I didn't hear from any private law firm libraries that have implemented
RFID yet but am including the responses I received - there is definitely
an interest! Thanks to Jean Willis, Regina Moore, John Harbison, Kathy
Steen and Janice Leichter for your comments.
Joan
-----Original Message-----
From: Loftus, Joan D.
Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2004 6:53 AM
To: law-lib@ucdavis.edu
Subject: RFID Use in Private Law Libraries?
Hi everyone
We are doing some initial research into RFID (Radio Frequency
Identification) tags instead of bar coding for the library and records
center. Has anyone implemented RFID tags in their library or records
center?
I'll be happy to summarize the responses for the list
thanks!
Joan
Joan Loftus
Electronic Services Librarian
Morrison & Foerster LLP
425 Market Street, 32nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 268-6958
fax (415) 268-7522
mailto:jloftus@mofo.com <mailto:jloftus@mofo.com>
*****************************
There is a great blog you can monitor to keep up to date:
http://libraryrfid.typepad.com/libraryrfid/
***********************
Should have mentioned this before, but ... Our Practice Support Manager
just attended LawNet and 3M has an RFID Tracking System product. The
tracking tag goes inside the file. We may be looking at this technology
for our records and then maybe I can convince them to do the books also.
**********
This is tangential to your request, but I am - as I write -
investigating RFID in a public library setting. From what I have
learned, it looks eminently suited to law firms, esp for records mgmt.
But if you begin bar coding docs, then you might as well bar code the
library's books (in for a penny, in for a pound). If you issue all
attorneys & staff w/ rfid ID cards, the actual book check out process is
a cinch... and your attorneys might actually - what a concept!!! - check
your books out.
The costs of the tags are dropping almost daily, and probably the RFID
server software can run on current servers in your firm. You would need
to buy a variety of readers and senors for different areas of your firm.
The biggest up front expense is retrospectively labeling everything &
encoding the tags with your bar code numbers. There are several
academic libraries out there who hired temps to help them with the
initial onslaught, and they could be contacted for info on how they set
up their project & what types of temps they hired.
Attached RFID Reference List.doc is Courtesy of Jean Willis
***************
Libraries that have adopted RFID include Santa Clara City Library of
Santa Clara, Berkeley Public Library, California State University at
Long Beach, North Lake College, Providence College, the new Hanover
County Public Library of Wilmington, North Carolina . In San Francisco,
two San Francisco supervisors passed a resolution allowing San Francisco
Public Library, to have a $300,000 budget for RFID technology despite of
the citizen concerns about privacy.
There's an article written by Richard W. Boss, "RFID Technology in
Libraries", May 14, 2004 at
www.ala.org/ala/pla/plapubs/technotes/rfidtechnology.htm
**********************
I'll go out on a limb and say no one here in the Twin Cities has RFID in
their private law libraries. Record centers I'm not so sure about. Two
IP firms use it for all their client-related materials but neither has a
record center per se. A paralegal handles it because the firm is quite
small in each instance. Both do patent work for 3M so I'd guess they
have a discount.
I've looked at RFID early last spring and was quite excited; it would be
leap-frogging over barcoding. The big difficulty is cost. For each tag
added I'm looking at 50 cents to $1.00 per book. Then there is the cost
of the software and of course training will be needed. That's either
folded into the contract or another cost. The other question is who
would be placing the tags on the books and recording them on probably
proprietary software. The final question is how many books will there
actually be in a law library in 5 years. I have been following the blog,
RFID in Libraries, http://libraryrfid.typepad.com/libraryrfid/
<http://libraryrfid.typepad.com/libraryrfid/>
According to them the RFID technologies have not yet been standardized.
There are 2-3 types used in the large libraries. These can probably
afford to change once the accrediting standardization institution picks
onestandard as being the best for libraries. I won't even go into the
problems public libraries have with those "big brother" fears of people
being tracked using radio frequencies. You probably know a lot about
that already since your firm is in San Francisco.
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