Passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Museum Collections
Owen Kinser · USF Scholarship Repository (University of San Francisco) · 2016
Keeping a collection organized and accounted for is a never-ending struggle for museums of every type. New to museums and the collections management field, Radio Frequency Identification is a growing technology that museums can implement to keep track of the location, status, condition, and movement of their objects. Objects are labeled with RFID “tags” which enable them to communicate custom information to a reader and ultimately a database. This implementation would save time, money, and stress among collections staff members. Using the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, Texas, as my subject museum, I propose implementing a pilot program to test the viability of this RFID technology within the confines of a museum collection. A period of four months will be used to install and test an RFID system within a portion of the collection, after which data gathered will be used to determine the viability of the RFID system.