[Eril-l] qr-code dummy blocks for online reference titles?

[Jennifer DeJonghe]

I agree with Linda re: dummy blocks... no one is visiting our print reference collection so it wouldn't do us much good to do QR codes there. And the odds that someone actually using the print collection would understand what a QR code is and/ or want to use their phone barcode scanner app to access e-reference is also slim.

I feel like Summon Discovery does a pretty good job of leading people to e-reference content (and at the article level). And users can limit to just reference with the reference facet (we renamed our facet "encyclopedias" after usability testing, even thought that descriptor is not fully accurate). We can also make scoped reference search widgets. I feel like our e-reference is probably sufficiently visible, considering that if it was any more visible it might be at the expense of resources that the patron might need or want more.

Jennifer

Jennifer DeJonghe
Librarian and Professor
Library and Information Services
Metropolitan State University

From: Eril-l <eril-l-bounces at lists.eril-l.org<mailto:eril-l-bounces at lists.eril-l.org>> on behalf of Linda Wobbe <lwobbe at stmarys-ca.edu<mailto:lwobbe at stmarys-ca.edu>>
Date: Monday, November 30, 2015 at 4:41 PM
To: Melissa Belvadi <mbelvadi at upei.ca<mailto:mbelvadi at upei.ca>>
Cc: "eril-l at lists.eril-l.org<mailto:eril-l at lists.eril-l.org>" <eril-l at lists.eril-l.org<mailto:eril-l at lists.eril-l.org>>
Subject: Re: [Eril-l] qr-code dummy blocks for online reference titles?

Hi Melissa,

QR codes are a clever approach, but I doubt we would make use of them.  It is rare that we see anyone other than librarians in the reference stacks, so I don't think dummies in the stacks help our users.  We recently gathered up a book stack worth of "dummies" and we were grateful to recover the space.

I agree that guiding users to reference/handbook content is a real problem.  Our EDS Discovery layer doesn't have a reference/handbooks filter, and our purchased and subscribed content is scattered among many publishers' interfaces. We've tried Reference Universe and Credo Literati, and while helpful, they are both clunky.  We do catalog all of our electronic reference sources and created a reference / handbooks scope, but we are still searching for the perfect solution.

...Linda

On Mon, Nov 30, 2015 at 8:04 AM, Melissa Belvadi <mbelvadi at upei.ca<mailto:mbelvadi at upei.ca>> wrote:
Hi,

About a year ago, after we bought a big Gale VRL title package, we decided to start creating dummy blocks in our reference physical collection, with QR codes, to increase the visibility of some of the more expensive/useful titles.

Ours are pretty minimalist. If you'd like to see a couple of photos, see here:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B7mGfR_o-CQAYlN0OFV5VFVGSHc&usp=sharing

I'd be interested to know if others are doing something like this, and if so, if you could share pics of your designs.

Relatedly, I was talking with a Credo sales rep just now (we have their big academic subscription collection), and when we got to the topic of promotional materials, I suggested that they consider making Word templates for their titles, designed for us to add our own QR codes (so we can include our proxy prefix) and then print and cut&paste for this purpose.  I figure anything their marketing people came up with would look much nicer than ours.


I thought I'd ask folks on this list - if companies like Credo, Gale and Oxford did this, would you use them?



--
Melissa Belvadi
Collections Librarian
University of Prince Edward Island
mbelvadi at upei.ca<mailto:mbelvadi at upei.ca> 902-566-0581<tel:902-566-0581>



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--
Linda Wobbe
Head, Collection Management
Sciences Subject Selector
Saint Mary's College of CA
Library
PMB 4290
1928 Saint Mary's Road
Moraga, CA 94575
(925) 631-4232
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