Purpose -Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) uses different detection technologies and integrated library systems (ILS) at its four libraries located at different sites. Hence, ubiquitous data management system is required in the four libraries to enable real-time data sharing and tracking among the libraries. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach -Proof of concept is used to verify the performance of integration between different detection technologies including barcode, high frequency (HF) and ultra high frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) as well as Integrated Library Management Utility (ILMU) and Koha ILSs. Five pilot tests are performed to investigate the speed of the borrowing and returning transactions, the efficiency of security gate to detect non-borrowed items, and the reliability of the ubiquitous data management system. Findings -The HF RFID technology and the proprietary library system have been used in many libraries. The current study proves that the integration of the UHF RFID technology and the Koha open-source ILS, which is named as Total Open-Source Library Automation Solution, can be a novel solution and can serve as a guide for other libraries. Originality/value -In the current phase of library data management system, it is common to integrate various technologies in improving the efficiency of the library system. But, the combination of Koha with UHF RFID into a single ILS for intra-library automation system has not been proven. This shows the importance of the proposed proven proof of concept that proves such integration is suitable to be implemented at USM libraries and other libraries.The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/0033-0337.htm the USM Research University grant secretariat and the Malaysia Ministry of Higher Education (LRGS fund) for financially supporting the development of the in-house built EPC Class 1 Gen 2 UHF RFID devices.
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UHF RFIDproof of concept 1. Introduction Radio frequency identification (RFID) has been pervasively implemented in various applications, such as in supply chain, logistic, library, and healthcare management.The RFID system offers contactless identification, automatic retrieval of data, and wireless data storage. Data reading using RFID enhances performance and productivity by increasing the accuracy and speed of information communication. Hence, this technology provides a significant improvement in identification, tracking, monitoring, and object stocking compared with the barcode technology (Ngai et al., 2008). The tags, readers, and back-end servers are the three basic components in a basic RFID system. The tag stores information of a certain item in a microchip, and the stored data can be read remotely using the reader. The tag and the reader must work at the same specified frequency and conform to the same protocol to guarantee the compatibility of the communication system (Ngai et al., 2007). The backend server uses middleware t...