The Education Library was advised to close by Security on Sunday afternoon at 1pm due to ongoing problems with the power supply going off and on. However, since then patrons have been allowed in the building. A final decision regarding whether the library can stay open will be made at 3pm

During the tagging project over summer it was discovered that one of the Retrospective Tagging Trolleys was defective. It was producing tags that had the correct information printed on them but the incorrect information encoded in them. Unfortunately, this trolley had tagged a large number of books before the error was discovered. Pre-earthquake we had planned to check and fix all tags produced by this trolley. We will do this at some point but it has obviously been interrupted by our lack of access.

This means that from time to time you may go to either issue or return a book and notice that the title issued/returned differs to that of the book in your hand.

Fixing the tags is relatively easy. Click on “Encode Tags” on the Retrospective Trolley. Place the book on the pad and scan the barcode. This will re-encode the tag that is already in the book, so that data will now match what is printed on the tag. If you are uncertain about this process, there is box by the Horizon computer in the workroom for troublesome RFID issues. If you place any books there, I will periodically clear them.

Fiona T

I have created a folder on the K drive where staff can raise questions about particular processes and record problems that they experience with using the new RFID equipment.

These can be found here:

K:\projects\RFID\RFID Problems

The document entitled “RFID Issues To Be Tested” is organised by equipment. You can add questions or notes under “Procedural Issues” or “Technical Issues” for each device. This will help us with the ongoing testing and finetuning of the setup of the RFID Equipment. Please inital any comments you add to the document.

You will see another document I created recording a particular problem I witnessed today with the self check machine. I appreciate that these things often happen when you are busy at the desk so you will likely not have time to create similar documents. However, if you do have time, this sort of detailed information is helpful for us in trying to solve the problem.

Thanks,
Fiona

Peter K, Romy and myself have been testing the self checkout machines, lending desk software (“circulation assist”), sort bin and check-in software (“sort assist”) at Central in preparation for re-opening next week.

1. The self-checkout machines are working well. We are planning to ‘tweak’ some of the messages that pop up for borrowers but found no major problems.

2. The lending desk software is also mostly working well. The main RFID component is the pad – you will still mostly use Horizon but the software simply enables items to be automatically checked in/out once they are placed on the pad. Prior to the earthquake we found that the software kept freezing. This is still a problem but we suspect it is related to trying to check out a book that was just returned on the same station. We will keep working on this. Bear with it – you can always check out an item with a scanner if need be.

3. The sort bin is working but note that it will only ‘check in’ and secure items that were issued with RFID. However, all items that come through checkin must be put on the ‘Sort Assist’ RFID pad – this will secure ALL items with an RFID tag. (There is no need for security blasting returns).

You can monitor what items are being checked in by opening the “Returns Monitor” (there is an icon on the desktop of that computer) – a list of all books returned will pop up.

3. Testing the check-in software has revealed a number of issues that need to be resolved/tweaked that mean we need to be vigilent. The software is returning Central items, producing hold slips, and noting items that need to go in transit (destination is indicated with location code). However, it will not produce ‘In Transit’ slips so we need to take care that items go in the right hamper – a workflow is yet to be developed for this process. We also want to streamline the format of messages.

Please place all items on this pad top ensure all books are secured. Most items should checkin with little problems. However you may get the following error messages:”LMS CKI Failed. Try Again” or “Item not for self issue. Please go to a Service Desk”. Please check these items in on Horizon with a scanner (you will need to use a different computer as Horizon is not loaded on the checkin station).

Romy is on at 8.30 on Monday and I start at 1.15 so we will be around to help with any issues, and we will keep working on resolving some of the problems next week.

There are draft RFID workflow documents that I have been working on located on the K drive (K:\projects\RFID\RFID Workflow Documents).

These may be useful to have a look at if you have time. They are only drafts and we still have a number of issues to resolve (the text highlighed in yellow). Feedback would be fantastic – please feel free to email me with suggestions/problems and so on.

Fiona T

With the help of Lending and Library Support Staff, the RFID tagging project is continuing as much as possible.

The Central, Law and EPS libraries have been completely tagged (excepting a small amount of stock on the mobile stacks at EPS which we had to leave over the summer while renovations tooks place and Level 4 of Central).

The Education library is *almost* finished, with just the kits to go which we hope to finish within the week. There are some other small collections, such as posters, cds and so on which may be tagged, but all Education book stock has been tagged.

