We're Beaming News Alerts You Can Use to Your Smartphone Inside the Library Center
October 25, 2016 — Retail stores and museums use it to speak directly to customers. Now the Library Center staff is testing “beacon technology,” and invites everyone to try it out.
This new BluuBeam technology is a way for the library to send alerts about upcoming programs, concerts, new releases and more directly to your smartphone while you are in the building. It lets you know about things that would probably interest you because of where you are standing in the building.
How does it work? A BluuBeam “beacon” is a Bluetooth transmitter that broadcasts its location. The beacons are lightweight, hockey puck-sized devices placed in different departments. Android and iOS smartphones running the BluuBeam app can detect a beacon when the smartphone comes within range, and display a programmed message.
If you’re at a storytime in the Children’s Department, you may hear a “ping” on your phone and receive a message about an upcoming preschool STEAM program. Visiting the Local History Department, you might receive a message about a genealogy workshop. Think of it as a “virtual tap on the shoulder.”
Two things are required to try it: The smartphone user must download the BluuBeam app and also enable the phone’s Bluetooth setting. (BluuBeam’s service is completely anonymous and doesn’t collect users’ personal information.)
Library Center Youth Services Associate Alyssa Tabor researched and proposed the idea, which was funded through a generous donation from BluCurrent Credit Union.
“Innovation and Excellence are two of the Library's values and are always taken into consideration when we decide which new services to provide,” Alyssa says.
“BluuBeam will help show patrons just how much their library cards are worth by informing them about upcoming events, what we have available for checkout, and services like Hoopla, a digital streaming service free for anyone with a library card,” she says.
Look for the BluuBeam display and how-to directions during your next Library Center visit, and give it a try. In January, we’ll move the beacons so you can experiment with BluuBeam’s technology in the renovated, reopened Schweitzer Brentwood Branch.