This weeks readings plus videos from YouTube were relevant to my current employment situation. I work at a large urban public library and the information about RFID was useful. We use a bar code plus target system for tracking and security. Material often goes missing and is never seen or heard from again. I wonder at the need for RFID since the trends are toward digital libraries. Why convert to an RFID system when actually physical materials in libraries are suppose to decline? The money could be spent elsewhere.
As for the privacy issues concerned with RFID, I certainly don't want to be tagged and tracked. Librarians are often concerned with privacy issues, so I can see that acceptance of RFID would be a hard sell from that vantage point. And as mentioned RFID can be blocked with sheets of aluminum foil. If we know that, thieves know it too. Also, the tendency in my library is to get the cheapest form of any technology which is usually the least effective. In the down turning economy it seems like a big investment in new technology at an inappropriate time.
The other readings and video concerned networks. LANs, WANs, PANs, MANs, CANs etc. It seems as though the boundaries between the different types of networks are blurring as new technology evolves.
Senior Computer Class 2011 Photo Album
14 years ago
5 comments:
Hey Susanna,
I know you work in central and I think that you used to work in the newspaper department... when you read about the tinfoil effectively blocking the tracking rays, did you feel guilty for all the jokes everyone makes about the crazy guys who come in in foil helmets? i did:)
But on a serious note, you bring up excellent points about potentially unnecessary and costly conversions. I'd be willing to bet that our system is not the only one that tries to do everything on the cheap and ends up having to do everything twice (or should I say having US do everything twice)
You brought up a good point about how necessary it will be to convert everything to RFID if the trend is toward digitization anyway. I think it would be a waste of resources to convert everything, knowing something else will undoubtedly crop up, however, I find it hard to believe that digital libraries will replace physical libraries any time soon. People without access to computers or the internet will still use paper-based resources in libraries.
I think the only disadvantage of this system is cost. But we've seen the same thing with so many other new technologies. At the beginning, cost is prohibitive, but once the product reaches maturity, more competitors come to the table, development costs are amortized and there is no premium to pay anymore for the benefit of having access to a new technology. Therefore, cost is becoming more affordable.
The RFID system is no different from the bar-code system from the security point of view. The thieves will steal books under both systems.
With regards to privicy, check my comment on Kristina's blog:
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5152184136838295923&postID=8210927645648150324&page=1
the tendency in my library is to get the cheapest form of any technology which is usually the least effective. In the down turning economy it seems like a big investment in new technology at an inappropriate time.
Hey Susanna,
I wanted to thank you for the comment you left at my otherwise unknown blog last week. :3 I'm glad you are thinking about the same issues.
I think you make a really good realistic point about RFID technology. Why invest so much money and time when the economy is in the tank? The small public library where I am an intern has already used its entire annual (limited) budget on a costly restructuring. It all depends on what the community needs, and how much revenue the library gets.
Of course it will be easier for libraries to convert to this type of tech. when it becomes less costly, just as it was with computers. The question we must ask then as future (and current!) librarians is, should and will we cross that line? Is it worth the risks?
An exciting time to be in libraries!
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