FWD>Forbes Tries Embedded Links

[Jenny Levine]

"Forbes Tries Embedded Links"
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2569113289-e86

	This interesting article from InfoBeat discusses Forbes' upcoming "Best
of the Web" issue because the magazine is mailing handheld digital
readers free-of-charge to all its subscribers.  These devices will let
users scan a barcode in an ad in order to obtain more information about
the products over the Internet.
	While this technology is admittedly years away from the mainstream and
the article discusses some of the problems associated with it, I can see
where libraries could make use of this opportunity in two ways.
	First, they could be early adopters of it and provide the readers
in-house (after the inevitable market shakeout).  This would also help
address digital have-nots, especially if items such as job ads, product
recalls, etc. begin using them.
	Second, could this technology be integrated into our catalogs?  Could a
user see an ad for the current Oprah book, scan it, go to the local
library's catalog on the Web, and be taken directly to the bibliographic
citation and a form for requesting it?  Could libraries place ads in
local newspapers with their own versions of these codes so that users
could go directly to popular materials in the online catalog?
	Is anyone even thinking of utilizing this kind of technology at this
point?  I'd be interested to hear from any libraries that receive these
digital readers with their subscriptions.

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Jenny Levine				125 Tower Drive
Internet Development Specialist		Burr Ridge, IL 60521
Suburban Library System			+1 (630) 734 5141
http://www.sls.lib.il.us/		levinej at sls.lib.il.us
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