By The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Stealing from the Multnomah County Library system used to be a simple matter of selecting a book and walking out with it.
The Oregonian says the Central Library has had no security system since the building was renovated 13 years ago. None of the 16 branches has working security systems either. That's meant hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost materials each year, including nearly $300,000 in the past six months.
But for the past month, Central Library workers have been affixing little flat tags to books and CDs in hopes of reducing missing items by 40 percent or more.
The Radio Frequency Identification tags store and retrieve data and contain antennas that enable them to respond to radio-frequency queries. They can't be removed from items without damaging them and will trigger an alarm at the door if an item isn't checked out.
The library is "going from security that is pretty much people watching to an automatic system that works," says Central Library Collections Administrator Deanna Cecotti.
County commissioners approved about $1.3 million last year from the general fund and $1.6 million more this year from a planned bond to pay for installation of the tag system at all the branches by the end of next year.
Items lost from the Multnomah County Library in a year account for about 10 percent of the system's annual materials budget. Library estimates indicate the tag project, which will cost about $155,000 a year to maintain and mark new materials, could save $238,000 a year in lost materials.
Just as important, library officials say, is that the tags are more efficient for both library workers and users and will save time and money in handling books and other material.
"We wanted to make sure that whatever we did for security would make handling easier, not harder," said Cindy Gibbon, library access service manager.
Checking items in and out can be 60 percent faster with RFID tags, Gibbon said. That could save an additional $425,000 annually in streamlined materials handling.
The library is also adding new self-checkout kiosks.
So far, the Central Library has tagged about 250,000 of its 800,000 items with a completion goal of early January. The new Kenton library will open by February with the new system, as will future branches.
___
Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com