Implementation and integration of radio-frequency identification system: a practical approach

The purpose of this paper is to explain how the author had carried out the implementation of the radio-frequency identification (RFID) system at Central Library, Fakiragram College and to explain to the library professional on how to integrate RFID with Koha integrated library management system (ILMS) in their respective library without taking IT/technical experts assistance. This paper will encourage library professionals to implement RFID technology for the library security and embrace open source software in their institutions.

The paper describes the author’s practical experiences regarding implementation of the RFID system and integration of middleware RFID software with library management software.

From the present study, it was found that the library staff are having a positive attitude toward embracing RFID technology in their library. The present implementation of RFID technology in the studies area gives a clear picture about integrating a third-party software/tool like RFID to the existing systems and how the new system has helped the library to provide better service to their users

There were some teething problems at the start between the Koha ILMS SIP2 software and the RFID system. The main issue faced while integration was with setting up the hostname, integrating the instance (i.e. database) and with setting up the port.

This paper will help librarians to implement RFID technology in a practical way to their libraries. The author implemented Koha ILMS with RFID system at the Central Library, Fakiragram College within 1 month and the author migrated data from common communication format (CCF) format to MARC 21 formats. CCF is basically used in SOUL 2.0 developed by INFLIBNET.

This study discusses issues and possible solutions in the process of implementing RFID applications for two innovative applications in library services. This will influence library professionals to learn Koha ILMS and RFID technology implement it in their libraries.