The largest line is the one you cannot see
In a library RFID budget the visible equipment, kiosks and gates, is rarely the largest item. Tagging the collection usually is: tags plus the labour to apply and encode them, multiplied by every item you own. A budget built on equipment quotations and a round number for tags is a budget that will be revised upwards, and it is the single most common reason an RFID project stalls after the first year.
The lines to budget
| Line | Driver | Frequently omitted |
|---|---|---|
| Tags | Number of items, type of item. Audiovisual tags cost more than book tags | The stores, the reserve, the periodicals |
| Application and encoding | Staff time or contractor day rate | Extra encoding plates for the campaign |
| Self-service kiosks | Number of stations, format, payment option | Furniture for a countertop unit |
| Return units | Indoor, oversized or external facade | Builder's work, permissions, the room behind |
| Sorting line | Number of destinations, conveyor length | Two bins per destination, not one |
| Security gates | One device per public exit | The fire exit propped open in summer |
| Stocktaking | Handheld plus Android terminals | The terminal refresh cycle |
| Software | Management console, sorting controller | Hosting and annual maintenance |
| Integration | LMS interface activation | A per-device licence charge, where one applies |
| Training | Staff sessions before go-live | The refresher six months later |
We publish indicative ranges by family on our French budget page rather than unit prices, because a kiosk price without a configuration is a number that misleads. For automated sorting in particular we quote on drawings, never from a catalogue.
The three omissions we see most often
One bin per destination. If a bin leaves the building on a van run, sorting stops until it comes back. Any destination that feeds a branch needs at least two bins, one under the chute and one in circulation. This doubles the bin line, and it is almost always discovered after the order.
The room behind the return unit. An external return unit is an opening in a wall with a tempered room behind it, a chute, a bin or a conveyor, maintenance access and a power supply. That room is a works item, and in a conservation area it comes with a heritage consent and a timeline of its own.
The reserve collection. First estimates are built on the open-access collection because that is the figure everyone has to hand. The stores, the periodicals run and the reserve are then discovered at tagging time. Count everything that could ever pass a gate.
What the return looks like
The saving is staff hours, in two places. At the desk, where routine transactions move to self-service. And in stocktaking, where a full inventory stops costing a week of closure and becomes a rolling task.
A third, smaller effect is loss reduction, which is real but harder to attribute honestly, so we treat it as a secondary benefit rather than as a headline.
Our French simulator lets you put your own figures in and see the payback in months. We deliberately do not publish a single headline payback figure here, because the honest answer varies by more than a factor of two between a single-site library and a network, and a number without your inputs is marketing rather than information.
Related pages
About
CIPAM has specialised in identification and traceability since 1993, and is the exclusive Lyngsoe Systems…
Read →Self-service
How an RFID self-service kiosk works, the four LibDeco formats, adjustable working height for accessibility,…
Read →Returns and sorting
Return units that accept items when you are closed, and a modular sorter at up to 2,400 items per hour
Read →What you are probably wondering
Can you give a price per kiosk ?
Not usefully in the abstract. It depends on format, payment options, finishing and volume. Send us a configuration and we will quote it. What we will say is that on a collection of any size, the tagging line usually exceeds the kiosk line.
Are tags cheaper in volume ?
Yes, materially. It is one of the arguments for tagging in a single campaign rather than item by item over years, and it has to be weighed against the cash-flow advantage of spreading the work.
Is leasing available ?
It depends on your legal status and your procurement rules. For a French public body this is a question for your finance department before it is a question for us. Tell us the constraint and we will structure the offer around it.
What are the running costs ?
Maintenance contracts on the equipment, software maintenance and hosting where applicable, replacement tags for new acquisitions, and consumables such as receipt rolls. Replacement tags for acquisitions are the one that recurs forever and is missed in the first year's budget.
Tell us about your library
Collection size, annual transactions, the LMS you run and your timescale. Four figures are enough for us to say what is relevant to you, and what is not.