Presentation for 2011 LITA National Forum

1. Making Smartphones Smarter in the
Library: Reaching Mobile Users with QR
Code
Anne Morrow Nancy Lombardo Benjamin Rawlins
University of Utah University of Utah Kentucky State University

2. • What are QR codes?
• Uses Outside of Libraries
• QR codes in Libraries
• Process and Management
• Assessment
Overview

3. • QR, Quick Response, codes are two dimensional barcodes
that can be scanned with a mobile device that has a
camera. Once the code is scanned the device is prompted
to load a webpage, display text, or other data contained in
the code.
• QR codes were first created by Denso-Wave, a Toyota
subsidiary, in 1994 as a way to track manufactured parts.
Denso-Wave holds the patent rights for QR codes, but
instead of exercising them they decided to make the
technology freely available.
What are QR codes?

4. Using your mobile's
marketplace, download a reader
• Participate in the QR code scavenger hunt by
scanning the codes on the handout we've distributed

6. • Unlike conventional barcodes that can only store
information in a horizontal manner, QR codes can
store information both horizontally and vertically.
Why QR Codes are Unique

7. • Conventional barcodes can typically store between
20 to 40 characters.
• QR codes can store up to a maximum of 7,089
characters

8. Non-Library Uses

9. Delta Airlines

10. Grammy Awards

11. Best Buy

12. • 2,200 NYC Department of
Sanitation Trucks Will Feature
NYC Media Quick Response
(QR) Codes Linking to a “How
to Recycle” Video
New York City

14. QR code use in memorials

15. Uses in Libraries
1. way-finding
2. online forms and registration
3. research assistance
4. services
5. annoucements
6. immersive exhibits

16. 1. Way-finding
Maps and Directions

17. 1. Way-finding
mobile floor maps

18. 1. Way-finding

19. 2. Online Forms and Registration
Class Registration

20. 2. Online Forms and Registration
feedback form

21. 2. Online Forms and Registration
Reserve a room

22. 3. Research Assistance

23. 3. Research Assistance
• Diabetes search in PubMed:
RSS Feed to Literature Search

24. 3. Research Assistance

25. 4. Services
Mobile Services Booklet

26. 4. Services
iPhone App

27. 5. Announcements
Mobile Website Flyer

28. 5. Announcements

29. 6. Immersive exhibits
Promote Digital Collections
• Portraits of prominent HSC personalities
• Neuro-Ophthalmology Virtual Education Library

30. 6. Immersive exhibits

31. Process
• Eccles Library using BeeTagg or
QReateBuzz
• Generate Code for each instance
• Track usage based on individual code
o Recommendations about size of code
 Cannot be too small
• Demo
 Library account
 Generate Code
 Show stats

32. Not too detailed, Not too small
Library Catalog QR Code from BeeTagg
Library Catalog QR Code without a shortened URL
http://thoth.library.utah.edu:1701/primo_library/libweb/action/sea
rch.do?dscnt=0&vid=UUU&dstmp=1284753616331&fromLogin=
true
Can you read this? Your Scanner barely can either.

33. Benefits of Using QR Codes
• Push information to users at point of need
• Specific information – Context sensitive
• User takes info home via phone
o Save Web bookmarks
o Save documents
o Instantly use contact information
o Receive supplemental media (video, audio, images)
o Conference posters
o Tool for professional networking
• Can be scanned either from a computer screen or a
printed document

34. Drawback and weaknesses
• Inconsistencies
o Devices
 Lighting level required
 Flash interference
 Device Browser
 Some URL’s caught in a loop
 Display variances affect quality of information retrieval
experience
o Readers
 Variable performance
 Functionalities vary depending on device
o Partial decoding and decoding failures
 Contact information and phone number display as text rather
than information for an action to be performed

35. Assessment
• Tracking statistics in the cloud
o Convenient and easy
o Robust systems have been designed by
generator services to track usage for free
 unless terms of service change without
notice
• Greening QR codes: the BeeTagg
experience
o Rethink
o Recycle
o Re-use

38. • Hampton, Dantrea, Amanda Peach, and Benjamin
Rawlins. "Reaching Mobile Users with QR Codes."
Kentucky Libraries 75.2 (2011): 6-10. Print.
• Educause Learning Initiative, "7 things you should
know about QR Codes." ID:ELI7046
http://www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKno
wAboutQRCod/163728
• McCarthy, Graham, and Sally Wilson. "ISBN and QR
Barcode Scanning Mobile App for
Libraries." Code4Lib Journal 13 Apr. (2011). Web.
<http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/5014>.
Further Reading

39. Questions?

40. Thank You