Rather than sticking barcodes on the spine of each book, the use of RFID provides an approach to this that can work in the way Karen describes.
However, these systems are not without issues - although they are generally reliable enough to spot if a book is on the shelf or not, there are issues with interference from metal shelving, and the fact that in tightly shelved books there are many RFID tags very close to each other - this can cause mis-reads.
In terms of knowing what order the books are in RFID is not too good, because the readers simply have a field and read tags that fall within the field - so you can say a set of books is in generally the right place, but not whether they are in the correct order.
Intellident have also started to market a system called 'smart blade' (http://www.intellident.co.uk/4.00/en/sm_smartBlade.php) which integrates RFID readers into permanent shelving, so you can read an entire library at the click of a button and immediately know what is on the shelf or missing, as well as the ability to locate a single book in the library, knowing which shelf section it is on. I don't know if this is actually in production - I did see a demo system at a trade show last year, but I don't think it was ready for real libraries at the time. I guess the possible savings are quite large (especially if you do regular manual stock checks), but for a large library the up front costs would also be high - the readers would need to come down in price substantially to make this viable I think.
Owen
Owen Stephens
Assistant Director: eStrategy and Information Resources
Central Library
Imperial College London
South Kensington Campus
London
SW7 2AZ
t: +44 (0)20 7594 8829
e: o.stephens_at_imperial.ac.uk
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
> [mailto:NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Karen Coyle
> Sent: 25 March 2009 16:53
> To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] A Rabbit, a webcam, a Library and a
> webservice...
>
> Actually, in many libraries this is saving time relating to holds where
> the item isn't found in the right place on the shelf. They wand the
> area
> around that spot and often find the item. If they don't find it that
> way, they declare it 'missing' and send the request on to another
> library. User service is faster, and the library staff spends less time
> checking shelves. I've also been told that it's also very useful for
> areas with lots of activity where items don't get re-shelved correctly.
>
> You can download data from your ILS into the reader, so it knows
> exactly
> what to look for on the shelf. This is why it can do a shelf read and
> let you know what's missing. What I don't know is if it can then
> re-upload a 'missing' status to your system, but that would be ideal.
> As
> for 'doing something about it' -- if nothing else, you won't accept
> holds or ILLs for missing items, and that alone should save some time.
> Some public libraries I have worked with have found this to be a
> significant savings.
>
> kc
>
> Jonathan Rochkind wrote:
> > At libraries I'm familiar with, it's not neccesarily the technology
> > that would be the resource barrier. They would say "Okay, you've told
> > us what books are missing, now we're supposed to DO something about
> > that? We don't have the staff for that!"
> >
> > Sad but true.
> >
> > Jonathan
> >
> > M Yazan wrote:
> >> I like this idea of waving the rabbit over the shelves to see what's
> >> missing
> >> or even mis-shelved. As a former Wal-Mart assistant manager often
> stuck
> >> with the layaway department during Christmas (now longer available),
> we
> >> would use Telxon scanners to quickly locate items in "bins"
> >> (shelves), and
> >> conduct periodic bin inventories.
> >>
> >> Are there any libraries that scan periodically their shelves for
> >> missing or
> >> misplaced books using such technology? It seems like it would be
> >> simple to
> >> implement (provided of course your library had the endless supply of
> >> money
> >> that most corporations have=). We would first scan a barcode at the
> >> top of
> >> the shelf, for example the range might be 300-398, so you scan two
> >> codes,
> >> one indicating that the books on this shelf should be between
> >> 300-398, and
> >> the second, the first book scanned should be 300. Then the
> librarian
> >> would
> >> start scanning the books beginning with the first book on the shelf
> >> and upon
> >> reaching the end of the shelf scan the last book and a barcode on
> the
> >> shelf
> >> to indicate that the scanner has completed scanning that particular
> >> stack.
> >> At the end a report would indicate what books are missing, of those
> >> which
> >> ones are checked out, and which ones are lost. It's an easy way to
> >> locate
> >> misshelved books as well since the Telxon would indictae whether or
> >> not the
> >> book scanned is actually cataloged between 300-398.
> >>
> >> It seems like a pilot could easily be conducted if a corporation
> like
> >> Telxon
> >> offered to lend a library refurbushed units. I do realize there are
> some
> >> opportunities with my suggestion that individual libraries may face
> >> (trying
> >> to get tiny little barcodes on the spine of a book for exampe), but
> I
> >> believe librarians have unique problem solving skills and can find
> >> creative
> >> cost-effective solutions to meet their needs.
> >>
> >> One last point, I really like the talking rabbit!
> >>
> >> Murat
> >>
> >> On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 10:57 PM, Bernd T. Wunsch
> >> <Bernd.T.Wunsch_at_nias.ku.dk
> >>
> >>> wrote:
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>>> The key question is if it reads RFIDs that aren't its own. If you
> have
> >>>> to use theirs it would be very expensive. Although I was hoping to
> >>>> make an "inventory" system by which you pass your rabbit over your
> >>>> shelves and it tells you what is missing. You could of course do a
> >>>> check-in/check-out system too, for a small library. Indeed, sans
> >>>> computer.
