Blacksburg, VA - Fruitville Public Library in Sarasota, Florida has
received VTLS' RFID inventory control and will begin to use the new technology
to monitor their 60,000-item collection. The library also has reported a steady
increase in the percentage of circulation at the VTLS RFID patron self-checkout
station.
"Many patrons have reported that they prefer the convenience of checking out
their own materials," says Richard Nesmith at Sarasota County Libraries
Administration. "About forty percent of monthly checkouts have been made through
the patron self checkout station since installation."
In addition to enjoying the convenience of self-checkout, the Fruitville
library also easily discovered some inventory oversights when using the VTLS
portable inventory wand to scan a portion of the juvenile section. These errors
included a misspelling on the spine label that caused material to be misshelved,
a misprogrammed RFID tag, labels that mismatched the location code, books in
transit that had never been checked in, out of place books and incorrect
stickers on the spine.
These discoveries in inventory oversights are generated because the VTLS RFID
software can compare the shelf list report (title, call number the current
circulation status) to the tags that are shelved. With this software, libraries
don't need an inventory module in the ILS system; library staff can get a shelf
list report without having to purchase an inventory control module. Therefore,
library staff can perform the inventory function without the complexity of the
inventory control module.
The portable inventory wand scans up to twenty items per second without
removing material from the shelf. The portable inventory wand supplements the
other RFID components already in use in the library including EAS (Electronic
Article Surveillance) pedestals at the library entrance and the RFID interfaces
at the staff circulation desk and technical services area.
The VTLS RFID solution interfaces with VTLS' Virtua ILS as well as other
library systems. Currently VTLS has six RFID installations in North America.
About VTLS Inc.
VTLS Inc. (www.vtls.com) is an ISO 9001:2000 quality
certified company. By focusing on customers and anticipating their needs, VTLS
has succeeded in becoming an international leader in integrated library
automation, digital imaging services and radio frequency identification (RFID)
technology. VTLS products and services have helped to create smarter academic
and public libraries, museums, archives and corporate research repositories
throughout the United States, Canada, and 32 other countries. A diverse customer
base of more than 900 libraries gives VTLS a global perspective of the industry
and compels the company to abide by strict international standards.
