Marriott Library Blog

In the fall of 2010, five people from the U of U journeyed to Antarctica to conduct research and to write about the continent creatively. Three lectures, which will be held at the Marriott Library during spring semester 2011, highlight the fascinating science and the raw aesthetics of Antarctica.

Thursday, February 3, noon – 1:00 p.m.

Fire and Ice – Measuring Antarctica’s Frozen Sea

Cynthia Furse, PhD, U of U Associate VP for Research, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Joyce Lin, PhD, NSF Postdoctoral Fellow in Mathematics; and David Lubbers, Senior in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Thursday, February 24, noon – 1:00 p.m.

Looking South: Poems from Antarctica

Katharine Coles, PhD, Utah Poet Laureate, novelist, U of U Professor of English. Dr. Coles was selected to participate in the NSF Antarctica Artists and Writers Program.

Thursday, April 14, noon – 1:00 p.m.

Climate Change and the Melting Polar Ice Caps

Ken Golden, Professor of Mathematics and Adjunct Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Utah. A sea ice and climate expert, Dr. Golden led the NSF sponsored United States research team on this international expedition to study Antarctica’s frozen sea and its role in Earth’s climate.

All lectures are free and open to the public and will be held in the Gould Auditorium, first floor of the Marriott Library.

The QR Code implementation project is not quite two months old, but, statistics are showing some interesting early trends. Twelve codes have been generated so far, and not all of them at the same time (so a textbook case of assessment this post is not).

The QR codes generated were designed to explore their use in a wide variety of settings, they included library map, workshops schedule, events schedule, reference desk phone number, catalog search, course reserves, classroom schedule and library website.

I had assumed that the more frequently scanned codes would be the library map, course reserves, searching the catalog, however, this has not proven to be the case.

By far and away the largest number of scans so far have been for library events and the library’s main website.

I can see how it would be completely logical to quickly scan the code for the library website, bring it up on my mobile and navigate to any of the other areas on the go rather than scanning each of their codes.

As far as library events went, I was surprised to find it was a ‘heavy hitter’

– in fact, including library events was pretty much an afterthought made sensible by the need to fill up additional space on the QR code promotion poster.

But, perhaps this should not so easily surprise, maybe this is a signal of our visitors interest in an enhanced library experience? A moment of serendipity, if you will, of going off the beaten path and not knowing the end result.

Whereas most of our QR codes involve known actions (e.g. call the reference desk, search the catalog, find a room), the message we are receiving from the number of hits suggests that an element of the unknown is attractive.

We figure that library event posters should have QR codes themselves, but, is scanning a code that takes you to ‘more about the event advertised on this poster’ really the same thing? If the goal of a visitor is to experience a detour, then maybe that’s how we should be re-thinking use of QR codes.