[Koha] Koha and RFID

Fri Jan 16 10:00:11 NZDT 2015

Interesting.  It sounds like they don't have that whole bidirectional thing
going right yet. Thanks for the additional info.

On Thu, Jan 15, 2015 at 12:51 PM, Jason M. Burds <JBurds at dubuque.lib.ia.us>
wrote:

>
>    1. We are testing out the changes mentioned.
>    2. We have TechLogic pads on our self-checks and they are wonderful.
>    The staff pads are Bibliotheca and are weak.
>    3. We had the gates setup so they would only alarm when people left
>    the building.  This resulted in 1 out of every 100 items with security
>    turned on to trigger the alarm.  We had to change the gate to alarm when
>    patrons come in the building and leave the building to get them to detect
>    and alarm at a 75% rate.
>
>
>
> I know it makes no sense at all, but Bibliotheca gave the response that
> people were moving too fast to properly trigger the alarm.
>
>
>
> Directional alarming has a sensor that triggers the entry.  It then checks
> the security of the items.  The gates are either too slow or we need to
> require patrons to walk in slow motion when they leave the building.
>
>
>
> When you put on Bidirectional, alarming it disables the sensors and checks
> for security first.
>
>
>
> Either way it is something to be aware of when dealing with Bibliotheca,
> and their gates.
>
>
>
>
>
> *Jason Burds*
>
> I.T. Supervisor
>
> Carnegie-Stout Public Library <http://www.dubuque.lib.ia.us/>
>
> (563)589-4229
>
>
>
> *From:* Lori Ayre [mailto:loriayre at gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Thursday, January 15, 2015 2:36 PM
> *To:* Jason M. Burds
> *Cc:* koha at lists.katipo.co.nz
>
> *Subject:* Re: [Koha] Koha and RFID
>
>
>
> Hi Jason,
>
>
>
> You are describing some things that suggest to me you have issues with
> your implementation.  The limitations you are describing are not common to
> all RFID implementations.
>
>
>
> 1.  SIP connections flooding your system:  Not typical. Sounds like others
> on this thread have some ideas for you. This would be a Koha issue and not
> an RFID issue.
>
>
>
> 2. RFID pads are not powerful and require shuffling:  This is a problem
> withe product you are using. You didn't state whether you were talking
> about the pads used by staff or the ones used in the self-check machines.
> If staff, I'd harangue Bibliotheca until they get you some pads you are
> happy with.  If it's the self-check machines....I have heard from other
> Bibliotheca customers that their tabletop units don't have good pads. If
> they are unsatisfactory, again, harass your vendor until you are
> satisfied.  Did you put any kind of performance requirement in your RFP?
> That's what I do with clients.  That way if items aren't getting read as
> promised, it is on the vendor to fix it.
>
>
>
> 3. DVDs/Stingrays/Bidirectional Gates:  This makes no sense.  I wonder if
> you are not understanding something about how direction gates work. If you
> have set up your gates s they only alarm when a patron is ENTERING the
> library, then the gates will simply stop alarming unless two conditions
> exist:  the gates detect someone walking into the library and they also
> detect an unchecked out item (which may or may not be associated with the
> person who is walking through the gates).  Gates detect RFID tags up to 18
> inches or so in all directions.  All the directionality does is control
> whether the alarm will sound or not.  And, there are two ways to determine
> directionality.  One is for the gates to set up two seeing eyes (lasers or
> whatever) so that when the laser beam is broken in the right order, the
> gates know someone walked in.  There's another technology used as well
> which uses radar.  Anyway, this is probably not the reason your DVDs aren't
> being detected.  Any discs with metal on one side are simply not doing to
> get detected. And if you have more than one Stingray on a set of discs
> (e.g. books on CD), they will probably conflict with one another and render
> all the tags useless.
>
>
>
> 4.  Now, that conforms with my understanding!
>
>
>
> Hope the above info helps.
>
>
>
> Lori Ayre
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 7, 2015 at 3:01 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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