QR Codes and Mobile LibGuides

I am one of those sad, unfortunate librarians who does not yet subscribe to the wondrous world of LibGuides.  And yet, I try to stay current on the many amazing things they are capable of, including their ability to be accessed mobile-ly (as in, with a mobile device - still uncertain what the adverbial form of that should be...).

During one of the ACRL Unconference sessions, Jodi Shepherd presented her library's use of QR codes and a mobile LibGuide to help students navigate their stacks.  Discovering that students were frequently lost in the stacks of their multi-floor library, they created a LibGuide explaining how to read a call number and find the book on the shelf.  Although any LibGuide will be automatically converted to a mobile-friendly version when accessed from a mobile device, they decided to create a new one specifically for mobile use because formatting was lost from the original LibGuide when viewed on a mobile device.  A QR code directing to that specific LibGuide was then created and displayed at strategic places throughout the library stacks.  Students are able to scan the code and immediately call up the LibGuide for a quick tutorial.  This is a great example of using mobile technology to assist students at their point-of-need.  Rather than trying to track down a librarian to help them, the student can try to help himself using the technology in his pocket.  Great idea!


Although not necessarily QR-related, mobile LibGuides are another excellent way to put information at our students' fingertips.  A Twitter search for LibGuides produced a very recent tweet from Queensborough Community College that their LibGuides are now mobile.  Using my Blackberry web browser, I visited their site, http://www.qcc.libguides.com and indeed, their mobile-friendly LibGuides came right up!  The homepage offers the choice to view Popular or Recent guides, as well as find them by subject or librarian.  I received an error message that the media files in the Education LibGuide would not play, so I'm not sure what happened there, but much of the rest of the content was clearly readable. A PDF handbook of APA citation loaded quite nicely.  It's a very simple step to go from here to QR code access by simply using a QR code generator to make a code from the above URL.  Look, I'll do it right now... (starting at 2:49PM...)


It is now 2:51PM.  It took me 3 minutes to Google "QR Code Generator", select the Kaywa generator website, copy and paste the URL, copy the HTML for the code, and paste the code above into this blog post.  I scanned it with the ScanLife reader on my Blackberry, and it worked perfectly to access the Queensborough CC mobile LibGuide site.

Seriously, do you see how easy this is???