This is an interesting time to innovate around disruptive technologies like the internet of things (IoT), machine learning, blockchain. Autonomous assistants (IoT) are the electro-mechanical system that performs any prescribed task automatically with no human intervention through self-learning and adaptation to changing environments. This means that by acknowledging autonomy, the system has to perceive environments, actuate a movement, and perform tasks with a high degree of autonomy. This means the ability to make their own decisions in a given set of the environment. It is important to note that autonomous IoT using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is used in educational sectors to boost the research the arena, improve customer service, ease book identification and traceability of items in the library. This chapter discusses the role, importance, the critical tools, applicability, and challenges of autonomous IoT in the library using RFID technology.
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Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a contactless integrated circuit card adaptive technology that uses wireless radiofrequency waves to transmit and autonomously track and identify people, objects or items used in many different industries (Juels, 2006; Shahid, 2005; Yu, 2007). These items can be anything like a book in a library or inventory in the warehouse, an animal, a person among many more. In this era, many industries such as education, manufacturing and medical all use this technology for enormous purposes such as asset and human tracking in shops and libraries, security, access control, inventory control, supply chain management and loss prevention (Hasan, 2014). The RFID systems were developed over 46 years ago. Currently, they are used in many industrial applications today (Kern, 2004; Weinstein, 2005). The technology behind automated library systems was invented from the electronics access control door look security system where a person would present a proximity card to an RFID transceiver with was connected to the computer (Kern, 2004). This technology autonomously identifies objects or tracks items, this can be books in the library, any item being purchased from a shopping mall or an inventory. A good example is a technology used in a barcode reader whose scanner and the object should be in the same line of sight, using the RFID technology, the object is always in the range with the reader, hence applying this technology promotes operational efficiency and precision (Want, 2006; Yu, 2007). According to the previous studies in Asia and the United States, RFID systems have been implemented in about twenty million books and sixty libraries with approximately ten million books respectively (Kern, 2004).
RFID is not a new concert or technology, it has evolved since 1948 (Stockman, 1948). discussed the theorem behind the RFID technology. Also, in 1999, (Raza, Bradshaw, & Hague, 1999) explained the applications of the RFID technology, examined some of the differences and the advantages of the RFID technology over other forms of identification. In 1996, (Byfield, 1996) discussed some of the developments in RFID and further examines the increasing use of radio frequency identification (RFID) owing to the falling prices of transponders and other equipment. This technology was predicted by analysts, and it’s expected to become pervasive in the coming years, helping organizations solve problems in supply chain management, security, personal identification and asset tracking (Weinstein, 2005). This technology promises to overcome unpredictable situations like; theft of library items, nonreturns of library items, misfiling of library assets, failure to track missing items among many more. The first public library to use this RFID technology was Farmington community Library in Michigan, since then thousands of libraries have implemented this technology (Repanovici, Turcanu, Cristea, Baritz, & Moisil, 2009; Singh, Brar, Fong, & libraries, 2006).