Using Mobile Technology to Deliver Library Services: A Handbook

by Andrew Walsh

Overview

This is an essential practical guide for all information professionals who want to get to grips with or improve their use of mobile services.

Packed with easy to implement ideas, practical examples and international case studies, this provides you with the ultimate toolkit, exploring ideas as simple as renewals and reminders to the more complex such as access to e-books and virtual worlds. Jargon-free coverage of the background and context to mobile delivery will enable you to fully understand the challenges and embrace the opportunities, getting to grips with critical issues such as what sort of services users really want.

Key topics covered include:

• context including market penetration, range and functionality of devices
• texting
• apps vs. mobile websites
• mobile information literacy vs. other information literacies
• mobiles in teaching
• linking the physical and virtual worlds via mobile devices
• E-books for mobiles
• the future of mobile delivery.

This will be an invaluable practical guide for all information professionals and museum staff who want to get to grips with or improve their use of mobile services. Library and information students and academics will find it a useful introduction to the topic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780810887572
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	10/08/2012
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 6.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Andrew Walsh is an academic librarian at Huddersfield University who has written, researched and presented widely on the application of mobile technologies within the library environment, information literacy, the use of active learning and using web 2.0 technologies. He won the UC&R Innovation Award in 2009.

Table of Contents

Introduction and context Introduction Context Outline of this book References Further reading 1. What mobile services do students want? Introduction Context Details of the study Attitudes towards text messaging General feelings about mobile services and the Library Potential services Conclusion Acknowledgement Notes References Further reading 2. Modelling mobile information literacy Introduction Areas of variation between fixed information literacy and mobile information literacy, from the literature So what does this mean? Summary References Further reading 3. The mobile librarian Introduction Mobile support and reference Mobile productivity for librarians Keeping up to date and research tools Summary Notes Further reading 4. Texting in libraries Introduction Sending messages without a phone Messages from your library management system Text a librarian and more Teaching using SMS Other services Summary Notes Further reading 5. Apps vs mobile websites Introduction Meeting the needs of your users Apps Mobile websites Summary Further reading 6. Linking physical and virtual worlds via mobile devices Introduction QR codes Radio Frequency Identification and Near Field Communications Augmented Reality Linking physical and virtual worlds – summary Notes Reference Further reading 7. Mobiles in teaching Introduction Should we use students’ own devices, or provide class devices? Using text messages to teach Recording activities (video, audio and pictures) Shared activities Library trails A window to another world Summar Notes Further reading 8. E-books for mobiles Introduction Formats Licensing Ways of providing e-books for mobile devices Summary Notes References Further reading So what now? Consider what your users want … and what your staff can deliver Start steadily … but don’t pilot Nothing is final … review and assess as you go Keep an eye to the future … but there is no need to break new ground Summary

Editorial Reviews

Walsh is an academic librarian at Huddersfield University who has written and presented widely on the application of mobile technologies within the library environment. This slim volume provides a primer in a wide range of mobile technologies and devices as well as chapters outlining the critical differences between traditional information literacies versus mobile information literacy and how library workers can make the most of mobile devices and technologies to increase productivity and flexibility in supporting users. Meticulously researched, each chapter is filled with useful case studies, along with extensive references and suggestions for further reading.
Although the focus is primarily the application of mobile technologies in an academic library environment, the ideas outlined by the author are easily transferable to any library. As Walsh cautions in the final chapter, the most important consideration when introducing mobile technologies as a method of service delivery in the library is: What do your users want, and what can your staff deliver? The worst thing library professionals can do is rush headlong into a project that cannot be sustained and provides services of little use to patrons. Careful readers of this guide should easily be able to avoid that pitfall.

Booklist

Walsh is an academic librarian at Huddersfield University who has written and presented widely on the application of mobile technologies within the library environment. This slim volume provides a primer in a wide range of mobile technologies and devices as well as chapters outlining the critical differences between traditional information literacies versus mobile information literacy and how library workers can make the most of mobile devices and technologies to increase productivity and flexibility in supporting users. Meticulously researched, each chapter is filled with useful case studies, along with extensive references and suggestions for further reading.
Although the focus is primarily the application of mobile technologies in an academic library environment, the ideas outlined by the author are easily transferable to any library. As Walsh cautions in the final chapter, the most important consideration when introducing mobile technologies as a method of service delivery in the library is: What do your users want, and what can your staff deliver? The worst thing library professionals can do is rush headlong into a project that cannot be sustained and provides services of little use to patrons. Careful readers of this guide should easily be able to avoid that pitfall.

Booklist

In this handbook, Walsh (librarian, Univ. of Huddersfield, UK) provides a practical exploration of how mobile technologies can aid library service. After presenting an overview of the subject, he details a study examining the mobile services students want in an academic library context, effectively illustrating how the findings also apply to nonacademic contexts. He explores "fixed" information literacy (users search for and access resources in a "fixed" context with a suite of established tools) and "mobile" information literacy (users do not have a full suite of tools and are often doing more limited tasks using more limited resources). Examining how search behavior differs across devices helps determine the types of mobile options that might be most valuable for libraries. Walsh gives specific examples of how mobile technologies are being used, ranging from roving librarianship and applications in teaching to mobile use of ebooks, and discusses how such technologies can help with librarians' productivity and professional development. Each chapter includes case studies of real-world applications in various library contexts, including not just the UK, but also Canada, the States, and Australia. VERDICT Well written, clear, engaging, and applicable to many different types of libraries, this highly recommended work is a must-have for librarians wondering, "Is there an app for that?"—Candice Kail, Columbia Univ. Libs., New York

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