Mobile Technologies for Libraries

1
Mobile Technologies for Libraries

• Joan K. Lippincott
• Coalition for Networked Information
• CNI Fall 2008 Meeting

2
Mobile Technologies, Mobile Users

• Overview
• Content for mobile devices
• Tools and services for mobile users
• Implications for physical environments
• Planning process
• Feedback, examples, discussion

3
Mobile Devices are Well-established in Teaching
Learning

• Ipods for language learning
• http//www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/2733714099/

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Mobile Devices and Itunes U.

• I-tunes U. for lecture capture, etc.

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Mobile Devices and Itunes U.

• I-tunes U. for lecture capture, etc.

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University of Tennessee - Clickers

• Clickers -student response systems for large STEM
  courses

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Mobile Devices for Everyday Use

• Just a typical college campus
  http//www.flickr.com/photos/partsnpieces/44558163
  5/
• Whats in my bag? http//www.flickr.com/photos/l
  uchilu/378429678/

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Small Devices Used for a Range of Activities
Aaron Swartz - who at the age of 21, has already
helped create RSS (that was in his early teens),
published a couple of computer-science papers,
and developed Infogami, a system enabling his
digitally clueless elders to set up their own
websites (is working on a new project) I
recently sent him a number of questions Some of
his answers were, it seems, typed into a mobile
phone. Scott McLemee, Inside Higher Education,
August 8. 2007 http//insidehighered.com/views/20
07/08/08/mclemee
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Students are Connected

• 73.7 of respondents own a laptop
• Respondents spend an average of 18 hours/wk using
  an electronic device

The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and
Information Technology, 2008
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Students are Connected

• More than half own 4 or 5 of the following
• Computer (desktop and/or laptop)
• Digital camera
• Music/video device
• Game device
• Wireless hub
• PDA
• Smart phone

The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and
Information Technology, 2008
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Students and Mobiles

• 70 of 11-year-olds in the UK own a mobile phone
• On average teenagers send or receive 9.6 text
  messages/day
• The Mobile Life Youth Report 2006
  http//www.mobilelife2007.co.uk

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Students use their devices

• Harvard Medical School survey of students 2007
• 52 own a PDA
• Application with most use reference info with
  26 of respondents only 6 subscribe to podcasts
• As reported in Waiting on the Wave, Campus
  Technology, March 2007 http//campustechnology.com
  /articles/452441

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Effective Digital Learners

• Use mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs to support
  their learning
• Use software to create, manipulate, and present
  content
• Seek peer support via informal networks of family
  and friends by using e-mail, texting, chat, and
  Skype, an underworld of communication and
  information-sharing invisible to tutors
• JISC. In Their Own Words, 2007

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They are attached to their devices
Many speak of their personal devices
as individualised learning environments which,
if possible, go everywhere with them. As a
result, they express a need to integrate personal
technologies with institutionally based systems -
for example downloading podcasts onto a palmtop
or uploading work from a storage device, such as
a USB memory stick,to an institutionally based
computer - to provide a seamless flow of
studyNot being able to do so causes them
frustration. JISC. In Their Own Words, 2007
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What do you know about YOUR user population?

• Use existing survey data
• Consult with other institutional units about what
  data they collect and how you can partner
• Supplement quantitative data with qualitative
  data
• Focus groups
• Interviews
• Observation/field studies

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And What about Libraries?

• Content
• Tools and Services
• Environments

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Mobile Library Users

• Distance education students
• Blended learning students
• Learners or faculty in the field
• Learners or faculty on distant campuses
• Learners using mobile devices in the classroom
• Learners using mobile devices for learning
  activities outside of the classroom

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Mobile devices

• Mobile phones/smart phones
• PDAs
• Clickers/Personal Response Systems
• IPods, MP3 players, cameras
• Laptops/notebook computers
• The next devicesmart pens?

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Livescribes Smartpen

• Smartpen and special paper
• Tap on notes and hear audio recording
• Upload your drawings and notes to PC
• www.livescribe.com

Ironically, the big behavior change may be to
get this younger generation to pick up
this unfamiliar instrument called the pen. Paul
Saffo quoted in NYT May 30, 2007
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Mobilizing Content

• Reference sources
• Monographs - Kindle
• Library or university instructional content
• Research-generated content (from the field)
• Exhibit content

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Reference Content -U. Alberta Librarys PDA Zone
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Reference Works Linked to Language Learning?

