With the San Francisco Public Library's $300,000 RFID pilot getting approval from the Board of Supervisors, as well as the California legislature's recent decision not to let privacy concerns block RFID implementation, RFID (radio frequency identification) continues to gain as an important new technology, not only in California but in other parts of the country as well. But before RFID—which uses radio activated computer chips to track products in the supply chain—becomes widespread in publishing, many hurdles still need to be overcome.
At the June American Library Association annual meeting, technology and privacy issues surrounding implementation of RFID were debated following presentations by librarians, vendors, industry experts and privacy advocates. A number of libraries in the U.S. and Canada have already begun pilots to use RFID in order to speed checkout, improve shelving and counter theft.
Libraries like the Santa Clara Public Library in California have been using RFID technology successfully for several years. Karen Saunders, assistant city librarian, reported not only increases in efficiency and cost savings thanks to RFID, but also reduction in repetitive stress injuries among staff. She said patrons are delighted by RFID's quick checkout of even multiple books, which all but eliminates lines.
Despite the promise of RFID to save time and money, the rest of publishing is in a wait-and-see mode. If the publishing industry chooses the RFID path, the consensus is that tagging of pallets and boxes would not become common for another three to five years. Affixing RFID tags to individual books for use in a retail setting, moreover, would be a decade away at the earliest.
Privacy also remains a serious concern for many librarians, publishers and consumer advocacy groups. Today, RFID technology still lacks the standards and full functionality that would make it "dangerous" to individual citizens. As the technology matures, however, it is conceivable that a third party with the right device could read the tags on a patron's checked-out library books at a distance. This possibility raises red flags about intrusion by Big Brother, as well as concerns about long-term privacy pollution. Some technology for protecting library patrons' privacy already exists. Library Automation Technologies Inc., for example, has developed encryption envelopes for its FlashScan self-checkout and RFID systems. Other privacy-protection programs are in the works.
Equally important is the definition and implementation of broadly conceived privacy policies. Such policies are being developed by the RFID privacy task force jointly sponsored by the ALA, BISG and NISO; it also includes major publishers and retailers. Aided by IBM, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, Canada, the task force has drafted a set of principles being vetted by committees of the ALA, the AAP and other industry associations.
The privacy principles are inspired by well-established protocols, and include clearly informing users that RFID technology is being employed; keeping personal information separate from the data recorded on or with tags; and protecting data against interpretation by unauthorized third parties.
Once general agreement on the principles is obtained, industry organizations will mount a public information campaign to demonstrate the industry's commitment to protecting privacy before implementing RFID on a broad scale in publishing.
