Whether your collection is big or small, our priority during any RFID tagging project is to seamlessly integrate with the daily operations of your library. Your patrons and staff should feel as little impact as possible throughout the course of the tagging project.
How do we make that goal a reality?
Before a project begins, our team develops a project plan that scopes out different phases for the tagging project. We’ll decide what needs tagged in each phase with regards to patron traffic and how long tagging should take in each section. A floor map that’s accessible to both our staff and yours is updated regularly with “tagged” and “pending” marks to keep everyone apprised.
What about the circulation of materials? Untagged intakes are placed on “To Be Tagged” book carts, which are then prioritized to swiftly restore accessibility to those resources. Tagged books receive a small marker dot on the book block to provide a quick visual identifier that an item has been processed.
We have a catalog of best practices to handle just about anything in your library: books, kits, DVDs, 3D Printers, and more – if your catalog carries it, we have a solution for how it should get tagged. There are some considerations that have to be taken when working with any material. Does it have metallic content? Will that, or the thickness of the item, affect RF recognition? How about legacy tags? We’ve got the different variables in mind when we develop your processing plan.
Quality control examines 5% of each shelf to double check that it received processing. If you’d like, a part-time technician is able to stay on with the library for two weeks following the project to help transition the tagging of returns from Backstage’s staff to the library’s. Two weeks, in our experience, is typically when tagging of remaining circulated titles begins to slow down.
In 2020, Backstage performed an RFID tagging project at the Bernards Township Library in New Jersey. Every library has its own goals for engaging with any collection management project; here is what Bernards Township Library had to say about theirs.
Our goal was to RFID tag our library’s collection before unveiling self-check out machines to the public. The idea of having our staff take on the task while still juggling their regular duties was daunting. At the time, we were still under COVID-19 restrictions, so working around those while also giving patrons some sense of normalcy was important to us. We felt having the tagging team come in would be the most efficient and allow us to roll out our self check machines as soon as possible.
The tagging staff worked efficiently and were respectful of our spaces and restrictions. The project manager kept things organized and effectively communicated to library staff each day where and when to expect tagging staff to be working. As we started to near the completion of the project, our project manager did a great job of training our library staff on how to tag returns and new books, setting us up for success after the tagging team left.
Weeding is definitely important! We really focused on weeding in the months leading up to the project’s start date and still ended up tagging things that really should have been weeded! We would also suggest making firm decisions on what will and won’t be tagged. Are you tagging magazines? The Reference Collection? We could have had a better plan in place for those things so there was no delay when it was time to tag particular collections.
If you’re just starting to consider RFID at your library, there are a few general questions you can ask to better wrap your head around the conversion process. In what order should the library be tagged? Where are tags placed, generally, and why?
Standards for RFID tags weren’t developed until 2005, and you may be wondering if your existing tags will interfere with your project. We have some advice about tattle tape, Checkpoint tags, and more.
The key to a successful project is in anticipating problems and accounting for them in your workflows. Even the best laid project profiles can meet obstacles – that’s why employing some agile management throughout the course of your project can make a world of difference.
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