The second year of a project to speed up the checking in and out of library materials was approved unanimously May 7 by the Smyrna City Council.

Envisionware, Inc. of Duluth was awarded the $46,702 contract to include the tagging of all physical circulating library materials with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags and the installation of new security gates, a staff tagging station and staff check-in stations.

This inclusion of RFID technology into library processes will increase the speed of check-in and check-out of materials, improve security and provide a more accurate inventory of collections, according to Councilwoman Susan Wilkinson who sponsored this legislation.

The first year included the installation of three self-service stations, also by Envisionware, with customers using the existing library bar codes to check out materials; but the self-check units are RFID ready.

The RFID software by Envisionware “will work seamlessly” with the library’s network and hardware, according to Wilkinson.

This oldest city-operated library in Georgia also uses Envisionware for its public computer reservation and print management systems.

Information: libguides.ala.org/rfid-libraries, SmyrnaCity.com/your-government/departments/smyrna-public-library.