Link to Stanley A. Miller II's 'Personal Technology' column in the December 3 Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, "Self-checkout bit hit at local libraries".
Excerpt: Reading may be going digital with e-books, e-readers and fancy new tablets.
But reading the old-fashioned way - on books printed on real paper - is getting a high-tech upgrade too at the Milwaukee Public Library, which is nearly done stamping its collection with RFID tags that will make organizing them a lot easier.
RFID stands for radio-frequency identification, and the technology lets the library secure and track items quickly. It also lets patrons check out materials like books, CDs, DVDs and hand puppets all by themselves.
Eleven of the library's 13 branches are upgraded to RFID with only the Central and Bay View locations still in the works. The $3.5 million project, which began on Feb. 20 at the Martin Luther King branch, might be complete by spring.
"There was a lot to learn before we did this," said Kathryn Mlsna, coordinator of circulation and RFID project manager. "It's been around for awhile, but it's a fairly new technology."
The big feature for library patrons is that now they can walk into a branch, grab what they want, take it to a self-checkout kiosk and walk out with no librarian oversight.
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