RFID in Libraries - A Smorgasbord

Filed in archive Libraries on December 6, 2005

At this time of year here in the United States, many of us are focused on preparing for our year end holidays: Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, New Year's. Part of the reason we focus on the holidays is that it is cold -- and dark.

Here in Ohio, in the Midwest USA where I am located, at this time of year we have 14.5 hours of darkness each day. That would not be half bad if it were not so cold. We get brutally cold winds from Canada (called "Alberta Clippers") that blow across the Great Lakes and pick up snow along the way (called "lake effect snow"). Holidays keep your mind off of the stultifying cold, snow and darkness.

Since we attract an international audience here at the RFID Weblog, let me draw on a holiday tradition from an even darker and colder place, Sweden, and offer up a Christmas Smorgasbord feast for those interested in the use of RFID in libraries.

The American Library Association has compiled a Web page with links to information about RFID in library applications.

You will find links to all manner of information: white papers, articles, and issues. It tends a tad toward the paranoid, with lots of commentary and links on the privacy issues. In that sense it is slightly out of balance. It could use more information about the technology itself, case studies of implementations, and similar data. (Hint, hint, ALA.)

But, if you need a starting point to research RFID in libraries, this is it. It has more links to library-related RFID than I have seen in any single place.