Polaris/EnvisionWare Extend Partnership
By Josh Hadro -- Library Journal, 7/15/2008
On June 3, EnvisionWare and Polaris Library Systems announced the extension of their partnership to include integration into the Polaris ILS of RFID and materials sorting technology, known as automated materials handling, or AMH. New options from EnvisionWare will include “a handheld Bluetooth device and a LibraryPDA that has a built in barcode scanner and RFID reader,” potentially useful for inventory scanning, item searches, and tracking both in-house and out-the-door circulation statistics. The Bluetooth scanner serves as a wireless inventory system transmitting data to a PC or PDA, while the LibraryPDA runs Windows Mobile and provides the user with wireless access to a full range of patron and item information, in addition to its RFID and barcode scanning abilities.
The technology for the devices, part of EnvisionWare’s Renaissance RFID family of products, developed out of work done for the company’s major RFID implementation in Nevada’s Las Vegas–Clarke County Library District, according to EnvisionWare VP and cofounder Mike Monk. The handhelds officially debuted at the 2008 American Library Association conference in Anaheim, CA, and are available to Polaris ILS customers and as a standalone product.
