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INTRODUCTION

Overview

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a data collection technology that uses electronic tags to store identification data and a wireless transmitter or reader to capture it. Radio frequency technology is not new; what is new are the widely adopted data standards like the electronic product code (EPC) and the new required hardware and software. Many companies are or soon will be investigating this new hardware and software. Several retailers and organizations are mandating that companies use RFID to track assets. To comply with these mandates and keep up with competitors, most firms should be preparing to implement RFID. To prepare for RFID, companies will need to make many people, process, and technology decisions and changes.

According to Sweeney (2005), RFID technology have already been used for inventory monitoring by big companies such as Wal-Mart, the US Department of Defense, Target, Albertsons, Best Buy, Tesco, Metro, the FDA and many more. It is used to track company inventory in the supply chain more efficiently by tracking individual items with serialized data, reducing human intervention and providing the opportunity to track more item simultaneously. RFID also provide real-time in-transit visibility (ITV) and increase the security compared to the previous technology, bar code. (3)

The component of RFID device consist of three main things, the RFID tags, which is used as the identification card or chip that are placed on books that need to be tracked, the reader, which send and read data from the tag, and the antenna, which deliver the signal

RFID: The Basics

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a data collection technology that uses electronic tags to store identification data and a wireless transmitter or reader to capture it. It is one of many technologies that will extend the Internet to the physical world and help companies vastly improve the way they manage their physical assets — a trend Forrester calls the extended Internet (X Internet)

RFID in Library

Libraries are a fast growing application of RFID; the technology promises to relieve repetitive strain injury, speed patron self-checkout, and make possible comprehensive inventory. Unlike supply-chain RFID, library RFID requires item-level tagging.

Many libraries are starting to tag every item in their collections with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. As RFID tag is a small, low-cost device that can hold a limited amount of data and report that data when queried over radio by a reader. Several libraries, such as the Santa Clara City Library in California, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas library, and the Eugene, Oregon public library have already tagged every book, tape, CD, or other item in their collections.

According to Fatima Mussa (2009), many big libraries already have their own computerized catalogues available on computer terminals throughout the building, while some still using an old card catalogue on index cards in drawers. Alternatively, asking the librarian on what service that is available and how to use them, and it can tell roughly in which area the book may be placed. The exact location of the book is up to the user to find it themselves.

Even with the current cataloguing, indexing and even with the help of librarian, finding a desired book in library still a time consuming task. And on top of that, even with all help that can be found, there’s no guarantee that the book will be found where it is suppose to be. This is due to the exact whereabouts of those books are not really being monitored by any other mean.

While librarian has taken effort to make books at library can be search easily, there is still some case of common user who doesn’t put book that had been used back to the actual place. This situation happens a lot in big libraries with a mass number of books, thus finding the exact location of books by a reader more difficult and uncertain.

There’s also cases of books that has just been returned but haven’t really being distributed to its original location yet, books been hide by user at some places so that they are the only one who can gain access to the book, damaged book that can’t be recognized anymore but still marked as available by library archive and other uncommon cases that resulting a loss of time and effort in finding back the book.

As a solution a smart book finder that uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology can be implemented to help library user finding books in a more efficient ways. RFID have the ability to be detected within a certain amount of area depending on type of RFID devices that are used thus making searching book more ease and effective.

The component of RFID device consist of three main things, the RFID tags, which is used as the identification card or chip that are placed on books that need to be tracked, the reader, which send and read data from the tag, and the antenna, which deliver the signal

OBJECTIVES

To design an intelligent book finder system that uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to help readers and librarians find books in a more efficient way. The RFID technology has the ability to detect a certain amount of area depending on type of RFID devices used. Thus, this will make book searching easier, more effective and less time consuming.

HOW IT WORKS?

