A presentation by Sheli McHugh and Kristen Yarmey at Internet Librarian 2011 in Monterey, California. Near Field Communication (NFC) is a new technology that allows devices such as cell phones to transmit information wirelessly across a small distance. While it has many commercial applications (e.g., using your smartphone as a credit card at the grocery store), NFC could also have future applications for libraries as a new way to link physical materials with digital information. Placing particular attention on cataloging, metadata, and circulation, this presentation will discuss potential strategies for utilizing NFC in libraries, from peer to peer loaning to embedding catalog records in books.

1. A Librarian’s Field Guide to
Near Field Communication

2. Sheli McHugh (@shelitwits)
Cataloging & Metadata Librarian, University of Scranton
Kristen Yarmey (@kristenyt)
Digital Services Librarian, University of Scranton

3. What this presentation is not:
based in experience

4. What this presentation is:
an introduction

5. What is NFC?
(Near Field Communication)

6. What is NFC?
A way for devices to
transmit and receive
information
wirelessly
at close range

7. How does it work?
Initiator Target
(read/write mode)

8. How does it work?
Initiator Target
(card emulator mode)

9. How does it work?
Initiator/target Target/initiator
(peer-to-peer mode) (peer-to-peer mode)

10. Why do we need this?
We already have Bluetooth. And WiFi. And QR codes.

11. Why do we need this?

12. Maybe we do need this.
“a game changer”
“the biggest shift in technology since
the iPhone”
“from smartphones to to
superphones”

13. How is it being used?

14. Mobile payment
Now
• Google Wallet
Coming
• ISIS (AT&T, Verizon,
T-Mobile)
• Visa Wallet

15. Access Control
Now
• Yale Locks
• KEyLink smart car
keys
Pilots
• Arizona State U
• Clarion Stockholm

16. Mobile marketing
Now
• Proxama smart posters
• Google Places kits
Pilots
• thinaire/Radiant
Outdoor billboard

17. Social media
Now
• FourSquare at Google
I/O
• Google+
Prototype
• NFriendConnector

18. Gaming
Now
• Angry Birds Magic
Places
• Fruit Ninja blades

19. What else?
• Public transportation
• Parking meters and passes
• Concert and event tickets
• Health care and accessibility
• Restaurants & grocery stores
• Cemeteries

20. Rosetta Stone

21. When is it coming?
If ever?

22. When is it coming?
• Already popular in Asia
• Some phones are already NFC enabled
• By 2014, 1 in 5 cell phones will be NFC-
enabled (Juniper)
• By 2015, 1 in 2 cell phones will be NFC-
enabled (Sy Choudhury, Qualcomm)

24. The naysayers
• PayPal
• Square
• eBay
• …do users really want this?

25. Who to watch

26. What does it mean for us ?

27. Easy applications
• Mobile library cards
• Mobile payment of library fines
• Authentication for library computers &
printers
• Marketing with smart posters
• Gaming (libraries are magic places, after all!)

28. The importance of place
• Celebrating a neighborhood or campus

29. A truly mobile collection
• NFC tags on books or media resources
could contain:
– Bibliographic information
– Reviews
– Author biography
– Link to similar resources
– Social media integration
– Self check out!
– Due date for a checked-out book

30. A truly mobile collection
• Off-the-shelf self-checkout?
– Bibliotecha has a prototype app!

31. The dark side
• NFC may change the way our patrons
interact with information
• Awareness and education

32. Security and privacy
• Mobile payment
– Can be secure than a magnetic strip on a
credit card
• User responsibilities
• Vulnerabilities at all levels: phone, app,
OS, tag…

33. Thank you!
www.slideshare.net/kristenyt

34. Resources

35. • Introductions to NFC
– Near Field Communications: A Technology
Primer (ars technica)
– What’s NFC, and Why do I Care?
(ReadWriteWeb)
– Near Field Communication Quick Guide
(Mashable)

36. • NFC Forum
– Specs
– White Paper on Smart Posters (pdf)
• NFC World:
– List of Trials and Pilots
– List of NFC Enabled Phones
• Apple Patents referring to NFC

37. • Security and privacy
– FTC December 2010 Staff Report
– Collin Mulliner’s NFC security research web
page and NinjaCon presentation
– Intrepidus Group webinar “NFC for N00bs”
(Oct 21!)
– MasterCard statement on Google Wallet
security