Welcome to Help Me YALSA!

I have always wanted to write an advice column. So, after I proposed a series of post in which you, them readers of the YALSA blog, propose solutions and tips for those struggling with a particular technology, I decided it would be fun to phrase it as an advice column. Of course unlike Dear Abby or Miss Manners, I won’t have all the answers. I’ll give some information, but it will be up to you, dear readers, to help each other.

So, without further ado, our first question.

Help me YALSA:

Lately I’ve been hearing a lot about QB codes. I know these aren’t the things that Tom Brady has written on his wrist, but beyond that, I’m clueless. These just look like funny little boxes to me. What are they and how can they possibly be of use to me as a librarian?

Cold and Codeless in Maine

Dear Cold and Codeless in Maine:

First of all, it’s QR Codes, not QB Codes. Second, I, too, have questions about these (okay, this is in fact my question).

According to Wikipedia a QR code “is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera phones.” Originally developed by Toyota for the manufacturing process, they have entered the mainstream. QR codes can store URLs and information,which you then scan with your phone to transmit the coded information to you in a readable form. It may be text or contact information, or it may open up a browser on your phone.

Gwyneth Anne Bronwynne Jones, The Daring Librarian, offers this fantastic comic with an introduction to QR Codes:

In a Neverending Search post, Joyce Valenza offers some of her ideas. What about you, YALSA? How are you using QR Codes? What tips do you have for those just starting out with QR Codes?

If you need help with a technology issue, please email Megan Blakemore.