Library Center Now Beaming Messages to Your Smartphone
Your next visit to the Library Center, 4653 S. Campbell Ave., could come with a “virtual tap on the shoulder” – a message beamed straight to your smartphone.
It’s called BluuBeam technology, and it’s a way for the library to let you know about events and services that probably would interest you because of where you are in the building.
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.
Two things are required to try it: The smartphone user must download the BluuBeam app by texting “LINK” to 38470. You must 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.
“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.
We invite you to 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.
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