Local Area Network Wiki
The ideas that are behind the LAN are good ones. Connecting to computers to computers makes it easier to share information. I have seen the standard TCP/IP used when I was setting up my internet at my apt. Again some of the more technical aspects are confusing to me, but I get the general gist. I can see Librarians using LANs to set up their libraries computers, especially since wireless technology enables them to not actually be hooked up to anything, allowing for more freedom.
Computer Network Wiki
I found this article to be much less technical and therefore more informative than the one above. It lists the various types of computer networks and how they are connected. In addition it showed what hardware is needed. I can see librarians will primarily deal with LANs and CANs.
Common Types of Computer Networks Video
Though the guy was trying way too hard to be interesting, he simplified everything down so even I could understand it. I liked how he was very simple and ook it one step at a time. I was also thinking back to the Youtube article where it suggested that libraries could upload instructional videos to help students. After seeing this video, I am more aware of what a good idea this is.
Management of RFID in Libraries
This is my first contact with RFID, and I like the idea. It moves beyond the idea of barcodes, which in libraries can peel or become unreadable through dirt, etc. One of my beliefs is that if it proves successful in the commercial area, than libraries can learn from it. After all the only difference between stores and libraries is people pay for the things they don’t return (Joke). Its use as a security tool as well as an inventory tool cannot be overlooked. Though it does have some weaknesses, I think that this tech will play a big role in libraries in the future.
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The idea about using RFID for inventory really appeals to me, too. It could be really useful when books - or objects of any kind, really - go missing.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that it would help libraries find missing items. I do not like telling a patron I could not find an item when our computer says we have it. This system could be really helpful.
ReplyDeleteI have studied RFID technologies is a couple different classes and was somewhat concerned that she didnt mentioned at all about the tags malfunctioning.
ReplyDeleteBarcodes can be marred by dirt and peel off overtime but RFID tags are also stickers so can peel and some can have the tendency to malfunction... as in no longer work or be readable...
if there is a checkout desk after this technology is developed, that may not be a big deal
but in warehouse inventory use, the items are usually just passed through the energy field... if the libraries take this view and just have a 'reader' at the doors, the malfunctioned tags would become a greater problem.
I thought that RFID had much more potential as an inventory tool than a security tool. You are correct in saying that it has some weaknesses. It can be outsmarted by tin foil!
ReplyDeleteI agree with RFID as an inventory tool, but until it proves to be impervious to tin foil and gum wrappers, I don't think it is the best security device.
ReplyDeleteI worked and was a patron at a library that used RFID. I was usefull if you were checking out a small number of books (the platform could only load 5 at a time). Sometimes you had to shift the books and they didn't scan at all so you had to scan them manually one at a time.
ReplyDeleteAfter our conservation class, I have been wondering what if having RFID's makes a difference in the preservation of books -- does it make it easier or harder to handle the books carefully?
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