It is with a great deal of excitement that I offer at the bottom of this entry a database of 2D barcodes that describe all 60 Brooklyn Public Library locations and services.
A 2D barcode is an image that corresponds to a web address (the http://www.website.com is actually coded in the barcode image). Since each of the Brooklyn Public Library branches has a unique web address, I was able to use kaywa.com to generate barcodes for each of the branches web spaces.
How do you read this crazy looking barcode? With your cellphone of course. Many Nokia phones as well as the iPhone offer 2D barcode decoders. If your phone has a camera and is web-enabled you can probably do this, so don’t be intimidated. It is as easy as taking a picture! The decoder uses your phone’s camera to translate a picture of the barcode into the coded web address and then links you to that page on your mobile web browser.
I got interested in this idea after hearing that this technology is fully blown up in Japan and that CitySearch San Francisco has been using 2Dbarcodes to identify restaurants. Why not create stickers for library branches? Why not add these images to our print flyers, thus enriching an old-fashioned paper format with readily accessible web information? Update: check out this online zine promoting 2D barcode projects and all of the exciting possibilities.
Below you will find 4 different links for each of our Brooklyn Public Library buildings. I’ve presented the barcodes in 2 different formats, datamatrix and QR. The first two links are PNG image files that can be copied and pasted into Microsoft Word docs, Photoshop, or Illustrator. Just copy and paste the barcode and you add a web page and all that interactivity to your flyer! The second two links are to PDF files of label templates. Each sheet has 6 stickers, and can be printed on Avery matte white labels size 8254, available from Staples here. Stick information about your local library anywhere! In addition I’ve added a link to PDF files of “ex libris” bookplate stickers that offer a barcode image linking you to the Brooklyn Public Library homepage. That should keep you busy and make your books look cool.
In the future, with the success of the OpenLibrary project’s goal to give every book its own web page, 2D barcodes could prove useful in offering online information about any given book. The possibilities are endless. This, my friends, is our first easily accessible, consumer-driven attempt at linking the physical world to the digital world. Well, actually that’s debatable, but I’m pretty damn psyched about this particular step. PLEASE people, USE the barcodes I’ve generated and made easy for you to distribute and stick anywhere and everywhere appropriate for the dispersal of the encoded information. You can always generate your own stickers for any site at blank.com, but I’ve made it particularly easy for you to spread hype about your local library. You’ll note that these stickers still promote the library without a fancypants barcode reader: they still say the name of your local branch on them. Promote your library yourself! Go to town with it!
Download bookplates here.
Please report any errors you may find in the database below.
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Arlington
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Bay Ridge
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Bedford
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Borough Park
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Brighton Beach
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Brooklyn Heights
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Brower Park
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Brownsville
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Bushwick
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Business Library
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Canarsie
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Carroll Gardens
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Central Library
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Clarendon
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Clinton Hill
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Coney Island
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Cortelyou image
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Crown Heights
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Cypress Hills
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Dekalb
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Dyker
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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East Flatbush
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Eastern Parkway
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Flatbush
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Flatlands
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Fort Hamilton
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Gerritsen Beach
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Gravesend
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Greenpoint
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Highlawn
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Homecrest
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Jamaica Bay
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Kensington
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Kings Bay
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Kings Highway
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Leonard
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Macon
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Mapleton
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Marcy
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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McKinley Park
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Midwood
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Mill Basin
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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New Lots
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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New Utrecht
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Pacific
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Paerdegat
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Park Slope
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Red Hook
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Rugby
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Ryder
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Saratoga
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Sheepshead Bay
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Spring Creek
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Stone Avenue
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Sunset Park
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Ulmer Park
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Walt Whitman
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Washington Irving
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Williamsburgh
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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Windsor Terrace
image for flyer (DM) image for flyer (QR) 6 stickers (DM) 6 stickers (QR)
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5 Comments
no freakin way. too cool. that makes me smile.
My only concern at this point is how pervasive are the tools to read them really? Might be cool to set up webpages for programs that are only accessed via this kind of link and see how much use they would actually get. I fear that this might be like the barcodes in magazines that never really took off.
But it is way cool!!!
The tools to read them aren’t really very pervasive at all just yet. I’m thinking all the signs are there that this 2D barcode thing could really take off- but it could easily go the way of the betamax video format as well. Sometimes you’ve gotta to just take a risk and dive in. Since making these stickers publicly and easily available effectively crowdsources the promotional aspect of the project, if it doesn’t work its really nobody’s loss other than mine (um, it took a little while to put the ‘database’ together). Hope it works, but if this doesn’t then something else will come along, stay tuned…
yay! that is what i imagined they would look like- same as PC-generated prepaid postage codes i was telling you about yesterday: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/5362740.stm
the USPS uses them for Click-N-Ship.
It’s definitely a good idea. Can I use the phrase “killer ap,” without sounding faux-techie? It seems warranted. It also seems, however–and it seems like you recognize this–that a fairly in-depth awareness campaign would have to be undertaken first for this functionality to become useful in most of the areas where we have branches, being as I’m assuming most people have never even heard of this yet and wouldn’t know what to do with it (I take myself before reading this post as an example). Despite this, It’s my opinion that new technology attached to cell phones spreads comparatively, incredibly quickly, so I’m betting that as cell phone companies, and ad agencies here become aware of its obvious usefulness, they’ll take care of spreading the word for you…Thus, It’s a good gamble in my opinion. Have you talked with marketing about inserting a space for barcodes into their templates? Or any similar interdepartmental cooperation? It doesn’t seem like it would hurt to start planning for this now and just take questions as they arise. In that case, all we’d need is to tell our staff…Just thinking out loud. I must say, I’m really impressed Nate. I’ve saved all the files for Saratoga.-E