RFID
Discussion Questions
– Is RFID really useful in libraries?
– Is privacy concerns about RFID in library a real concern?
– How to make RFID a better technology for libraries?
Let me first state that I am only beginning to learn about RFID technology. Form what I’ve discovered so far, it seems like RFID can be very useful in libraries. Libraries need a way to deter theft of library items, identify and inventory material, and track their assets, and RFID can do these tasks. RFID can potentially reduce the amount of time it takes to find items, as well as the number of errors in processing.
As far as privacy is concerned, I believe it always needs to be taken seriously. In this day and age, when we lose a bit more privacy each day, with each new ‘convenience’ and advance in technology, it’s good to know that groups such as NISO (National Information Standards Organization) and PRC (Privacy Rights Clearinghouse) are working to set standards. I like the recommendations on page 10 of this NISO document, http://www.niso.org/publications/rp/RP-6-2008.pdf
Until I learn more about libraries’ needs and RFID capabilities, I can’t add to the debate of how to make RFID better for libraries. However, I do not want to see personal information added to RFID use in libraries. While I am not embarrassed of the library sources I use, I do think such information should be kept private.
I look forward to reading the comments of those of you who have experience with RFID technology in any capacity, not only libraries.
Digitization
I found Stuart D. Lee’s article interesting, specifically the chart outlining sample costs for digitization. Preserving a few pages or photos this way is one thing, but preserving lots of complete books…? That gets into some serious money issues. It would be easy to say, “Oh, let’s just digitize the important items,” but how would we ever agree on what is important? It seems like it will simply come down to whoever has the most funding available to digitally preserve material, gets to choose which material to “save.” Unfortunately this will mean that much information also risks being “unsaved,” or lost. Another relevant point is made in Jean-Noel Jeanneney’s concern of the “risk of a crushing domination of America…”
I think it is a legitimate worry, and I imagine that many other countries and cultures would feel the same way.
I’m not fully buying into the idea that digitization is the ONLY way to guarantee print’s survival. We have some historically important books today whose words and ideas date back thousands of years (Epic of Gilgamesh, Symposium, etc.) Granted, we can’t always see what the original pieces of work looked like, but we still have these works available to us. So, somehow it has been possible to preserve ideas, books, works, and information over the millennium. While there is always the tragic example of loss from the ancient library in Alexandria, the risk of losing an entire library today wouldn’t have the same impact.
Smith’s article uses the word guarantee to tell how digitization will impact the survival of books. Is there really such a guarantee? How long is digitized material expected to last? What will be the next step to preservation when digitization’s life has run its course?