AYO Lending Staff began tagging the Macmillan Brown Lending Collection (Aotearoa Room) just before Easter and we have tagged a third of this collection. It is very busy at MB so we’ve been restricted to tagging in the evening and weekends. Nevertheless, we are hoping to finish tagging this collection before the Central Library re-opens and AYO staff return to Central.

Thanks to all staff who have been helping with the tagging.

Once we finish the MB collection, the last hurdle in terms of tagging is level 4 of the Central Library.

Fiona T

RFID tagging has resumed at the Education Library.

We are lucky to have Library Support Services and Lending staff from different libraries helping tag the books. Fortunately, the tagging trolleys in Education were undamaged during the quake and are now being used to finish tagging the Education Collection.

Thank you to all the staff helping to complete this project.

Fiona T

As of this Monday, we will officially ‘go live’ with RFID technology at EPS and Central (although EPS has technically been operating with RFID systems since Wednesday).

As we have finished tagging the EPS and Central Libraries (excluding Level 4) we have been ‘security blasting’ the collection. The retrospective tagging process creates tags with an ‘initialised’ status; it is necessary to change them to ‘secure’ to ensure that any unissued items will set off the security gates.This involves scanning shelves of books using a wand attached to the tagging trolleys, which activates the security feature of the RFID tags. When a secure tagged item is issued, its security status will flick to ‘initialised.’ When the item is checked back in its status will revert back to ‘secure’. The EPS and Central Library collections have now been fully secured. Although we have finished tagging the Law Library and Commerce Collection, it will not be security blasted until right before RFID goes live in this library (approximately Easter).

FE Technologies were onsite this week to provide training in using the self-check machines and circulation assistants and many staff attended this training. One point emphasised was that our Horizon processes remain the same and that the RFID technology ‘piggy-backs’ onto Horizon. Therefore, if during the next couple of weeks you come across any problems with issuing using the RFID Circulation Assistant, you can always issue items on Horizon with a wand/scanner. However, please contract Library IT with any problems that arise as soon as possible.

A reminder to staff working in the EPS and Central Libraries that items with a yellow dot stuck on the spine have not been tagged (for various reasons, including multiple barcodes and no space to put a tag) and must be issued through Horizon using the barcode.

The tagging of Level 4 of the Central Library and the Education library will continue next week with morning and evening shifts, albeit with a much smaller crew of taggers. We are also looking to begin tagging the Macmillan Brown Library collection in the near future.

From next week I will be working mostly evenings (but will still be working on tagging project) so may take a while to respond to any RFID-related emails. Anything urgent should be direct to Library IT in the first instance.

Fiona T

We are now tagging in four libraries: Central, EPS, Law and Education.

A team of two just started tagging the picture book collection at the Education Library and we anticipate moving more trolleys to Education in the future to speed up the conversion of the Education collection.

The EPS collection is almost entirely tagged, with just a small section on Level 2 to be completed. Likewise, the Law collection is almost entirely tagged with only the Commerce collection to be completed. Of course, this is a large collection but the tagging teams are making good progress as are the numerous people helping to get the collection up onto the shelves.

In the Central Library we are tagging on Levels 3 and 4. Joan has staff shelving the books being tagged from boxes on Level 4 as well as moving the PR books onto the new shelving on level 4 once they have been tagged. We are also looking to begin ‘security blasting’ the Central Collection this week, that is, activating the security features of the RFID tags in preparation for RFID going live. This is done using the retrospective tagging trolleys.

The new RFID equipment for the Central and EPS libraries, including the new gates, smartbin, self check machines and so on, has been delivered. Next week there will be training sessions from the vendor on using this new equipment (we are still awaiting more details).

Fiona T

Hi all,

I got the date wrong in my notice about training on the new RFID equipment. This will take place on the 16th February, not the 15th.

Apologies for the confusion,
Fiona T

We are only a couple of weeks away from having RFID ‘go live’ in the Central and EPS Libraries. We have also almost finished tagging the Law Library Collection, with only the Commerce Collection left to complete, and are looking at beginning to tag the Education Library Collection.

Dom Chahine from FE Technologies, the vendor for the RFID Project, will be on site on the 16th of February to train library staff on using the new RFID equipment. This is the Circulation Assistants, Smart Bins, Gates and so on. We would like several people from each library to attend this training, so they can then pass this knowledge onto their colleagues.

We will have more information about where and what time the inital training will take place on the 16th. But it will be useful if each library could let me know who will be attending the training.

Thanks,
Fiona T