RFID IN SINGAPORE.

This item was kindly supplied by Margaret Butterworth, a PhD student at Curtin University of Technology. Margaret is investigating future funding models for public libraries and writing a case study of Singapore's National Library Board. She was previously a lecturer at Nanyan Technological University in Singapore. Address: 2/51 Talbot Avenue Como WA 6152 [e-mail]

In its quest to employ innovative technologies to improve service, Singapore's National Library Board is trialing the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) in its newest branch library at Bukit Batok, which opened on 21 November 1998. If the trial is successful, it is expected that the system of using barcodes read by a laser beam, which is currently in use in most libraries, will become obsolete. The RFID system was developed by jointly by the National Library Board and Singapore Technologie's Logitrack, one of the many government linked companies in receipt of research and development funding. The components were sourced from South Australia and put together in Singapore, at a time when most observers believed that this technology was too expensive to be feasible in the library environment. 3M and Raeco are watching with interest.

RFID self checkout machines are proving much easier for the public to use. Books are placed on a pad in front of the machine, which records the loan using radio waves to read data from a microchip in the spine. At the point of return, the advantage of speed and accuracy are even more visible. Previously, on busy weekends there was always a danger that delays would occur in discharging books and that patrons would try to borrow a new set before the system was ready to accept their loans. Occasionally errors would occur if the library assistant working at the return chute allowed a book to slip through without discharging it. None of these problems arise with the RFID system, as less human intervention is needed. The loan record is updated immediately the books pass through the chute.

RFID is also being used to assist sorting of returned books. An assistant places each book in front of a monitor, which then displays a category number, say `23'. These are broad categories which have been devised for a shelf arrangement which resembles a bookshop rather than a library. The Dewey system has not been scrapped entirely, but more emphasis is placed upon human interest areas, such as Travel, Management, Sport, Parenting and these topics form the sorting categories. The library assistant need not read the call number on the spine as she sorts the books; she simply follows the number displayed on the monitor. The books are then placed on semi sorted returned books shelves so that the public can have immediate access to them.

To appreciate the need for such technology, it is important to realize that Singapore's branch libraries are extremely busy and that the turnover of books is very high. This stems from the fact that the population they serve is much bigger than in Australia. A small branch library, located in rented premises within a shopping mall, will have a collection of 120,000 books and would expect to loan that many in a month. The bookstock is new (nothing older than four and a half years) and the aim is that it should contain no dead wood. These libraries have been likened to fast food outlets with a quick turnover. If you want to sit down over a three course dinner, you should not go to Macdonalds. Similarly, those with a complicated reference enquiry needing expert staff assistance, should not go to these book dispensing outlets but to the Central Reference Library or to Tampines Regional Library. This is market segmentation, Singapore style.