An Article Out Of The UK reports RFID self-service technology could see the main libraries in south Northants open for an extra 26 hours per week.
Northants County Council recently launched a public consultation into the proposals which would see books at Brackley and Towcester libraries fitted with Radio Frequency Identification tags.
The tags mean customers will be able to scan their chosen books in and out themselves – and can return books to any county library using the technology.
This will free-up time for librarians who will be able to spend more time helping customers and will allow them to travel to other libraries to cover the extended hours.
Only if it works….
I LOVE the RFID self check out machines. I also ADORE the RFID self check in machines which also sort the items after they’re checked in. They are fantastic, almost magical machines…
When they work.
When they go down, I have to launch into techie geek mode, troubleshoot, diagnose, repair if possible, contact IT if necessary informing them of my success (I fixed it.) or my failure (It’s still broken.) I don’t mind doing this, but I would submit that at least half the hours I save by having these machines go towards the continued maintenance and upkeep of said machines.
These things are awesome make no mistake. And after a few years when they really get the idea hammered down, they’re going to change the face of the Circ department. Until then, can you hand me that hex wrench please?
It’s a law of physics that you can’t get something from nothing. Anytime you introduce something new into a system, entropy increases. Before, I spent say, eight hours on discharge. Now I spend six hours on discharge and two hours fiddling with the machines. That’s still eight hours. Time savings = 0. However the weight of the workload (hopefully) decreases. And I have seen that happen.
Arguments from authority are unacceptable. ~Carl Sagan