The components of RFID device are:-

a) RFID tag – to identify the card and chip that are placed on books

b) Reader – to send and read data from the tag

c) Antenna – to transmit the signal

ADVANTAGE

1. Barcodes use in the intelligent book finder system uses EPC over UPC.
2. The chip that is used is a tiny computer that stores a series of numbers unique to that chip itself.
3. The antenna in the chip and at the bookshelves can receive power, communicate and enables the RFID tag to exchange data with the reader.
4. The passive RFID tag is tiny size compared to the active RFID tag.
5. The passive RFID tag is more economically affordable compared to the active RFID tag.
6. The chip has the logic to tell itself what to do when it is in front of a reader

EPC	UPC
1. Contains more information: a) Header Represent a military UID or an FDA code, instead of a complete EPC structure. b) EPC Manager Number Identifies the company or company entity. c) Object class Similar to a stock-keeping unit (SKU). d) Serial number Identifies the item.	1. Contains only information of the manufacturer and the product codes. a) First partition Single digit that indicate the numbering system use to interpret the remaining characters. b) Second partition It is made up of five numbers that designate the manufacturer’s identification number. c) Next five digits It represents the item number.
2. It stores a lot more information.	2. It stores less information.
3. The total data-carrying capacity of an EPC number is from 32 to 256 bits long. This means that EPC can accommodate millions of trillions of possible number.	3. UPC can only accommodate 100,000 possible numbers.

Comparison between Bar Codes, Contact memory, Passive RFID and Active RFID

PROBLEM ENCOUNTERED

1. Time consuming in finding the desired books.

Although there are ISBN, index numbers at the back page of the book’s cover and even with the help of librarian, finding a desired book in a huge library and book stores where many books are placed together at the bookshelves is a time consuming task. When the particular index number of the book wanted have been found using the system available in most of the libraries and international bookstores nowadays, some books are misplaced and cannot be found in their original place at the bookshelves. Librarian or the reader need to search for the book all around the place and this takes up a lot of time and energy. The most annoying thing is time is wasted and the books the reader wanted cannot be found.

2. Books being misplaced.

Librarians have taken a lot of efforts in making the books at library to be easily found by readers. Unfortunately, there are still some irresponsible readers that do not put the books back at the original place at the shelves after reading it. This causes a lot of difficulties to the librarians and also the readers in finding the exact location of the books needed.

3. Readers are unable to find the books in the original place at the bookshelves.

There are cases where books that have been just returned are not being put back at the original place at the bookshelves. There are also cases where books are been hidden by some selfish and irresponsible readers at some places so that they are the only ones who can gain access to the book. Other readers are unable to borrow or use that particular book because the book cannot be found anywhere near or at the original place.

4. Unable to locate the books that have been gone or damaged.

The books that have been badly damaged until it cannot be recognized anymore can still be found by the librarian to mend it so that the book can still be reused as a reference to the readers. The library does not have to purchase the same new book as the damaged one as it will cause the library a huge loss. Due to inefficiency, sometimes the books that are in the process of mending are still marked as available by library archive. Readers that do not know that will definitely have a hard time searching for the books.

RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION

The Intelligent Book Finder project has many advantages and potential yet to be discovered. It is convenient for an institution as they are using less time in searching for a book and more time for researching and improving their services. It is also convenient for an individual as they will be having more time for other works if the book can be found in a short period of time. Thus given the opportunity to do such research and expand that vision is an honour. Although the idea has been created and the technology is possible to be applied, how to make the project feasible in library environment are still challenges that are waiting to be solved.

REFERENCES

1. Fatima Mussa, 25 January 2009, , “How to Locate a Book in a Library”
2. Patrick J. Sweeney, RFID For Dummies, 2005, United States of America, Wiley Publishing (page 1)
3. Patrick J. Sweeney, RFID For Dummies, 2005, United States of America, Wiley Publishing (page 11-15)
4. Patrick J. Sweeney, RFID For Dummies, 2005, United States of America, Wiley Publishing (page 20-21)
5. Patrick J. Sweeney, RFID For Dummies, 2005, United States of America, Wiley Publishing (page 70-71)
6. Patrick J. Sweeney, RFID For Dummies, 2005, United States of America, Wiley Publishing (page 110-112)
7. Christine Spivey Overby, RFID: The Complete Guide, 2005, Forrester Research Incorporation (page 6)