• Use Nokia cellphones for English lessons test
  prep
• Buy phone with educational programs installed or
  download programs
• www.koolearn.com

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What Reference Resources Could Assist the
Northwestern U. Journalism School Students?
At a time when newspaper readership is steadily
declining and many readers are bouncing from
blogs to Internet video to get their news, the
new approach will send student reporters out into
the field with video iPods and digital
camcorders, as well as spiral notebooks. Chronicl
e of Higher Education, July 20.
2007 http//chronicle.com/daily/2007/07/2007072002
n.htm
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Monograph Lending - Kindles
I am the Access Services Librarian at the
University of Nebraska Omaha, and as such,
responsible for Circulation services. In March we
purchased five Kindles as an experiment for a
faster means of delivering Interlibrary Loan
requests. Instead of waiting days, a book request
can be filled in a matter of minutes. In May we
expanded this service to include popular fiction
titles, something our patrons have asked for, but
as a research library, a collection area with
relatively few choices. This service has been
even more popular than Interlibrary Loan and we
ordered three more Kindles Joyce Neujahr
Aug 26, 1034 AM Wired Campus, CHE
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Arizona State U. Library Channel
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Faculty-student field projects
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Place-linked Content for Mobile Devices
At the NEHs Office of Digital Humanities, staff
are pursuing interest in mobile technologies that
can be used in museums and historical places and
that deliver scans of primary documents,
audio-visual materials, and scholarly analysis to
enhance ones understanding of the
site. http//www.neh.gov/ODH/ODHUpdate/tabid/108/
EntryID/72/Default.aspx
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IR Content for Mobile Devices

• Image files of plant species, diseases
• Local or campus history materials
• Lectures or performances given on campus
• Other examples

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Mobilizing Tools and Services

• Catalogs
• Library web pages
• Content for mobile devices - hours, patron
  records, equipment availability, podcasts
• RFID in the stacks
• Item information
• Recommender information
• New types of aids for instruction

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NCSU CatalogWS

• Library catalog as a versatile discovery
  platform
• Data source for MobiLIB - catalog interface
  optimized for mobile devices
• http//www.lib.ncsu.edu/dli/projects/catalogws/

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OCLC WorldCat on IPhone

• Look up items
• Find library near you
• Citation styles for items

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Mobilizing services

• Reference
• Chat, IM, phone
• Training users on devices
• Information literacy
• Tutorials on finding journal articles, evaluating
  Internet resources, etc. configured for Ipods,
  Smartphones, etc.

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Mobilizing services

• Targeting user groups
• Students at a distance or abroad
• Field-based students
• Students in professional programs, e.g. health
  sciences, education, social work, journalism

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Mobilizing environments

• Equipment loan desks
• Spaces for re-charging
• Demonstration/experimental spaces
• Spaces for collaboration and development of
  digital content
• Connecting with others
• Teaching spaces
• Spaces for content display

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Cornell Mann Library
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Laptop Lending Robert Gordon U. ( Scotland)
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Re-charging Lockers at Montesquieu Learning Centre
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Open University Library DigiLab
39
U. Mass. Amherst Learning Commons
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Weigle Information Commons UPenn
41
U. Delaware Student Multi-media Design Center
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Georgia TechPractice Presentation Room
43
U. Birmingham Skype set-up
44
U. Washington Videoconferencing
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http//www.libraryteachingspace.org/
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NCSU Learning Commons eBoards
47
Information Displays

• Learning Grid, U. Warwick http//www.flickr.com/ph
  otos/jiscinfonet/146842841/

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Even more issues

• Authentication
• Privacy
• Theft and leakage of confidential or licensed
  information
• Standard platforms
• Mobile devices and cheating

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Library Planning

• Address
• Licensing information products for mobile devices
• Hosting or pointing to institutional content for
  mobile devices
• Preserving new content types and formats
• Providing instruction on devices as well as
  access to content
• Providing space for new equipment

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Campus-wide Planning

• Mobile Learning Task Force, study group
• Identify stakeholders and partners
• Determine what you are trying to accomplish
• Survey the uptake of mobile devices by sector
• Target audiences for specific content/services
• Identify resources needed and potential funding
• Develop an assessment plan

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Whoever said you cant take it with you is
sooo twentieth century! Heard on National
Public Radio, 8/23/07
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Why Focus on Mobile Content and Services?

• Shift in how our clientele work and use
  information
• Library interests intertwined with other campus
  units making decisions on mobile content and
  technology
• Consider strategic value of orienting some
  content and services to mobile devices

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Conclusion

• Your examples
• Feedback
• Discussion
• QA

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Credits

• Photos include web captures, photos from my
  collection and some supplied to me by
• North Carolina State U.
• U. Massachusetts Amherst
• U. Delaware
• All photos used from Flickr have Creative Commons
  licenses
• With thanks!

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Resources
PDAs, Handhelds, and Mobile Technologies in
Libraries Megan Fox, Simmons College Library
http//web.simmons.edu/fox/pda/
M-Libraries Libraries on the Move to Provide
Virtual Access. Edited by Gil Needham and Mohamed
Ally London Facet Publishing, 2008
M-Learning and Mobility - ELI webpages http//www.
educause.edu/M2DLearningandMobility/12397
On the Move with the Mobile Web. Ellyssa Kroski.
Library Technology Reports, vol. 44, no. 5, ALA,
2006.
Contact joan_at_cni.org