If you are planning to roll out RFID throughout your library allow Zenith to take some of the hard work away. The thought of retro fitting your collection may be giving you headaches……
Last year the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) implemented RFID. Part of the project involved encoding and inserting RFID tags into their entire collection. UTS decided to engage Zenith’s Library Technical Services Division (LTS) to perform some of the simpler tasks – the encoding and insertion of RFID tags in over 514,000 monographs (some with one disk). The more complicated materials such as audio visuals and serials/journals were completed in-house with the use of Zenith’s Staffing Services Division providing some temporary staff as well as UTS core staff.
Initially this project was to cover several months, however due to circumstances beyond the control of UTS the project timeframe was condensed to only 12 weeks. LTS was contracted to provide the service on a fixed rate basis (i.e. a per item charge). Training, OH&S, and Day to Day Management of the onsite team remained the responsibility of LTS – this type of project managed contract is known as insourcing (the same concept as outsourcing except the work is completed on your site). The work was conducted over two sites in Sydney and required six encoding trolleys to be in constant use by the teams, each comprising two staff.
LTS was able to advertise, interview and test over 70 applicants within two weeks of being awarded the contract. 26 students were selected, recruited and inducted. Total responsibility for the team was managed by LTS, including roster management and quality control of output. Roster management was a huge time saving for UTS as the contract covered a four week exam period during which time LTS managed to have 95% of shifts covered by ensuring students were not rostered for work during their exam times.
Whether your RFID project is large or small contact Julie Daw, General Manager of Zeniths Library Technical Services for more details on how to manage the work. A solution can be tailored to suit your needs and include both a project managed or insourced solution along with the more traditional provision of casual staff.