The Sandwich Test!

RFID Equipment – Staff pads

RFID Equipment - Gates

Pentalift

Tagging – ChallengesMetallic coversMetallic materials (i.e. CDs, DVDs)Donut hub tags & Booster tagsAfter-the-fact weedingQuality control

Looking forward…

Embedded Tags from Book TradePre-programmed tagsHigh quality/High performance TagTag Prices Decreasing

Other Components of RFIDSoftwareSIP to ILSFloating collectionsFurnitureMarketing Messages Standards for spacing

(gates, self checks, pads)

Lessons Learned - CollectionsWeeding, weeding, weeding BEFORE taggingAccept non tagged items – make it a backroom

issue not a customer service issueSimple tagging on multi-part setsRFID has enabled better merchandising of the

collections

Lessons Learned - FacilitiesYou need to be very aware of interference and the

proximity of metal (including nails/screws in furniture, drawer rails, cable and wiring management…) with any of the readers/antennas.

RFID readers/antennas create a reading zone that is symmetrical below and above the antenna. Putting metal below the antennas shrinks the size of the reading cloud both below and above the antenna.

RFID Antenna Table Top

Poor Read Range

Good Read Range

RFID Antenna

Metal Screws, computer cables, bad surface area

• Laws of physics apply no matter what a vendor promises

• Weak signal may read a chip BUT need stronger signal to write to the chip and turn off security bit