RFID

LA County Library Materials Handling and Distribution Assessment of Facilities Services and Logistics

Submitted by Lori Ayre on Tue, 08/22/2023 - 10:16am

LA County Library provides services to over 3.5 million residents living in unincorporated areas and to residents from 49 of the 88 incorporated cities within the County,
with a service area that extends over 3,000 square miles. Library houses a collection of 7.5 million books and materials, including DVDs and CDs, with an annual circulation of 3.3 million items. Each card-holder may request and hold up to fifty (50) items, which are then delivered to the patron’s community library through interlibrary loans within the LA County Library system, resulting in a total of 1.7 million annual holds.

The Library selected Lori Ayre to complete a comprehensive business process assessment of its current materials handling and distribution process, including a cost/benefit analysis for an automated materials handling system (AMH).

RFID and AMH Consultation with Regina Public Library (Saskatechewan)

Submitted by Lori Ayre on Tue, 07/20/2021 - 8:44am

Regina Public Library (RPL) is in the early stages of its Central Library Renewal initiative. Begun in 2019 with a comprehensive Needs Assessment and Project Plan for Central Library Renewal, the project includes a plan to upgrade the library system to RFID and implement automated materials handling (AMH). The Library seeks a consultant to ensure staff understand the RFID and AMH market options and opportunities that are available and to provide recommendations for identifying products and/or functionality that would benefit the Library and help RPL achieve their strategic goals.

Lori Ayre will work with the library to:

Review and provide feedback to internally developed AMH Assessment
Supplement existing AMH space assessment as needed
Provide information about state-of-the-art products in the following categories:
- Materials induction systems
- Sorting systems
- RFID gates for more than just security
- RFID shelving solutions
- New, innovative products based on RFID
Provide RFID and AMH recommendations and act as broker with regard to potential vendors and suppliers
Assist with procurement of RFID and possibly AMH
Assist with planning for RFID and AMH implementation

RFID And Materials Handling Workflow Assessment for Consortium

Submitted by Lori Ayre on Tue, 07/20/2021 - 8:39am

The members of the Ocean State Libraries (OSL) consortium are considering moving to RFID as a consortium. Some members are currently using RFID while others are not. Lori Ayre will be working with the libraries to provide a cost estimate for moving all members to RFID and also helping them determine whether that is the right course of action. Ayre will be evaluating their circulation and materials handling workflows and providing recommendations for how to efficiently address their primary pain points and position themselves for the future.

One Equity Partners sells Smartrac RFID business - What does this mean for libraries? And Bibliotheca?

Submitted by Lori Ayre on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 10:01am

It's been awhile since something shook up the library RFID marketplace but this is something to watch. Smartrac,Technologies, based in the Netherlands, is one of the primary suppliers of library RFID tags (HF tags). One Equity Partners is the equity firm that owns Smartrac. One Equity Partners is the same firm that owns Bibliotheca. So, that means that One Equity Partners is getting out of the RFID business. My question is whether that means One Equity Partner will soon want to get out of the library business as well? I say this because Bibliotheca was originally very much focused on providing RFID solutions to libraries. Of course, with the acquisition of 3M, they have shifted their focus from RFID (to some extent) to the Cloud Library and more recently they've been pushing their Open Library product pretty hard - neither of these two products are RFID-based. So maybe I'm worrying for nothing. But I'll be keeping an eye on One Equity Partners just in case.

The other worrying thing for me is that HF RFID technology isn't exploding the way UHF technology is. HF technology is used in payment cards, ticketing systems, and libraries. NFC (used on your smartphone) is a form of HF RFID. But it is UHF that is growing by leaps and bounds. UHF RFID is used with IoT products (Internet of Things) including clothing and shoes (https://www.nanalyze.com/2019/02/smart-shoes-digitally-connected/). And, of course, UHF is the RFID tag used in the supply chain. Whatever cool new "smart" thing you hear about, chances are it is based on UHF technologies.

Library Materials Handling Strategy Analysis

Submitted by Lori Ayre on Fri, 08/04/2017 - 4:56pm

Stark County District Library was pursuing a series of initiatives to minimize redundancy in materials handling practices and reduce the time staff spend in the back office so they can spend more time out in the library engaging with customers in a variety of ways. The Library’s strategic vision included a dramatic reduction of materials handling activities in each branch and the elimination of service desks. Instead of working behind desks, the expectation is that staff will work with patrons side-by-side in the branches and spend more time delivering high-quality programming inside and outside of the library buildings. In order to achieve this vision, the Library explored a “pure central processing” strategy in which material is returned at each library location but only checked in at a central sorter. This workflow would be supported by two times daily delivery service. The expectation is that this approach would result in material check-in within a four hour window, physical delivery turnaround times of no more than 36 hours and a traditional “bookdrop” workflow for patrons. The Library sought consulting assistance to analyze the “pure central processing” strategy and to identify critical elements of a materials handling strategy that would allow the Library to achieve their strategic vision.

