Anyone familiar with my previous writing and thinking about RFID may find this post ironic, if not contradictory.  I'm hoping rather that it simply reflects keeping an open mind about the evolution of technology, and the value and energy that can be created by public libraries working together to create great new services through newfound control of their information systems.

In summary, this post is an open-letter of support for a grant proposal led by the Grand Rapids Public Library.  The proposal is for the development of a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) sub-system and standard for interoperability with the Evergreen system.

The potential benefits for public libraries include better patron service and staff efficiency for material handling, self-checkout, and possibly a few security options to try to discourage disappearance of popular media materials.

Cutting right to the chase, the possible benefit that I'm really jazzed about for KCLS is the ability of this concept to make it so that our backroom staff don't have to open every single DVD or CD that returns to the library to verify that:

a) the disk is actually in the container and

b) that multiple disk sets actually have all the disks included

In "Makers", Kodak and Duracell are merging to form the conglomerate, "Kodacell".  The new company has wads of cash, but no products that anyone wants to buy anymore.  Sound familiar?

So an Eminent blogger, Suzanne Church, is hired by the CEO of Kodacell to move from Silicon Valley to the burned-out, bankrupted suburban strip-mall  wastelands of Florida and write about the new engineering exploits of two guys who specialize in scavenging the circuitry from piles of unsold Boogie-Woogie Elmo dolls and constructing innovative but useless technological inventions that sell well for a time, and have not yet been copied and undercut by overseas sweatshops.

To the CEO, Kodacell's future is innovation.  Recognizing that every product they create will have it's margins fully undercut by global competition within 6 months, the strategy for the company is innovation for innovation's sake.  Don't stick with an idea too long.  Come up with a new one before the old one is completely subsumed by more efficient world-wide copycat operations.

This theme should strike a warm chord in the restless heart of the library open source community.