Acceptable Use of RFID in Libraries

RFID has gotten a bad reputation, mostly due to privacy concerns, but I think there are some items in our library that could really use RFID tags:

Travel Mugs: Track down your mug next time it gets stolen or lost. No more excuses for bringing paper cups in.

Food: Figure out who’s always “borrowing” your sandwiches. Or, have Sodexho put tags on food sold at the coffee kiosk, so we can tell when people are sneaking it in.

Office items such as staplers and tape dispensers. This needs no explanation. At the Circulation Desk, put tags on pens. Not only could we track down our pens, but a graduate student in need of a research project could study the distribution of library pens and whether more pens end up in, say, the Engineering building than the upper floors of the Library Tower.