Library inventory using a RFID wand: contribution of tag and book specific factors on the read rate

Kasper Abcouwer,Emiel Van Loon

doi:10.1108/lht-06-2019-0129

Abstract

PurposeLow read rates are a general problem in library inventories. The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that contribute to the success of library inventory by means of a radio-frequency identification (RFID) inventory taker. The factors investigated were tag position, tag orientation, book thickness, tag density (related to thickness of a sequence of books) and position on the shelf.Design/methodology/approachA total of 210 books were placed in eight random permutations on three fixed book shelves. For each configuration, the RFID tags were read forty times. The resulting data were analysed by means of a generalized linear model, relating the combined contribution of tag position, tag orientation, book thickness and position on the bookshelf to the read rate.FindingsThe tags positioned directly next to the spine were always read, but those near the opening of the book (far from the spine and inventory reader) were not always read. Considering only books with tags near the opening, tag orientation and position on the shelf appeared not to be related to the read rate, while book thickness, thickness over three books and spine tag density appeared to have a small positive contribution to the read rate.Practical implicationsLow read rates during a library inventory can be prevented by placing the tags near the book spine – the other book specific factors (listed in the previous paragraph) are of little influence. When not scanned during a first sweep, repeated scanning can increase the read rate with 0.15.Originality/valueThis paper is one of the first to analyse the influence of tag location and book specific factors on the read rate of RFID tags in library books. The experimental approach sets an example for future work.

Highlights

Library inventory has changed since the introduction of radio-frequency identification (RFID)
Not much is known about how conclusive read rates of RFID tags are in books on the shelf in a library, which may lead to an underestimation of the absolute number of books on the shelves
The library environment is different from other areas: books are to be read at the item level, books are stacked on the shelf and only from one side approachable and the tags are positioned “perpendicular” to the inventory reader

Summary

Introduction

Library inventory has changed since the introduction of radio-frequency identification (RFID). The library environment is different from other areas: books are to be read at the item level, books are stacked on the shelf and only from one side approachable and the tags are positioned “perpendicular” to the inventory reader. Our assumption is that this perpendicular position makes the tags harder to read. Another difference between most of the library RFID systems and the supply chain environment is the frequency band which is used. Golding and Tennant (Golding and Tennant, 2011) are (one of) the first to publish an experiment with RFID tagged books in a “real world” library environment and did find read rates of 99% for a library inventory

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