I haven't actually used RFID in an institutional setting, but did look into it all a while back (I had the advantage that my brother worked on the development RFID at TIRIS with Texas Instruments way back when, so I was able to get plenty of free, no strings consulting...).
Anyway, while there are a number of issues around the actual implementation of RFID depending on your circumstances, it's flexibility is one of the big plusses for the system. There is the obvious improvement in inventory control - you don't have to pull every item of the shelf to check it. In addition, the information on the tag can be updated as circumstances/locations change etc. And general, once fully implemented, it tends to give very accurate inventories. Information about the object - location, conservation issues, object history and notes etc can be stored on the tag, which can then be directly accessed by the staff wherever the object is. In larger locations, movement can also be logged by having gateway readers in different locations - so, if an item is moved from storage room to conservation lab, that is automatically logged. Quite a lot of other things can be developed around this aspect of RFID. In addition, and building on this, there is it's use in displays/exhibits. A visitor with a hand held guide can access selected information about any object in a display as they come to it, directly from the object, as it reads that information from the tag. You can also get feedback on visitor habits by tracking how and what they viewed in the museum. Here are just a few of the things I came across then http://www.it-director.com/business/content.php?cid=9838 http://www.cio.com/article/8820/_Putting_the_RFID_in_Art http://newmuseums.blogspot.com/2007/03/rfid-and-museums.html Unless you have a very large (spread out, possibly on different sites) collection, RFID might not be the most cost effective deal if you only look at it for collections inventory control. But if you consider it for broader use, taking advantage of its wider potential, it might well be worth it. Tim a -- Tim Atherton Assistant Curator Mus?e H?ritage Museum, St. Albert (780) 459-1594 tatherton at st-albert.net