Library Automated Materials Handling (AMH) and RFID Consultation

Submitted by Lori Ayre on Fri, 08/04/2017 - 4:43pm

Engagement with Charlotte Mecklenburg as they plan their transition from barcodes to RFID and from manual processing to automated materials handling. They Library is in the unusual position of having to renovate one of the branches and will introduce their first automated materials handling system there. In order to plan how best to transition to RFID systemwide and how best to use automated materials handling, Lori Ayre has worked with the Library to evaluate potential vendors. With Ayre's support, the Library has selected an AMH vendor and will roll-out a longer term plan for implementing RFID in a way that will reduce the workload for Library staff throughout the transition. The project is ongoing.

Where Does This Book Belong? Let the Patron Decide.

Submitted by Lori Ayre on Fri, 10/28/2016 - 1:52pm

In this article, I propose a way we could apply a living, breathing, context-sensitive classification system to parts of our collection instead of basing the organization of physical items on the static, subjective and sometimes arbitrary classification system.

I was inspired by a book I read called The Dynamic Library: Organizing Knowledge at the Sitterwerk – Precedents and Possibilities. The book is a collection of essays from a symposium held in Sitterwerk, Switzerland in 2011. At the symposium, participants explored classification systems and new orders of knowledge in the context of an art collection.

As they noted in the book, the primary purpose of classification systems is to assign a place for a book so that it can then be found. Most classification systems we are familiar with such as the Dewey Decimal Classification System (DDC), LCC (Library of Congress Classification), UDC (Universal Classification System) and BISAC (Book Industry Standards and Communications) support this primary purpose and also support serendipitous discovery by organizing related things together.

However, the person browsing the physical shelves will only enjoy the serendipitous benefit from one of the subject headings associated with an item. So, for example, I might not find that book about scientific breakthroughs by lesbians because the book would have to be placed in either the 509.2 Dewey range (with science) or possibly somewhere in the 306.7663 (with lesbians) but it wouldn’t be in both places. And if you were looking for a book about Islamic lesbian scientists, you’d really have a hard time because many of the classifications systems are still struggling with how to incorporate material about Islam.

From Transact to Transform: Seizing the Opportunity of an RFID Implementation

Submitted by Lori Ayre on Wed, 04/27/2016 - 12:56pm

The ALA Libraries Transform campaign communicates that libraries are more than places where circulation transactions take place, libraries can be transformative. And technologies like RFID, automated materials handling and self-service technologies are the tools that increase opportunities for libraries to provide enriching experiences to their communities. Although RFID projects involve technical hurdles, they can be a fantastic opportunity to transform library services! If libraries only install the technology without changing how they use staff, they miss the chance to change the dynamics of patron-staff interaction.

Case Studies Demonstrating RFID, Self-Check and Materials Handling Best Practices

Submitted by Lori Ayre on Sun, 04/17/2016 - 1:34pm

One of my clients requested that I put together some case studies that would demonstrate Best Practices for implementing RFID, self-check, and automated materials handling. I was able to put together two excellent examples of how to do it right.

Johnson County Case Study

This case study was written based on a document prepared by JCL staff after their RFID implementation. It was their own evaluation of the process so it includes a description of things they did right and what they could have done better. It provides great information on how to plan and manage the implementation and includes useful and impressive outcome metrics.

MidContinent Library System Case Study

This case study was written based on telephone interviews with the staff. They describe another excellent process for implementing automated materials handling and then RFID and self-check. Even though I recommend implementing RFID before AMH, this process worked well for them and they are now achieving 90% self-check use systemwide.

Library Consortium Feasibility Analysis and Procurement for Central Automated Materials Handling

Submitted by Lori Ayre on Tue, 04/12/2016 - 8:33am

Peninsula Library System (PLS) is a consortium of nine libraries providing. PLS hosts a shared integrated library system (Sierra) and provides delivery services to 41 locations daily. PLS asked Lori Ayre to provide a feasibility analysis for implementing an automated materials handling system to replace the manual sorting done by couriers.

Ayre evaluated the delivery volume, materials movement patterns, courier sorting, presorting done at the libraries, delivery turnaround times, and other aspects of the operation. She provided the PLS Council with several options for consideration including adding a smaller sorter that would operate two waves of sorting, a larger sorter for sorting all material in one wave, providing batch check-in of incoming deliveries at the libraries, and adding an additional delivery day on the weekends.

You are here