Info on the Go: Using QR Codes to Enhance the Research Experience

Abstract

Grab your smart phone, and come find out what QR Codes are and how one academic librarian has used them for information literacy instruction. From advertising subject guides to promoting mobile resources, QR Codes are a fun and easy way to provide research assistance to students on the go.

Aside from face-to-face sessions, it can be hard for today's librarians to reach preoccupied students with the tools they need to become information literate. Students are often running from one class to the next or too busy checking Facebook updates on their smart phones to stop by the library for assistance. This is especially true at a commuter college, where students are often on campus for a short amount of time during the day.

That's where QR Codes come in. QR Codes (short for "Quick Response") are a common sight in many Asian countries, but they've only recently begun appearing on advertisements and street signs in the United States. This presentation will examine what exactly QR Codes are and how they are being used in academic libraries to strengthen and enhance the research experience. In addition to highlighting uses at other libraries, the presenter will describe how she has used QR Codes to provide research assistance to students who are often too busy to stop in the library for help.

Strategic placement of QR Codes on library instruction handouts, in buildings across campus, and in the library's stacks has allowed students to take control of their own learning and access important research tools (such as mobile databases and online subject guides) as they walk to class or head home for the day. Come prepared to discuss strategies for implementing this no-cost emerging technology on your campus!