Blurring the boundaries between our physical and electronic libraries. Location‐aware technologies, QR codes and RFID tags
| Pages | 429-437 |
| Date | 09 August 2011 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/02640471111156713 |
| Published date | 09 August 2011 |
| Author | Andrew Walsh |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Blurring the boundaries between
our physical and electronic
libraries
Location-aware technologies, QR codes and
RFID tags
Andrew Walsh
University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to consider the use of technologies including GPS, QR codes and RFID
tags to personalize the learning environments in academic libraries.
Design/methodology/approach – It reports on the use of QR codes at the University of
Huddersfield, including information on how the QR codes have been received by users. It also outlines
other technologies used elsewhere and reported in the professional literature.
Findings – The paper finds that, although location-aware technologies are being used, for most
libraries they are impractical. Instead, one could use QR codes (which have significant barriers to their
use) or preferably RFID tags (already widely used for other purposes) to create smarter libraries.
Practical implications – Libraries are increasingly using RFID tags in their stock, occasionally as
part of library or campus smart cards as well. When considering how to use, or justify the cost of,
RFID tags in libraries, one should also consider the potential additional benefits outlined in this article.
Originality/value – While most of the technologies described have been used in experimental ways
within libraries, no one has yet used RFID tags for much more than stock circulation and control. This
is the first paper to suggest using them to access the wealth of data in order to personalize the learning
environments of our libraries.
Keywords Communicationtechnologies, Mobile technology,Academic libraries
Paper type Viewpoint
Introduction
Increasingly since last upgrading my mobile phone a quote from Arthur C. Clarke has
been bouncing around my head, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic”. That phone knows where I am through GPS (or
triangulation of the mobile phone signal if GPS is turned off or unavailable); connects
me instantly to friends and colleagues all over the world through e-mail; Facebook and
Twitter; effortlessly links me to the sea of information that is the internet, which
increasingly includes serious research databases; acts as a gaming device ; electronic
book reader; a way of watching or listening to television or radio programmes I have
missed; an educational tool for my young children; a music player; and much more. If I
had been given this device 30 years ago as a nine-year old boy I may well have
accepted it as working by magic.
Specht (2009) discussed this idea of technology as magic with a reminder that magic
like the “Marauders Map” of Hogwarts castle (a map that displayed the position of
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
Blurring the
boundaries
429
Received February 2010
Revised April 2010
Accepted May 2010
The Electronic Library
Vol. 29 No. 4, 2011
pp. 429-437
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/02640471111156713
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