Adoption of RFID in Libraries

Martin Palmer is Strategic Manager: Transformation & Resources for Essex County Council's Libraries Department, where he has been closely involved in the introduction of RFID. Essex has 16 libraries using RFID at present, and one of Martin's current responsibilities is to extend use of the technology to a further 19 sites (in partnership with BT) by the end of March 2007. He is also a Director of Book Industry Communication (BIC), and chair of the working group on RFID in Libraries recently formed by BIC and CILIP (the Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals).

Essex is one of the largest County Councils in the UK. Its library service provides 73 libraries and 17 mobiles, receiving around 9 million visits and lending over 10 million items a year. Its first RFID installation was in 2003 at Colchester (using a system developed with Intellident) and at the end of this rollout phase (March 2007) it will have over 2 million tagged items in circulation.