QR codes and library

QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response Code) is the trademark A barcode is an optical machine-readable representation of data relating to the object to which it is attached.

 qr codes and library 
www.brynloar.com/2011/02/qr-codes-in-libraries.

QR code's potential lies in automating information retrieval and bridging the physical world to online resources. By using the camera on one's smart device loaded with the appropriate software, users can take a picture of the code and automatically gather Web addresses, location and contact information, small amounts of text, and other important pieces of information.

Through QR codes, libraries are beginning to experiment with new ways to improve user experience and broaden users' information gathering capabilities. The library linking to catalog records, reader advisory services, marketing/resource discovery through scavenger hunts, and other inventive uses. Offer audio books via a download to the user's cell phone. From this QR codes the library is able to extend into non-traditional locations with minimal capital. The opportunities for libraries also include increased positive impressions and usage frequency. QR codes could be a powerful reinforcement of the library's commitment to the communities it serves.

How to provide services for those who do not own computers?? The digital divide is still a concern, but less so now in the U.S. Libraries have, especially in urban settings, negated issues of the digital divide through computer acquisitions. However, mobile devices, in particular smart phones capable of reading & translating qr codes, can not be treated the same.

‘’Since the mid-1990s the explosion of the Internet has prompting intense speculation about its ultimate impact upon the economy, society and politics. Many hope that the Internet will be a powerful new force capable of transforming existing patterns of social inequality, strengthening linkages between citizens and representatives, facilitating new forms of public engagement and communication, and widening opportunities for the development of a global civic society.
But will the Internet transform conventional forms of democratic activism, or only serve to reinforce the existing gap between the technologically rich and poor? Will it level the playing field for developing societies, or instead strengthen the advantages of post-industrial economies? Will parties, interest groups, and governments use the Net to encourage interactive participation, or will the technology be used as another form of ‘top-down’ communications’’digital divide www.hks.harvard.edu/fc/pnorris/book/digital divide.htm