The QR Qid

Intrigued by the Module 3 article on QR codes, I approached the director with an idea to test their effectiveness and fun in a library branch. While the article we read regarding QR codes did not show much promise for their potential in a library setting, I think the authors took the wrong approach. Mobile devices are not designed for the research they were hoping to encourage. Mobile devices are much better as quick hit/tidbit information providers. We'll test these QR codes in our main branch, highlighting author information - much as one might see in a museum where below the paintings is a brief description of the painting or small blurb of the artist. If there is any feedback with these we will expand QR usage to include any number of items - from movie trailers, to fun facts, to video interviews, etc. There seems a great deal of potential for fun and good patron relations with QR codes. It will be interesting to see how the public responds to them and how staff come up with interesting ideas in how to use them.


Creating a QR code is very simple. I went to http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ and had to create a username and password and provide an email address. It took less than a minute. Once I had access it was as simple as entering a preferred URL and hitting Create Code and the code immediately appeared. I chose dynamic over static as dynamic allows for the URL to be changed at any time while preserving the one created QR code. Static is a one code for one site only permanent link.


It took another couple minutes to find a QR reader through Google Play. I choses the QR Android app as it had over 10 million downloads and had overwhelming positive reviews. Using the app from my smartphone I was able to scan the newly created QR code from my desktop display. I could see these being super handy as another kind of bookmarking tool, but the bookmarking tools we already use are sufficient.