news bytes

THERE ARE TIMES WHEN INNOVATION HAPPENS TOO SOON. You can argue that this was the case with qr codes. Seen frequently in 2011-2012, these quick response codes were first used in the Japanese auto industry. Invented by Denso Wave in 1994, the codes enabled the tracking of car parts during the manufacturing process. These matrix barcodes are read by smart phones and their first commercial use was to direct consumers to a website. In the years since 2012 they largely disappeared, but are now making a comeback.

IT DOESN’T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS. It’s not often that you get to be a partner in a project that does so much good. The public librarry has developed over the past decade into a community center, the locus of small towns. The books are still there, of course, and the focus is still on reading, but you have to give patrons resources not available elsewhere. How do you take that message to the people? You do it with everything you’ve got, keep it fresh and serve it up to your patrons 24/7.

AS PRINT CATALOGS MAKE A COMEBACK after dire predictions that print was dead, the online catalog gets a timely update. First, pdf catalogs were put online as flipbooks, then links were added so you could click and buy. What’s next? There is software out there that can create an interactive catalog, and companies are finding that this type of customer engagement leads to sales. It’s like a media spot that you can buy from, and if you are a direct seller with no bricks and mortar stores, it can't be beat.