The British Museum
ACT brings the revamped British Museum to life for visitors, with the help of sophisticated smart cards. ACT’s smart card solution gives access to hundreds of thousands of fascinating documents via any one of 50 touch-screen workstations located in the Museum’s reading room. Users can then obtain hard copies of any of the documents held on the system by inserting their card, which comes pre-loaded with credit, into one of the Museum’s ‘smart’ printers.
The smart card stores a record of each user’s session activity and printing requests, then instructs the printer to release the requested document, generate the document and deduct the appropriate value from the card. The system gives users the flexibility to use the most convenient printer in the room, ensuring that all printing is paid for and that the user is present to collect it as it is generated. The same card can be used in the Museum’s photocopiers and once the credit is used, cards can be easily recharged with value from any of the room’s reloading devices.
The use of smart cards provides the Museum with detailed ‘live’ statistics on the usage of each workstation and printer, together with routine management and fault reporting alert capability. Benefits to the visitor match those for management, as the software is designed to optimise the collection of information. This ensures efficiency of day-to-day operations, improves understanding of user profile patterns, guides future equipment purchasing decisions and the development of additional services.
