The quick response codes had been worked into activities for children on the holiday Monday.
Family Day is a holiday celebrated in several Canadian provinces, in which schools, many businesses and government offices are closed, giving families some time to spend together in February, and library branches in Ontario’s Chatham-Kent region decided to use QR codes to make that quality time a bit more fun.
The Chatham-Kent Public Library branches have used quick response codes to use tech to enhance activities.
The QR codes were found at several of the library branches and were used in a tech based quest. This activity was available to all who wanted to participate and could be enjoyed on a drop-in basis, without any type of advance registration needed. The point of this technology friendly activity was to design a game that employed readily available mobile devices in a way that would help to make the library more fun and relevant to young members of the community.
The barcodes were used in an activity called the QR Codes Quest, which worked like a scavenger hunt.
This is not the first time that QRcodes have been used in a scavenger hunt style activity, nor is it even the first time this type of thing has occurred in a library environment. However, it does show that the use of mobile devices and quick response codes is becoming increasingly commonplace in this type of environment.
The Quest was available from 3pm to 8pm at the Highgate Branch. The Ridgetown Branch held it from noon to 5pm. This gave locals a chance to drop in at the time that was most convenient to them and take part in the activity with their families.
The use of QR codes is growing when it comes to this type of activity because they are extremely easy for people to use, they rely on technology that is easily available and they are quite inexpensive for the libraries to be able to obtain and implement. Barcode generators are easy to use and it the only costs associated with printing them out are from the paper and ink.
