More information on Snap & Go!

Project Summary

The intent of the Snap & Go project is to create a mobile platform that will push new and existing library content and services -- literally -- into the hands of cell phone users. The project will utilize QR (Quick Response) codes, a technology popular in Japan and with point-of-sale companies in the United States. According to Educause Learning Initiative, “QR codes are two-dimensional bar codes that can contain any alphanumeric text and often feature URLs that direct users to sites where they can learn about an object or place (a practice known as ‘mobile tagging’). Decoding software on tools such as camera phones interprets the codes, which represent considerably more information than a one-dimensional code of similar size.” Customers with camera phones can conveniently snap a graphic representation of the 2D code and automatically initiate a library-related activity. In the context of this project, the codes will push value-added information and services to the handheld device such as delivering author read-alikes, accessing SMS text reference service, reading first chapters, launching pre-constructed or user-driven catalog searches, placing holds, or checking items out on their account. The project will require the development of new web applications and will take full advantage of standard protocols and open source technologies wherever possible so that the platform can be deployed on any library system and by any library. This development will provide Contra Costa County Library and other libraries with the ability to deliver a mobile platform that can bridge the physical, digital, and mobile worlds, customized to meet our users’ needs, at a time when no off-the-shelf vendor-developed solution exists.

Fit with the Library's strategic plan

The Snap & Go project supports all four of the Library's key initiatives identified in the strategic plan: reading, information for lifelong learning, branding, and collaboration. One of the primary goals of the plan is to change the way the library operates, including: focusing outward toward target audiences, changing techniques of library service delivery, delivering more library services off-site, and expanding technology use, availability, and complexity.

The strategic plan identifies County residents as looking for a library experience that is fast, available at convenient hours, welcoming, easy to use, and customer-focused. The criteria for choosing which innovations to pursue must include leveraging and building upon the Library’s great existing services, attracting new audiences, raising the Library’s profile in the community, and delivering excellent, convenient, needs-based services.

With mobile technology and information delivery advancing toward the norm, a mobile library platform would reduce dependence on access to computers and offer a number of services to Contra Costa County Library patrons (and future patrons) on the go. And they are on the go. A 2001 article in the Contra Costa Times published a report stating that Contra Costa County workers have the 10th worst commute in the nation and the longest commute time west of the Mississippi River as well as the longest in the Bay Area. Since this report was published, Contra Costa County Library has actively and successfully implemented and marketed library services to commuters. A recent report from the Association of Bay Area Government (ABAG) and a January 26, 2006 Contra Costa Times article reaffirms that 40% of Contra Costa County residents – compared to 30% of all Bay Area residents - work in one of the eight other Bay Area counties or outside the region. With a population of over one million, commuters account for approximately 402,600 workers.

Project description and demographic served

QR codes are increasingly found in places such as product labels, billboards, and buildings, inviting passers-by to pull out their mobile phones and uncover the encoded information. Contra Costa County Library will work with a third-party vendor to develop a Mobile Patron Support System (MPSS) that will link customers with cell phones to library services and information through QR codes attached to library materials such as books, DVDs, flyers, posters, library cards, and the catalog. By taking a picture of the barcode, the phone will launch the library’s mobile site and provide access to detailed, dynamically generated information on titles scanned including reviews, first chapters, and read-alike information; links to library mobile web pages including hours and location information; and links to patron account functions.

The mobile market is already widespread and continues to expand.

• According to the United Nations International Telecommunications Union there has been a 91% increase in the number of mobile cellular subscriptions in the US since 2002.


• In 2008 there were more than 270 million cell subscriptions.


• Forrester Research says that Gen Y spends as much time on their cell phones as they do on the Internet.


• In April 2009, The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project found that mobile phone usage has climbed steadily, from 45% of teens in 2004, to 71% of teens ages 12 to 17 in 2008. Similarly, the study found that cell phone ownership among adults has since risen to 85%.

Contra Costa County is above the national average for owning a wireless email device, use of wireless internet, owning a cellular phone, and owning a smart cellular phone according to market profile information gathered from both BusinessDecision and the 2008 SRDS Lifestyle Market Analyst. 67% of the population of the County is between the ages of 15-64, landing this population in the ‘sweet spot’ for mobile cellular usage.

The potential uses of QR codes are already being recognized within the library and educational community with a few organizations testing their effectiveness. This project will use QR codes as a launching pad to demonstrate how a robust mobile platform can bring the library to mobile users and those mobile users to the library.

Project goals

Goal #1: Bring a number of new services to Contra Costa County library customers through their mobile devices to support self-directed use of the library and change the way libraries do business.

Goal #2: Develop awareness of the new library service to Contra Costa County residents and to the library community at large.

Goal #3: Share results of the new service and technology with the library community.