Lio Medal (left), a junior mathematics major, and David Pelky, a senior mathematics and economics major, work on the second floor of McKeldin Library.
Emma Metzler said she always has trouble finding her friends among the McKeldin Library crowds leading up to finals week.
“The floors are pretty big here, and it’s hard to find all your friends, especially during finals,” said the freshman business student. “It could be better.”
However, two University of Maryland students might have found a solution to this end-of-the-semester problem — they launched an app last month designed to help students locate one another within McKeldin Library.
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The application, inPin, was designed to locate students and facilitate communication within buildings, said founder Zack Fishbein. Since he presented the product to McKeldin staff on Nov. 17, a few hundred students have downloaded it. The app is now available in the App Store, and it will be available for Android download by next semester.
Fishbein, a senior aerospace engineering major, said the technology was born of his frustration with arranging group meetings in the library.
“As an aerospace major, I’m always at the library, especially around midterms and finals time,” Fishbein said. “Getting a group together is pretty hard, and it’s hard to describe where exactly you’re sitting, too.”
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Metzler said she would likely use the app to hold group meetings in the library.
Fishbein said he began toying with the idea of the app in fall 2014, originally intending it to be for his friends to use. He hired sophomore computer science major Cassidy Laidlaw to develop the technology this past spring. McKeldin’s staff has promoted the app via social media and the library website.
“We’re looking to get feedback on it right now, but mostly it’s spreading through word of mouth,” Fishbein said.
If the app receives positive feedback, Fishbein said, he and Laidlaw will consider offering the technology to other campus buildings, as well as to local businesses and other universities such as Georgetown and George Washington. They will also consider switching inPin to a for-profit design, offering space for facilities and advertisers to promote their services and products, as well as software allowing them to create their own virtual maps and upload them to the app.
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Fishbein said they plan to begin this expansion next semester.
Eric Bartheld, communications director for this university’s libraries, said the McKeldin staff is thrilled with this idea.
“What’s great about this app is that is was conceived by students for students. We’re pleased he came to us,” Bartheld said. “McKeldin is a big space: very large and very busy this of year. If it helps our students out in any way, we’re all for it.”
