How does the library borrowing system work? and how come even if there is no obvious metal insert in the book those gates still know when and when not to beep if the book has or hasn’t been borrowed?
In: Technology
Oh, they have them. You just aren’t seeing them easily, or they’re outright hidden.
There’s a few ways they can mark the books. A common one is a microchip. However, they can also use a sticker (sometimes looks like a circuit) or even slide strips into the spine or under a book jacket without them being visible. These then can respond to radio or magnetic signals from the scanners, and they have some kind of code read by this device that says what the book is. The strip may also be able to be programmed to say if it is checked out or not; otherwise, the code will need to be compared to the code in the system and the status listed there. If the code says it isn’t checked out, then it sends an alert.
The most well-known anti-theft device for books is a tape of magnetic metal strip. The tapes are applied between the spine and the binding of a book (for hard covers) or deep inside in between some pages (for paperbacks). It’s called **tattle-tape**.
> especially if those books don’t have metal inserts or anything like that?
Because it DOES have metal inserts. They are called RFID chips, and they are very small and very cheap. You can even buy them. I suggest google image: “rfid chips label and tags”
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A lot of books have the metal inserts in their spine or in their cover where you can not see them. But it is not unlikely that the scanners are unable to pick up on every book, just the most valuable ones which have the metal inserts. The way these work is tha the metal inserts are in a perfect length to create a magnetic resonance that precisely matches that of the scanner. So when you walk through the scanner the magenetic field makes the metal inserts resonate which can be detected by the scanner. However during the checkout they use a magnet to change the magnetic characteristics of the metal insert and therefore its resonance frequency. This prevents it from triggering the scanners. This is also a reversable action so they can reset the books when you return them.
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Can you rephrase the question again please?
My library has RFID tags (the stickers usually attached inside the cover) that uniquely identify all items. When you check it out the system then knows that specific item is borrowed and therefore to ignore it when it goes past the scanners.
I work in a fairly poor urban library and we do use RFID chips, which are great for self checkin and checkout. They’re on everything, including wee DVDs.
Every few years we have a run on toilet paper (in one series of instances, a lady would bring a bunch of kids in a couple times a week and they would break the paper holders and conceal massive amounts in the kids’ backpacks). A bunch of RFID tags inside the TP rolls, and you’ve found the culprits.
Moral: Don’t steal from libraries. We’re here to help you borrow things for free.
We call it tattle tape. A tiny strip that goes in between pages and so unobtrusive you would never know it is there. Of course, what sets off ours might not work at another library depending on the frequency.
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