Royal Meteorological Society journals from 1873 onwards, reports from meteorological services around the world and UK weather reports for every day since 1869 - these are just some of the items in the Met Office's National Meteorological Library collection in Exeter. All of these items are now being protected by an electronic tagging system from Intrepid Security Solutions.
The Met Office, one of the world's leading providers of environmental and weather-related services, holds one of the most comprehensive collections on meteorology in the world. Its library and archive maintains records of public memories of the weather; stores meteorological records and is also a major resource for scientific research.
As the Met Office Library and Archive is open to the public, as well as its staff, an electronic tagging system was required to ensure the security of items. Sara Osman, library and archive manager at the Met Office, says: "The Intrepid system does guard against theft, but it's mainly to remind people that they need to have their books and journals checked out."
Electromagnetic tags are attached to all of the library's books, journals and research papers. These, are activated and deactivated by library staff at the issue desk. Three detection antennae have been installed at the main entrance to the library to create two aisles - one for entering and another for exiting the library. The antennae alert library staff if somebody attempts to leave the library with an item that has not been checked out.
The attractiveness of the Intrepid system's detection antennae, along with the discreet appearance of its security tags, were the main reasons why the Met Office chose the Intrepid system to protect its library collection. "The Intrepid system fits in with the look of the new library," says Sara. "The tags go down the spine or the back of the books and journals and are thin, which we like because they're not very noticeable."