I see there is an Arcadia report on the use of mobile technologies in libraries: M-Libraries: Information use on the move by Keren Mills of the Open University's Digilab project. Keren points out that at the moment phone users prefer using their phones to text with using SMS rather than to browse the web using the Internet but thinks this may change. She thinks libraries should consider:
Piloting text alerting services - giving users the opportunity to choose whether they want notifications by text message, email or both are likely to be taken up by at least
a third of library users. These alerts would include the notifications automatically
generated by the Library Management System (LMS).
• Piloting a text reference service – if the library receives a high volume of enquiries that require brief responses, such as dictionary definitions, facts or service information from the library.
• Providing a mobile OPAC interface – perhaps using a service such as AirPac or WorldCat Mobile, or working with their LMS supplier to develop a mobile version of their OPAC.
• Ensuring that the library website is accessible and will resize to smaller screens – in order to be ready for increasing numbers of netbook users and mobile internet users in the next few years.
• Providing audio tours of the library - to help visitors or new users orient themselves and learn more about the service.
• Allowing mobile phone use in the library - as long as they are set to silent or to flight mode (meaning they are not receiving a signal).
Text messages are a good idea, and all librarians especially cataloguers would love to be able to walk around with their LMS in their hand, (it would save all those trips carrying journals to and from shelves and we would see different scenery for a change if we could catalogue from anywhere in the library) but why would the user want this?
I definitely agree that library web pages should be able to be resized and I've an idea that it helps if they are written in XML too.
Piloting text alerting services - giving users the opportunity to choose whether they want notifications by text message, email or both are likely to be taken up by at least
a third of library users. These alerts would include the notifications automatically
generated by the Library Management System (LMS).
• Piloting a text reference service – if the library receives a high volume of enquiries that require brief responses, such as dictionary definitions, facts or service information from the library.
• Providing a mobile OPAC interface – perhaps using a service such as AirPac or WorldCat Mobile, or working with their LMS supplier to develop a mobile version of their OPAC.
• Ensuring that the library website is accessible and will resize to smaller screens – in order to be ready for increasing numbers of netbook users and mobile internet users in the next few years.
• Providing audio tours of the library - to help visitors or new users orient themselves and learn more about the service.
• Allowing mobile phone use in the library - as long as they are set to silent or to flight mode (meaning they are not receiving a signal).
Text messages are a good idea, and all librarians especially cataloguers would love to be able to walk around with their LMS in their hand, (it would save all those trips carrying journals to and from shelves and we would see different scenery for a change if we could catalogue from anywhere in the library) but why would the user want this?
I definitely agree that library web pages should be able to be resized and I've an idea that it helps if they are written in XML too.
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