In the Palm of your Hand:

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In the Palm of your Hand the Future for the
Hand-Held Librarian
Jon Fletcher, Liaison Librarian (Science
Technology) Nottingham Trent University
jon.fletcher_at_ntu.ac.uk
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Outline

• Mobile devices (smartphones and tablets)
• E-book readers
• Games and mobile applications
• QR codes
• Augmented Reality
• Developing library services
• ...and some groupwork!

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Phones 4U (and everyone else)

• An estimated 89 of UK adults own a mobile phone
  (Ofcom survey in Mintel, 2012a, p.4). Of those
  who do
• 48 of owners have smartphones (Mintel, 2012a,
  p.5)
• 70 of 18-24 year olds (Mintel, 2012b) have
  smartphones
• 80 have accessed the mobile web in the last 3
  months (Mintel, 2012c
• 46 of owners have pay monthly contracts (Mintel,
  2012a, p.4), indicating some type of data plan

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Keep taking the tablets

• Constant evolution since the iPads launch
  c.10 of households had access to a tablet PC in
  August 2011 (Mintel, 2011)
• but the feeling is that tablets will/have
  killed the netbook surge (with a market for
  hybrid devices?)
• Tablet heavyweights IoS vs. Android...but watch
  out for the Kindle Fire!
• Future share hard to predict different surveys
  suggest different consumer purchasing intentions
  (Mintel, 2011 30 interest Mintel, 2012d 13
  interest)

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Keep taking the tablets HE/FE trends

• Perhaps most marked in the HE sector
  predictions from higher education (cf. Kelly,
  2012) are that tablets will drastically increase
  in higher education usage
• Various institutions are giving away iPads and
  Kindles, as well as loaning iPhones and e-book
  readers

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So what does it all mean for libraries?

• A user with a device a user who likes a
  particular services a user who wants to use
  this device to access the services they use
• Retrograde service assessment services can fall
  behind by not keeping upextra technology brings
  extra challenges!
• (PatriziaSoliani, Flickr)

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Ebooks A tale of two sectors

• Ebooks in public libraries
• Overdrive services in local libraries
• The challenge of Kindles and independent e-book
  lenders
• Ebooks in academic/special libraries
• Dominated by collections
• Limited download availability divergence between
  service expectations and what is possible?

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And now
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Your turn! How are you catering for your portable
users?
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Mobile technology hits the mainstream

• Better devices greater mainstream appeal
  greater ownership and usage
• Big developments in mobile/portable
  functionalityand takeup
• QR/barcode readers
• GPS-enabled location services (and indoor GPS?)
• Popularity of apps and web-based games
• Predictions for the single device?

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Mature technology - QR codes and location-based
services

• QR codes examples
• Quite established now University of Bath and
  trials in institutions such as the University of
  Huddersfield (cf. Walsh, 2009 onwards) have seen
  them used in many places, for various tasks.
• Location-Based Services (e.g. Foursquare)
• Minimal take-up by universities (Fletcher, 2011)
  and less by libraries not a trend which has
  caught on, though possible uses remain

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Gamification for the nation

• Gamification the infusion of game design
  techniques, game mechanics, and/or game style
  into anything (Gamification, 2012)
• Greater popular impact due to smartphones
• Mintel estimate that 567,000 mobile game apps
  will be downloaded in the UK during 2012 (Mintel,
  2012e)
• The app market in general was worth 3.7 billion
  worldwide in September 2011, with a worth of 7.7
  billion predicted for 2016 and this does not
  include free apps (Mintel, 2012e)
• Impact of tablets can only increase popularity

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Augmented Reality serious fun
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Augmented Reality in the mainstream

• Augmented Reality is now being used in Marketing
• Asos Magazines (March 2012) uses BlipAR to
  view clothes from all angles
• Shreddies used BlipAR to scan cereal boxes and
  interact with the Knitting Nanas and their
  pearls of wisdom
• Michel Thomas language courses logo be scanned
  with Aurasma to access audio samples of each
  course
• And Universities (to a more limited extent cf.
  University of Exeter, 2011)

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(Miss) Scarlet, in the library, with the
smartphone

• University of Manchester Special Collections
  using Augmented Reality to Enhance Learning and
  Teaching (SCARLET see JISC, 2011) started June
  2011, ends May 2012
• - Looking to develop AR for rare books and a
  toolkit for others to use
• - Project video at http//www.youtube.com/watch?v
  Vf0KoH0SAcw
• The first of many such developments?

