Serendipity
Aug 27th, 2008 by Karen
It is really nice when something you are working on or learning about dovetails with something someone else is doing. I’ve been gearing up for a mobile web / mobile devices project at UH. As part of this I’ve been doing testing and research on mobile devices, particularly iPhone/iPod Touch. It was so nice that ALA published a Library Technology Report by Elyssa Kroski entitled “On the Move with the Mobile Web: Libraries and Mobile Technologies” earlier this year. Although Elyssa’s LTR doesn’t focus on the devices I’m interested in, it does give a good overview of the mobile arena and how libraries have been using mobile devices thus far.
At the same time, today on lita-l a librarian from Abilene Christian University posted the following question
Our campus recently issued iPhone/iTouches to incoming freshmen.
There is a huge push to optimize as many educational tools as possible
for mobile devices. One of the library’s biggest priorities is to
have a mobile version of our library catalog.Does anyone know of a good catalog overlay that already exists in a
mobile version? We like VuFind as a general product but were hoping
for something more mobile-ready. We also don’t know how user-friendly
the implementation is. I’d appreciate the benefit of this group’s
experience.
The irony of this is I’ve been considering just this issue. I’ve also been working on an article about the potential impact of iPhone/iTouch on library services. So it was gratifying to see someone else struggling with the same issue. For me it drove home the fact that “this is a piece of technology which is going to impact us”. So many people look at iPhone/iTouch as a technology flavor of the month but I feel differently for a couple of reasons.
First, I believe that the interface we see in the iPhone/iTouch is the shape of things to come. We need to get used to this idea. This means device specific applications and mobile optimized websites. Second, Apple is set themselves up to have HUGE market penetration with these products. They have been running a special where students, faculty and staff of universities can purchase a new computer and get a iPod Touch for free. Add to this the success of iTunes U as a method for distributing university course content. All of this should make libraries sit up and take NOTICE.
I’m not sure I have exact answers on how libraries should be dealing with this. However, I do know that we need to spend some time exploring possible avenues in this area. At UH that means developing a mobile version of our site and trying to build some iPhone/iTouch library applications. It also means investigating putting our content (library tutorials) into the university’s iTunes U. We’re moving forward with our pilot project and I will try to report back as often as I can about how it is going.
I think a solution lies it in your first couple of sentences.
Perhaps the digital/mobile library experience is about serendipity in it’s very essence.
Imagine your library history, and your current work interests follow you around the library - and as well as suggesting titles that you may find useful, it could suggest people who have read the books, that are in the library at the same time, or people that are working on the same problems as you.
What offline libraries have over digital libraries or Amazon is the ability to collaborate, to share, to discuss - libraries are social spaces that need to breakaway from the traditionally inaccessible, lofty “SHH!” culture that they traditionally embody, and embrace their enviable position of facilitating the connection of people to knowledge - whether through books, multimedia… or the most valuable resource of all - people
At BYU we’ve actually created a prototype app that queries our catalog via SMS. We’ve implemented catalog search, current balance owing, reservations, and renewals. We’re (unfortunately) on the Unicorn platform. Let me know if you want more details.
Nic
I’m an academic librarian here at the University of Vermont. I’d be very interested in seeing that library catalog application and any details/source code you would be willing to share on this. I am using an itouch here (and many of our students have iphones) so this seems to be an emerging area we could be involved in.
As part of testing the WorldCat API I put together an iPhone interface to WorldCat. If you go to apple.com and search for worldcat you should see a link to the web app. Just passing this along in case it’s of interest while considering other library catalog iPhone/iTouch apps, and I’d be happy to hear any reactions.