New library system uses radio frequencies

Patrons will soon be able to check out books a stack at a time at Boonslick Regional Library.

The three-county library system purchased a new materials tracking system that uses radio frequency identification, or RFID, tags instead of bar codes.

The new system will make it easier for patrons and employees to check in and out books, said Cheryl Keeting, technology coordinator for the libraries.

The tags are “read” at the desk all together. They are not individually scanned like bar codes.

Keeting said the it will be easier to check inventory with the new tags. The tags will also function as security devices.

Two libraries in the system, Cole Camp and Warsaw, did not have security gates to read the magnetic strips used for security. The change to RFID chips made financial sense.

“That’s the way everything’s going, and we needed to add gates to two branches. With the old way, they’d be obsolete before long. So it’s cheaper in the long run,” she said.

Library employees will place the new tags in each of the system’s more than  200,000 volumes.
Keeting said she did not know when the new system would be ready.

Tags are in about three-quarters of the non-fiction books at the Sedalia branch, Keeting said. Tags must still be placed in fiction, children’s and audio-visual materials.

The system, produced by EnvisionWare, was partially funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, according to a release from the library. The library received nearly $50,000 in grant funding towards the new system, which cost $217,500.

Library Director Linda Allcorn said the system is one of the first libraries in the state to get the new equipment.

The new system will make checking out books and keeping track of inventory easier so library staff will be able to spend more time helping people find items, do research and use the library's services, she said.

Allcorn said she was excited to get the new equipment. "It's going to help us so much," she said.