Page 36 - Campus Technology, October/November 2018

2018
Web & Emerging Technologies team members (left to right) Valeda Dent, Caroline Fuchs, Shilpa Karnick, Ben Turner and Heather Ball
In the library, students can search the library catalog via the BKFNDr app. Once they select the material they wish to locate on the shelves from the search results, they follow indicators on the screen that guide them to the shelf where the item is located. On the student’s screen, a detailed map of the floor and the bookshelves provide the backdrop. The student appears as a blue dot and the item he or she is looking for as a red dot. As users move toward an item, their progress is simulated on the screen, so they know whether they are getting closer to the item or going in the wrong di- rection. Once they locate the item, they can check it out on their mobile devices via the library’s book check mobile app.
The project began in 2017, and after several months of testing is now up and running on St. John’s Queens Cam- pus, with implementation on the Staten Island Campus slat- ed for Fall 2018.
The Emerging Technologies group is made up of library faculty and staff, some with IT backgrounds and others with a user experience orientation. “We also worked with a mobile developer whose background is in GIS technolo- gy,” Dent said. “It was the perfect combination. Wayfinding is dealing with geography and where things are in space. He helped us conceptualize the technology architecture, while the team here focused on the user experience and the functionality.”
Although there are many options for beacon hardware, St. John’s chose Radius Networks’ Rad Beacons for afford- ability, the variety of beacon hardware available and well- supported configuration apps.4
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CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | October/November 2018