In the months to come, I plan on laying out a researched series of blog posts on the use of QR codes in archival repositories. After attending a session at the recent 2011 SAA Chicago conference on the use of new mobile technologies in archives, I raised a question as to whether anyone was using or had thought of using QR codes in archives for processing collections, for citation aid for researchers going through large amounts of records for publications or research papers, and for faster access to finding aid information.
One archivist from Luther College in Iowa, Sasha Griffin, spoke with me after the conference, notifying me that her institution's current project involved use of QR codes on archival boxes for storage location information, as well as using QR codes when pulling materials for patrons. One of the great benefits of QR codes is that digitized EAD-based finding aids can be used in multiple ways to expand the access and usability of EAD finding aids. As someone who has worked on six EAD finding aids in the past two years (not a lot to some, but not all institutions use EAD yet), I am passionate about connecting the information within the EAD fields with the user's citation, location, and explanatory needs to connect to the finding aid. QR codes have a chance of saving widespread use of finding aids if users are able to "self-discover" the information in finding aids as they explore collections.
There are numerous pros and cons involved, obviously. QR codes do not take long at all to create, are open-source for creation, can be printed off on acid-free paper and any size labels one needs, and offers connection of Web resources from an archives to new technology and discoverability. However, there is also the issue of allowing camera phones to scan the QR codes in an archives (worries about photographing records not meant for reproduction or publication), the issue of technology and changing locations/address of Web links, and the usefulness of QR codes when collections are unprocessed. Still, QR codes have the potential for providing archives with a safer technology alternative to RFID tags (archivists worrying about information contained in the tags being changed by roaming radio frequency scanners/hackers).
As this technology is spreading from the business/shipping/medical sector to everything from realtors posting large QR code signs in yards of for-sale houses, to museum exhibits encouraging Web discovery, QR codes offer real possibilities for archives and museums. In the months to come, I shall describe and commentate on programs at various institutions using QR codes, as well as providing my insight into experience with the early implementation of a QR code program by the Education Department at the Kentucky Historical Society, by the developer of the program, Greg Hardison, Director of Museum Theatre at Kentucky Historical Society. I would also love to hear from my readers on this subject: let me know if you have any questions about QR codes, are using them at your institution, or have other similar technologies you think might be a good alternative while still allowing for user discovering of Web description of archival collections. Time to start this QR bus on the road, ya all!
