Using RFID Inventory Reader at the Item-Level in a Library Environment: Performance Benchmark

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology revolutionizes the library operations in areas of circulation and inventory management, and is anticipated to replace barcode. However, there is a surprisingly scarce number of conceptual and empirical researches on RFID performance testing in libraries. The literature has advocated that evaluation is an important activity in the problem-solving process and that significant difficulties in performance can occur in the absence of test in the related environment. This paper will address and apply a methodology to evaluate the RFID inventory reader in a library with the intent to provide recommendations/best practices on the utility of an inventory reader. The methodology encompassed a design of experiment approach that investigates four factors: read angle (A), read distance (B), tag location (C) and shelf material (D). The findings suggested that read angle, read distance and tag location has a significant impact on the performance on the inventory reader. Initial findings on shelf type (wood or metal) suggest that this factor has an impact on read rate of the inventory reader. The results also shows significant interaction effects between some factors. It is anticipated that the findings may help researchers and library practitioners to understand and further investigate methods to optimize the performance of the reader.