League of Librarians Trading Card.
Kudos to River Campus Libraries of the University of Rochester for their creative use of Quick Response Codes paired with interesting graphics to dress up their business cards.
Contact information and a Quick Response or “QR” Code was provided on the reverse, making the trading card an essential and creative business card as well. Raised Connection’s “Connection Card” is one example of this trend, and the following YouTube video shows how it works.
Remember, QR Codes can connect someone to more than contact information. Images, web pages, blogs and other content online that can be viewed on a smart phone or on a computer can be embedded in the QR Code.
Other ways that academic libraries are using QR Codes can be found in Library Journal’s online article ALA Midwinter 2011: Straight from the Stacks to the Smartphone. Other specific examples include University of San Francisco’s Gleeson Library and UC Berkeley Libraries.
What do you need to create and read a QR Code?
QR Code generators can be found online, examples include Kaywa (which also has a reader) and Jaxo. Further recommendations for QR Code generators and readers can be found in the 2D Code articles, QR Code Generators and QR Code Readers. I use ScanLife on my Blackberry Storm, and it works great. I’m sure many other readers are great as well, and undoubtedly, whatever your smart phone happens to be, there’s an app for that. Here are instructions on downloading mobile QR reader software to your phone if it doesn’t come pre-installed.
Happy scanning!
LIS Lady 