The Central Library has continued its efforts to give students more conveniences when using the library. Several changes have already been successfully made, and several more are planned in the upcoming months, including relocating data, construction to improve the environment, fees for overdue books and so on. Among all these attempts, one that drew the greatest attention from students was the mobile student ID card.
 From the second semester of 2014, the Information Management Team and the Central Library introduced a mobile student ID card. Students could view their student ID card from their smart phones, which could be used when entering Central Library. A QR (Quick Response) code appears on the screen, and students use it to be scanned instead of their student ID card.
However, there was some dissatisfaction from students about the slow scanning rate of mobile student ID cards. Compared to the original ID card, the mobile ID card took a much longer time to be scanned, which made short delays for students entering the Central Library. Song Yu-ra, majoring in mass communication and journalism said, “I thought the new mobile ID card is very convenient since I often forget to bring my student ID card. However, I was a little bit irritated when I had to wait for the QR code to be scanned before entering.”
Despite the discontent from students, the Central Library and Information Management Team maintain that this is the best way for now. Lee Chang-yong, from the Central Library said, “As an administrator of the university, I think the new system is much more convenient. I know that some students argue about the slow scanning rate of the mobile student ID card, but as far as I know, the rest of them are satisfied to some degree.” The scanning technology our university introduced is the latest one, which is known to be the fastest. Lee said that the only way to improve the mobile student ID card is to change the system from QR scanning to an NFC (Near Field Communication) system. “An NFC system will offset those arguments, since it will have no problem scanning data, just like subway entrance,” Lee added.
The Central Library is strongly advocating for the change of the current QR code system into an NFC system, but while this solution seems clear, it is unlikely to happen for several reasons. The biggest obstacle is that the NFC based machines will be a huge burden on budgets, since changing  the system of mobile ID cards would not only mean changing the way to enter the Central Library, but also other buildings in campus. Therefore, the Central Library is not expecting a surprise. Moreover, there has been some difficulty in finding investment sources. “When it comes to changing devices and introducing new systems, the budget required is quite big,” Lee says, “Thus the university needs supports from external enterprises, which creates another task, to look for investment sources”.
Among all the buildings of Dongguk University, the Central Library is the one that most students use for various purposes. For that reason, the changes from the library receive much attention from students. It started out well, but several problems emerged due to limitations in QR code technology. The Central Library figured out a solution, which is to upgrade the system to an NFC-based system. However, they say that it will be a difficult journey, which will take considerable amount of time and money.

Choi Young-eun  ye_1277@dongguk.edu

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