Private school library goes hi-tech

Sydney's prestigious St Ignatius’ College Riverview is the latest private school to install a Library RFID system in a stunning upgrade of its facilities.

The 128-year-old college on Sydney’s north shore recently opened its state-of-the-art Christopher Brennan Library, named for the Australian poet and college alumnus.

The school had initially considered installing a simple electromagnetic book tracking system as part of its upgrade. But St Ignatius’ College executive librarian June Wall said the Library RFID system proved to be a superior – and affordable – alternative.

“The school community sought to incorporate new technology, but obviously within budget. So we are very happy to have achieved both through the installation of the Library RFID system,” said June Wall, who also heads the Australian School Library Association.

The school’s RFID system includes a Self Loan Station, a Portable Scanning Unit, 33,000 tags, two Circulation Assistant upgrade units and a three-column security gate. The school has also opted to integrate a DVD unlocking mechanism within the self loan station that makes 100 per cent self checkout a reality.

St Ignatius’ College’s Library RFID system is working in conjunction with the Amlib library management system.

The Library RFID system, developed and manufactured in Victoria, replaces barcode scanning by encoding RFID tags with specific information about library items. The radio frequency technology allows library items to be tracked and monitored without the traditional dependency on “line-of-sight”.

FE Technologies CEO Robert Reed said it was gratifying to be able to offer the school cutting-edge RFID technology at a similar price to a traditional electromagnetic system.

“We look forward to working with other schools who wish to follow St Ignatius’ College’s lead in implementing this efficient, simple and affordable asset tracking system.” Robert Reed said.