[Koha] Koha and RFID

Fri Jan 9 08:02:12 NZDT 2015

They have a new staff circ program that does multiple items check in and check out.  

SIP definitely times out with the new program.  We haven't had an issue with the gates timing out.

With the new program, you can checkin/checkout up to 10 items at time, if the pad is strong enough.

Jason Burds
I.T. Supervisor
Carnegie-Stout Public Library
(563)589-4229

-----Original Message-----
From: Aaron Sakovich [mailto:asakovich at hmcpl.org] 
Sent: Thursday, January 8, 2015 12:52 PM
To: Jason M. Burds
Cc: koha at lists.katipo.co.nz
Subject: Re: [Koha] Koha and RFID

We also use RFID and Bibliotheca, though I will say up front, we are sorely disappointed with Bibliotheca's service. We've had tickets opened for weeks with no activity on them (the latest: they said they were waiting to install a self-check until they found out what ILS we were running. For the record, we've been on Koha for nearly a year, and have 5 branches using their kit already.)

We can only check items in/out one at a time at a staff workstation. The Self Check Kiosks can handle stacks of easily up to 7 items at a time for checkouts.

We are in on a CheckIn page AJAX development ByWater is managing for us that will allow for multiple items on a staff workstation's RFID pad. The recent changes to the CheckOut page AJAX-ifying the process was a big help, though we're still limited to 1 item at a time (but now, much faster).

And the SIP settings on the kiosks and workstations? We bumped the Koha timeouts up to about 5 minutes and have the Bibliotheca kit sending SC messages once every 4-1/2 minutes. Even with well over 60 systems throughout the county, we don't ever have to restart our server except under very unusual and exceptional thrashing...

Aaron
--
Aaron Sakovich
Internet and Technology Services manager
Huntsville-Madison County Public Library
915 Monroe St, Huntsville AL 35801
http://hmcpl.org/ -- asakovich at hmcpl.org

> On Jan 7, 2015, at 5:01 PM, Jason M. Burds <JBurds at dubuque.lib.ia.us> wrote:
> 
> We are in the end stages of a long and painful RFID migration.  To answer your question, SIP makes checkouts and check-ins work much faster.  
> 
> We chose Bibliotheca for our vendor.  They do have a Circ manager software that will connect with SIP and allow for multiple items checking in and out.  Our staff still has to bring up the patrons account in Koha to verify holds and overdues.  There are many bugs with it but overall it functions most of the time.  
> 
> Warning about Bibliotheca and Koha
> 1. SIP connections are tremendous and will eventually lockup your SIP server with flood messages.  We have to restart SIP server every morning, to clear out log files.  
> 2. RFID pads are not powerful and will disappoint you, expect to have to shuffle items to get them to read.  
> 3. Gates cannot detect DVD's with Stingray tags when the gate is set to only alarm on outgoing traffic.  You need bidirectional detection.  This may be important on how you tag your collection and how you plan your implementation.
> 4. Inventory device needs to run on Windows 7.  Good luck with anyone with a new PC in the last 2 years.  OS on inventory device is an old windows palm OS.  We are still waiting for a replacement for one that came bad out of the box, 2 months after receiving it.
> 
> Not to be overly negative about them, they do have a few good support staff and a programmer David who is excellent.  
> 
> In addition, we have Tech Logic self-checks that are near perfect on detection and RFID pads are 50% stronger.  Makes me wish we would have spent the money and went with them 100%.
> 
> Good luck and if you have any questions let me know.
> 
> Jason Burds
> I.T. Supervisor
> Carnegie-Stout Public Library
> (563)589-4229
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Koha [mailto:koha-bounces at lists.katipo.co.nz] On Behalf Of Liz Rea
> Sent: Wednesday, January 7, 2015 1:07 PM
> To: koha at lists.katipo.co.nz
> Subject: Re: [Koha] Koha and RFID
> 
> It would be awesome if all replies to this email could come to the list, so that we can make a FAQ for the website.
> 
> Cheers,
> Liz Rea
> 
> On 31/12/14 07:04, Keener, Nancy wrote:
>> Our library is considering RFID in our near future.  Are there any Koha libraries out there using RFID?   Does SIP limit RFID functionality? And finally, what vendor did you choose?
>> 
>> Nancy Keener
>> Systems Librarian
>> I.T.O.S.C. Chair
>> Washoe County Library System
>> Reno, Nevada
>> 775 327-8347
>> nkeener at washoecounty.us
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> ea
>> http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
> 
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