RFID in U.S. Libraries:National Information Standards Organization (NISO)

NISO RFID Working Group Charge
The NISO RFID Working Group was formed to focus on the use of radio frequency identification
(RFID) technologies in U.S. libraries. As our work has moved forward, however, there have
been new developments with regard to RFID implementation in the larger book industry as well
as in other countries, including the U.K., Denmark, the Netherlands, and Australia. Indeed, RFID
technologies are still evolving and thus represent a moving target. As a result, it is important to
understand the needs of the several elements of the publishing value chain, especially as
concerns standards and interoperability.
Among the goals of our work are the following:
1) To review existing RFID standards, assess the applicability of this technology in U.S.
libraries and across the book publishing supply chain, and promote the use of RFID
where appropriate.
2) To examine and assess privacy concerns associated with the adoption of RFID
technologies in libraries.
3) To investigate the way RFID may be used for the circulation or sale of books and
other media in the United States and make recommendations.
4) To focus on security and data models for RFID tags, along with issues of
interoperability and privacy.
5) To create a set of recommendations for libraries with regard to a tag data model and
other issues. http://www.niso.org/standards/resources/RP-6-2008.pdf