Taggade bibliotek – en studie av adoptionen av RFID på svenska folkbibliotek

Abstract

The purpose of our research was to examine whether the acceptance and diffusion of RFID technology among the employees at public libraries in Sweden, follow the classic diffusion of innovation model. RFID or Radio Frequency Identification, is a technology that uses radio frequency and microchip technology to track items, in our case, library books and other library materials. Diffusion is the process by which, in our case, the RFID technology is adopted by the library staff. The purpose of this study was to examine what factors influenced the acceptance and adoption of RFID among the library staff. We used Everett Rogers' Diffusion of innovation theory as our framework. According to this theory, there are a multitude of keyfactors, such as relative advantages, compatability, trialability, and observability which interact and influence the acceptance of new technology. For the purpose of this study we formulated a set of hypotheses, and to test them we conducted a nationwide quantitative survey. We used a questionnaire as our data collection instrument. The questionnaire was sent to the top-level employees (head librarian or equivalent) at all the Swedish public libraries. We used x^2 statistic test to analyze the data from our questionnaire survey. The findings show that the adoption of the RFID technology in Swedish Public libraries is in accordance with Rogers' theory of diffusion, and that the attributes which determined the rate of adoption of RFID were: relative advantage (RFID will cause perceived improvements for employees as well as for patrons), compatibility (RFID is consistent with needs), complexity (level of difficulty to use RFID), trialability (RFID may be tried and used), observability (the results of RFID is visible to others). The findings also show that RFID technology was adopted faster when they have financial resources, time and interest in RFID in general, if the library was located in regions with at least 25.000 inhabitants, and in public libraries with at least 10 employees.