> >>>>
> >>> One Nabaztag of Checkin, the other for Checkout.. Would be nice.
> >>>
> >>> But No I have to admit that I haven't looked at the nabaztag RFID
> >>> capabilities at all. Although there has been some work to reverse
> >>> engineer
> >>> it's message protocols. There's even a proxy, that will allow you
> to
> >>> interface directly with it, instead of going through the violet
> >>> servers. So
> >>> perhaps the answer is already out there, on the big wide
> internets...
> >>>
> >>> -b.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: Next generation catalogs for libraries on behalf of Tim
> Spalding
> >>> Sent: Wed 3/25/2009 3:51 AM
> >>> To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> >>> Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] A Rabbit, a webcam, a Library and a
> >>> webservice...
> >>>
> >>> I'm waiting for mine so I can play. I ordered a bunch of their
> >>> colorful RFIDs. I didn't really understand the mini-rabbit.
> >>>
> >>> The key question is if it reads RFIDs that aren't its own. If you
> have
> >>> to use theirs it would be very expensive. Although I was hoping to
> >>> make an "inventory" system by which you pass your rabbit over your
> >>> shelves and it tells you what is missing. You could of course do a
> >>> check-in/check-out system too, for a small library. Indeed, sans
> >>> computer.
> >>>
> >>> Tim
> >>>
> >>> On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 10:42 PM, Bernd T. Wunsch
> >>> <Bernd.T.Wunsch_at_nias.ku.dk> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Well I wish I could, but the stamp that we got (the little grey
> >>>> rabbit in
> >>>>
> >>> background on the video) doesn't seem to set the rabbit of. Now I'm
> >>> not sure
> >>> if it's the tag or the Rabbit. But currently it doesn't work :-/
> >>>
> >>>> But yeah, this would be much more fun using rfids. I guess violet
> >>>>
> >>> already does something like this with the French Childrens books
> >>> that they
> >>> sell, which the rabbit can read aloud.
> >>>
> >>>> -b.
> >>>>
> >>>> -----Original Message-----
> >>>> From: Next generation catalogs for libraries on behalf of Tim
> Spalding
> >>>> Sent: Wed 3/25/2009 3:40 AM
> >>>> To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> >>>> Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] A Rabbit, a webcam, a Library and a
> >>>> webservice...
> >>>>
> >>>> Bernd,
> >>>>
> >>>> Did you look into the RFID "sniffer" in the Nabaztag? If a library
> has
> >>>> RFID in its books, that could moot the need for a barcode scanner.
> >>>>
> >>>> Tim
> >>>>
> >>>> On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 10:33 PM, Edward M. Corrado
> >>>> <ecorrado_at_ecorrado.us> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>> OK, I'm not sure how useful this is for an academic library
> (though I
> >>>>> imagine it being a hit in the children's dept of a public
> library),
> >>>>> but this is pretty neat. Is your code available? I'm almost
> >>>>> willing to
> >>>>> fork out $99 for one of these just to try it out.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Edward
> >>>>>
> >>>>> On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 9:36 PM, Bernd T. Wunsch
> >>>>> <Bernd.T.Wunsch_at_nias.ku.dk> wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>> Hello NGC4Lib,
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> I have been doing some serious mash-up work, and have created a
> >>>>>> "book-rating-reading-rabbit" for our library. Oh and he twitters
> >>>>>> too...
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> You can see him in action at:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> http://blip.tv/file/1915639
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> The techy bit:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> The Rabbit if of course a nabaztag/tag from Violet.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> I used the Amazon AWS to go from the UPC to the desired info.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> The barcode scanning comes from barcodepedia.com (I used a
> slightly
> >>>>>> changed edition of their flash-thingy).
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> The glue that keeps it together runs on our webserver, and is
> all
> >>>>>>
> >>> simple
> >>>
> >>>>>> php, curl, and the above mentioned flashfile.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> You can try it for yourself at: www.niaslinc.dk/kalle although I
> you
> >>>>>> won't get to see or hear the rabbit spring into action, he will
> post
> >>>>>> what he read aloud to his twitter stream at:
> >>>>>> http://twitter.com/kalle_kanin. He also logs any visitors to
> our
> >>>>>> website: http://www.asiaportal.info
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> I've always wanted a small "magical amazon review box" in my
> >>>>>> library,
> >>>>>> where you could get extra info just by scanning a book. But I
> >>>>>> guess I
> >>>>>> had to build one myself before I got it :-)
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Regards,
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> - Bernd.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>> Check out my library at
> >>>> http://www.librarything.com/profile/timspalding
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Check out my library at
> http://www.librarything.com/profile/timspalding
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> -----------------------------------
> Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant
> kcoyle@kcoyle.net http://www.kcoyle.net
> ph.: 510-540-7596 skype: kcoylenet
> fx.: 510-848-3913
> mo.: 510-435-8234
> ------------------------------------
Received on Wed Mar 25 2009 - 13:06:55 EDT