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Time to consider Augmenting our services?

• Excellent use of AR to showcase interactive
  displays - Kwantlen Polytechnic
  Institute (Vancouver, Canada) Junaio
• Click on a poster, take a tour of a venue the
  JCDecaux Australia Museum of Contemporary Art
  Augmented Reality Experience Aurasma
• Making paper into a completely interactive portal
  for Sports Magazine BlipAR
• There are many ways to create your own! See sites
  such as Aurasma for more details.

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Developing your service

• My own HE experience (2010/11)
• Serious Games module (final year computing
  undergraduates)
• Embedded into curriculum with design brief
  supplied students had 10 weeks to design
  prototypes
• Results included a QR code library quest app,
  with rewards for finding and scanning relevant QR
  codes
• Great ideabut build-in development work
  afterwards!

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Developing your service

• In-house expertise, funding applications, beyond
• Anyone for Mashed Libraries?

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Over to you!
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Ideas
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Conclusion

• The minority is becoming the mainstream with
  mobile devices becoming largely commonplace,
  libraries need to be adapting more to serve users
  with this technology
• Ever-changing pace and evolution, but will 2012
  finally be the year of the ebook reader and
  tablet?
• What place in the world for AR technology?
• Overall, these technologies are still not at the
  stage where they can be central tenants of a
  librarys core servicebut there are many
  value-added benefits to be had from them

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References

• Fletcher, J., 2011. Libraries and location-based s
  oftware Where are we now? Multimedia Information
  and Technology, 37(3), pp.12-14.
• Gamification, 2012. Gamification definition
  online. Available via http//gamification.org/
  wiki/Gamification_Definition Accessed 7 April
  2011.
• JISC, 2011. Special Collections using Augmented
  Reality to Enhance Learning and Teaching
  (SCARLET) online. Available via
  http//www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearnin
  g/ltig/scarlet.aspx Accessed 7 April 2012.
• Kelly, B., 2011. My predictions for 2012
  online. Available at http//ukwebfocus.wordpres
  s.com/2011/12/29/my-predictions-for-2012/
  Accessed 7 April 2012.

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References

• Mintel, 2011. Desktop, Laptop and Tablet
  Computers - UK - August 2011. Mintel online.
  Available at http//oxygen.mintel.com/sinatra/oxy
  gen/display/id591378 Accessed 6 April 2012.
• Mintel, 2012a. Mobile Phones Executive Summary
  UK February 2012. Mintel online. Available
  at http//oxygen.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen/displa
  y/id612231 Accessed 6 April 2012.
• Mintel, 2012b. Mobile Mobile Phones - UK -
  February 2012 market segment and key
  performance. Mintel online. Available at
  http//oxygen.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen/display/id
  612231 Accessed 6 April 2012.

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References

• Mintel, 2012c. Mobile phones and network
  providers - UK - March 2012 executive summary.
  Mintel online. Available at http//oxygen.minte
  l.com/sinatra/oxygen/new_reports/listlatest_item
  s/display/id606100/list/id606100typeRCItemdis
  playabridged Accessed 6 April 2012.
• Mintel, 2012d. Researching and Buying Technology
  Executive Summary UK January 2012. Mintel
  online. Available at http//oxygen.mintel.com/s
  inatra/oxygen/display/id609213 Accessed 6 April
  2012.
• Mintel, 2012e. Mobile Application Gaming - UK -
  February 2012. Mintel online. Available at
  Accessed 6 April 2012.

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References

• University of Exeter, 2011. Augmented Reality A
  different view of learning online. Available
  at http//blogs.exeter.ac.uk/augmentedreality/
  Accessed 7 April.
• Walsh, A., (2009). Quick response codes and
  libraries. Library Hi Tech News, 26 (5/6).
  pp.7-9. Available via http//eprints.hud.ac.uk/52
  09/ Accessed 7 April.