ALA/BISG-Sponsored RFID Working Group Holds Berkeley Meeting

摘要

The radio frequency identification (RFID) in libraries debate was the subject of the seventh meeting of the RFID Working Group, jointly sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), which convened February 25 at the University of California-Berkeley's Boalt Law School. Hosted by Deirdre Mulligan, director, Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at Boalt, the meeting drew approximately 20 technologists, vendors, printers, publishers' staff, graduate students, and ALA representatives. The meetings goal was to help interested libraries adopt RFID in a way that protects privacy and is transparent and open to the community. The Berkeley session also was a first step in defining similarities and differences in the ways that libraries and the rest of the publishing chain might employ the technology. Discussion focused on the core issue of privacy, the unmet need for standards, the early stages of the RFID art, and the wide range of potential uses in the book industry.