Library Wants to Put Chips in Books
Public Libraries
Source: AP
“Library Wants to Put Chips in Books”
From the article, A civil liberties watchdog group [EPIC] is expressing concern over the San Francisco Public Library’s plans to track books by inserting computer chips into each tome. Library officials approved a plan Thursday to install tiny radio frequency identification chips, known as RFIDs, into the roughly 2 million books, CDs and audiovisual materials patrons can borrow. The system still needs funding and wouldn’t be ready until at least 2005. The article mentions that both the Santa Clara Public Library and Seattle Public Library are in the process of installing RFID systems. I think it’s interesting maybe even ironic that after the library world’s strong defense of the patron record privacy (especially in the past few months) that this type of story is now making the rounds. Thanks to LISNEWS for the tip.
See Also: EPIC, the watchdog group, quoted in the article offers a page with RFID info.
See Also: RFID Glossary (via RFID Journal)