In my research, I discovered that RFID, like everything else, isn't perfect. For instance, although one of the main selling points is that the radio frequencies are more reliable, it seems to be a wash with magnets.
In my interview, I was particularly interested in how the implementation of RFID has affected the amount of "false positives" for patrons leaving and setting off the security. It turns out that the migration hasn't really changed the number of false positives. This may is attributed to both some errors in the system and often some operator error. Often a patron will misread the self-checkout display and remove the material too soon or put too many items on the checkout pad.
Additionally, there's the issue of implementing RFID in a larger interlibrary system. While it may be easy to migrate one smaller library, to change the entire system over to the system may be too expensive or too complicated. For Wisconsin's South Central Library System, it's size and number of member libraries means that all materials will still need magnetic security strips and RFID tags. When using interlibrary loan, if an item from a non-RFID library needed to transfer materials to one that does use RFID, then the second library would have to add a tag to it as needed, as well as program it into their system. This puts undue work into the processing of ILL materials.
Additionally, while they are easy to use, there's no concrete set of standards in place that everybody can agree upon. This lack of standardization prevents its adoption from many libraries, and in particular can make the migration less appealing for a system of libraries (such as a statewide system the UW has).
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