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(2012) - Library High Tech News - Hot off the Press (3) - Mobile Libraries

 

in LHTN, Vol. 29, Issue 5, 2012

Hot off the Press! is a column dedicated to new trends and tendencies in information technologies and social networking, with a note of the items' value to technologies in libraries. Also mentioned in the column are new books on topics such as mobile computing, social networking, and even novels with a focus on technology. Highlighted are some technology blogs, web sites, and archived webinars, movies with a technology theme, and more.

This Spring 2012 issue is focused on mobile libraries and services and their developments.

"Be mobile" is the (present) future issue with near field communication (NFC) technology

Mobile technologies with applications for information services and libraries are expanding. NFC technology - or the NFC technology - is the most recent one and seems promising: a simple touch on the cell phone which contains the necessary information, plus a connection to a terminal, and it is possible to pay for purchases in a store, to get into a train, a plane or a bus. Other developments are, or will soon be in hand, such as the delivery of tickets (for concerts, or matches [...]) or in museums wishing more interaction with their visitors. NFC allows exchanges of information at short distance from an object to the internet. The object has to be placed in front of a NFC sensor and then it is automatically linked with the internet. It is especially useful for older adults that are not at ease with technology: they do not need to know how to type, and all they have to do is place the object containing the NFC technology in front of the screen and get the information from the internet.

NFC makes life easier and more convenient for consumers around the world by making it simpler to accomplish transactions, exchanges of digital content, and electronic connections with a touch. More generally, a standards-based connectivity technology, NFC harmonizes today's diverse contact less technologies, enabling current and future solutions in areas such as:

• Access control.
• Consumer electronics.
• Healthcare.
• Information collection and exchange.
• Loyalty and coupons.
• Payments.
• Transport.

See the NFC Forum for more information about this technology:  www.nfc-forum.org/aboutnfc

Mobile services for libraries: what else?

Are libraries ready for mobile technology and could they become m-libraries? It is already the case of course, but what could be done better? Are there other possibilities than sending a SMS to users in order to inform them, or providing a connection to the online catalogue? In 2012, the Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK conducted an online survey and 500 users answered. Here are some examples (the list is not exhaustive) of their wishes for use of mobile:

• Virtual or digital reference services.
• e-books and digital readings that can be viewed on a e-book reader.
• Timetables.
• e-mails.
• Virtual learning environment.
• University portal.
• Library catalogue/account.

Many students feel that an iPhone/Android/Blackberry app is necessary and that the university should already have this feature.

The survey includes a chapter on how to make improvements at low/no cost that will only take a short time to develop:

• produce some custom library web pages suitable for mobile access/install an open source CMS for mobile access and use this as a portal to all other library mobile enabled services;
• install and configure a low-cost library system API to use free library mobile apps;
• list journals/databases with mobile access on the new library mobile site, begin to build each subject area a mobile page; and
• increase the promotion of current services which already provide mobile access.

Read this post: "mobile leeds met library - developing and promoting our mobile provision"  (www.m-libraries.info/2012/04/23/mobile-leeds-met-library-developing-and-promoting-our-mobile-provision/).

What are libraries' plans to become mobile?

Another study was conducted but gave the floor to the libraries themselves: the "m-Library Community Support Project1" was live from November 2011 until January 2012 and was open to all. It was promoted on numerous library LISTSERVs, blogs and on Twitter. There were 188 responses to the survey, primarily from the academic library sector (64 per cent). The majority of respondents were from the UK (66 per cent), with other responses from the USA (22 per cent), Australia (6 per cent), Canada (4 per cent), Europe, Africa, Ireland, South America and Asia.

Many of the respondents' libraries either already have m-library initiatives (63 per cent) or are planning them in future (90 per cent). Common uses at present included:

• Mobile catalogue.
• Mobile web site.
• QR codes.
• Supporting use of mobile services/apps.
• Mobile app for library.
• Institutional mobile app.
• Mobile devices to support roving reference/staff demonstrations.
• Loaning mobile devices.
• SMS communication about borrower record (due dates, etc.).

See the "m-Library community support project1",  www.slideshare.net/evidencebase/report-on-current-mlibrary-activity

Some good examples of m-libraries

More and more, and certainly for the younger generations, access to the internet is through mobile or cell phone. About 1,000 of applications ("apps") are created. Klaus Ceynowa, Director of the Bavarian State Library in Germany, recommended during his talk at the last IFLA Conference held in Puerto Rico in August 2011 that all of the basic services of a library become available on mobile phones: the catalogue, the web page of the library with general information, and reservations of documents [...]. The Bavarian State Library located in Munchen thus digitized a collection of visible rare books on mobile (). It is classified with the 19th rank last September of the most used applications [...]. Among other works, you can browse the "Heliand" or "Parzival" by Wolfram von Eschenbach, or explore brilliant works of book art, such as the 42-line Gutenberg bible or the Theuerdank, the unique Babylonian Talmud or the secret book of honour of the Fugger family. Besides a copious selection of illuminated manuscripts the app also contains manuscripts of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek which form part of the UNESCO world heritage, among them a gospel book crafted on the island of Reichenau, manuscripts from the legendary library of Matthias Corvinus and the main manuscript "A of the Song of the Nibelungs". Autographs by Adalbert Stifter and extremely valuable manuscripts from the Orient, Persia, Thailand or Japan are some further examples of the virtually browsable copies. About 52 highlights of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek can be downloaded on iPad or also iPhone. The last app, but not the least, is the so-called "Ludwig II - Walking in the Footsteps of a Fairytale King App". The application includes fascinating augmented reality features like 3D pattern recognition, where digital objects appear on the iPhone screen on location and in real time. As an indispensable guide to the palaces, castles and all the events in the life of Ludwig II, this app is an absolute must-have for all Ludwig admirers and for tourists who take an interest in substantial historical information while "walking in the footsteps of the fairytale king".

Even Europeana (the European portal, single access point to 20 millions of books, paintings, films, museum objects and archival records that have been digitized throughout Europe built by the European national libraries) will have soon its own app. Among the last examples, let us note the recent launch by the libraries of the city of London of their application on mobile, an application which makes it possible to seek the nearest library, events (exhibits, conferences), or the catalogue. The French Union catalogue SUDOC has its application and the Swiss one, RERO launched its own last month.

For more information, see:

• The Bavarian State Library:  www.bsb-muenchen.de/Mobile-Apps.3027.0.html
• Europeana:  http://www.europeana.org/
• The city of London:  
• SUDOC:  www.univmobile.fr/
• RERO:  http://www.rero.ch/

To conclude in short: how to do m-libraries:

If you (or your library) wish to offer library services on mobile phones, there are two possibilities:

1. If your users have "simple" mobile phones without access to the internet, for example, then the library could offer tablets (by loan or consultation on the spot). Applications can be classified by topics or themes (youth, languages, geography, art, music). "Apps Organizer" helps to organize the apps on the tablet desk.
2. On the other hand, if your users have a mobile phone with access to internet, the library can propose offering applications to them in "packages", including sets of themes (via a file stored on dropbox for example, or copied directly on the user SD card). The library can also select some sites, blogs, or wikis where people will be able to pick what they want.

There is no doubt that mobile technologies have a lot to offer now and in the near future. So, go ahead and "Be Mobile!".

Jean-Philippe Accart
Director of Studies, Programme Master of Advanced Studies in Archival, Library and Information Science (MAS ALIS), Universities of Bern and Lausanne, Bern, Switzerland.

cop. 2013