Legal Research

Milwaukee Area Libraries Using RFID to Improve Efficiency

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports on the use of RFID in Milwaukee area libraries.

West Allis is among a handful of local libraries in Milwaukee County -- including Greenfield, Wauwatosa and Franklin -- that are moving from a bar code system of tracking materials to radio frequency identification, or RFID.

Using scanners to detect tiny microchips embedded in each item -- installing those is a herculean feat on the front end -- staff can do everything from checking books in and out to locating misshelved items, even determining which items haven't been borrowed for years...

"Prior to this, every item checked out had to be physically opened up, the bar code located inside a fly page or inside the CD, and then it had to be read under a light," Wauwatosa Library Director Mary Murphy said.

"Now, nobody opens anything. You slide it over a panel, and it's out," said Murphy, who eliminated two part-time positions with the conversion. "Multiply that times 700,000, and repeat for the return cycle, and that's how much labor's being saved."

Full post as published by WisBlawg - From the UW Law Library on July 22, 2008 (boomark / email).