US based suppliers (presumably trying to see what we’re doing over here), the rest were just jumbled letters and numbers from those who I assume wanted to see what questions were being asked. Three companies complained about the validity of the survey.

The remaining 244 replies represented 192 different organisations and removing the duplicated data – without removing any of the opinions – proved to be a long and painstaking process. The results give a snapshot of the market as at January 2010 but there are a couple of caveats that should be taken into account when reading them.

First and most obvious is the fact that the survey is not comprehensive. Suppliers will complain that they have more sites than the survey shows (they are already!) but I can only report what information was supplied. On that point it is perhaps worth mentioning that I have had to double count most of the D Tech and Bibliotheca data as there seems to be some confusion among clients as to which company is currently supplying them.

A second point that should be borne in mind is that I have had to decide between several replies from the same organisation which contain the accurate information regarding, for example, present and projected levels of use. In those cases I have used data supplied by those describing themselves as “Managers”, “Implementers” or “Advisers” rather than “Users”.

In matters of opinion – e.g.  “Who provides the most help?” – I have included all the responses.

These first results only summarise the raw data. There is still more to do – particularly in determining how many different solutions to CD and DVD management are out there. That will require some cross tabulation of the answers to establish what each library has done. There are over 40 added comments in this section – clearly the most complex and confusing area of RFID adoption!

More reports as I complete them. All the data will be published on my blog as well as the list. I will draw any conclusions (and invite you to draw yours) on the blog.

A huge “thank-you” to everyone who completed the survey.

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