RFID Guardian Use-Cases Library

From RFID Wiki

RFID technology can also be deployed in library. In the US, there are about 60 libraries with approximately 10 million books using this technology. At least three procedures will be accelerated with the help of RFID: check- out, inventory and return.

Checkout is easy once a person is identified as a library patron. When the user card is waved in front of a lending reader, the user is identified and the account is opened. The books' tags are now read by the reader and the chip are reset to status checked out. When these books are carried through the sensor gate at the exit there will be no alarm. This procedure could be done either by a librarian or through a self-check- out station by the patron .

Making an inventory can also be made automated. The librarian only needs to connect the wand to a peripheral device (preferably a laptop computer), wave the wand across library collection and let the reader wand and software do the rest | collect inventory data, search for missing items and identify mis-shelved materials. Data gathered during the inventory process is then uploaded into library's database.

There are three ways to automate book returns. The first one is to have a librarian manually read the patron's library card and the books' RFID tag; the second is to deploy a self-check return station do the same thing. And a third possibility is an Auto Return Device. As the items slide down the return chute, an RFID antenna reads the item's tag and checks the item back into the system. Note that the returning reader doesn't have to read the patron's tag, because the book may be returned by another person. The library does not care who returns the book, only the fact that each book is finally returned. This means that Auto Return Decive can be combined with a self-return station.

UML Object Model

UML Sequence Model

Sample ACL

######################
# Library rules
######################

context trusted;

# By default, we want to leave RFID traffic alone
rule P15693 ACCEPT
{
	context = *;
	role = *;
	tags = *;
	query = { command = *; };
};

# Block others to read my own books
rule P15693 DENY
{
	context = *;
	role = *;
	tags = MY_TAGS;
	query = { command = *; };
}

# Library readers can read library tags
rule P15693 ACCEPT
{
	context = trusted;
	role = LIBRARY;
	tags = @LIBRARY_CARD;
	query = { command = *; };
};