Presentation ALA

							MobiLIB:
A Library Service
 for Generation ‘Mobile’
  at North Carolina State University

         Markus Wust (North Carolina State University)
         ALA | June 23, 2007
                          Why Mobile 1
• Growth of mobile phone industry
• Spread of mobile phones
  – 2.7 billion mobile phones world wide as of
    January 2007
  – “During 2007 the first cross-over will happen, with
    more users accessing [the Internet] via phone
    than PC.”


    http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2007/01/putting_27_bill.html
               Why Mobile 2
• Educational institutions
  – Ball State University, University of Texas
• Mobile devices in education:
 “In the next two years, we predict that mobile
 phones will be accepted tools on campus, as
 desirable and common as personal computers. …
 With over 225 million mobile phones manufactured
 each year worldwide, innovation in these devices is
 occurring at an unprecedented pace.”
           (New Media Consortium Horizon 2007 Report)
                   Why Mobile 3
Commercial content providers
  – Yahoo/Google/MSN/…
  – Facebook/Flickr/MySpace/…
  – Eric Schmidt, Google CEO:
       • “Mobile, mobile, mobile…”
       • “The biggest growth areas are clearly
         within the mobile space…”


  http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/industry/2007-04-20-mobile-ads_N.htm
                   Choosing Services
• No data on mobile phone usage at NCSU,
  what services students would like
• Small set of services
• What could be useful in mobile environment
  – Peter Brantley, Executive Director, DLF:
      “If you start to think more about what users are
      doing, and less about the information you have,
      and how you have traditionally provided it, then
      really cool things can emerge…”
  http://ono.cdlib.org/archives/shimenawa/000172.html
                 Design 1
• Consider:
  – Variety of browsers
  – Variety of platforms
  – Small screens and input devices
  – Different usage scenarios
                 Design 2
• XHTML/CSS             1. Catalog Search
                        2. Computers
                        3. Library Hours
• Access keys           4. Campus Directory
                        5. Contact Us
  – Easier navigation   6. Links
                        7. Wolfline Status
• Phone numbers can
  be dialed by clicking on them
                MobiLIB
Currently 7 services:
1. Catalog Search
2. Computers
3. Library Hours
4. Campus Directory
5. Contact Us
6. Links
7. Wolfline Status
           Catalog Search 1
• Based on existing Catalog Web Service
  – Provides search results in different formats
    (XML,RSS, JSON, OpenSearch)
• 2 XSLT style sheets transform the
  returned XML file to create display pages
Catalog Search 2
Catalog Search 3
Catalog Search 4
              Computers 1
• Shows available computers at NCSU’s
  main library
• Originally used bar graphs, but difficult to
  interpret
  – Switched to text-only
Computers 2
Computers 3
           Library Hours 1
• Based on prototype for dynamic opening
  hours page
• Only shows today’s and tomorrow’s hours
Library Hours 2
Library Hours 3
         Campus Directory 1
• Originally only library staff directory
  – Probably not useful to students, staff, and
    faculty
  – How is it different from “Contact Us”?
• Connects to the university’s LDAP server
Campus Directory 2
Campus Directory 3
             Contact Us 1
• Contact information for key library
  departments and services
Contact Us 2
Contact Us 3
                  Links 1
• Selection of links to external content and
  service providers
Links 2
Links 3
          Wolfline Status 1
• By TransLoc Inc.
• Shows current location of University buses
• Text-only version of graphic web interface
Wolfline Status 2
Wolfline Status 3
Wolfline Status 4
               Next Steps
• Usability testing/focus groups
• Implementation of feedback on
  current/new services
• “My MobiLIB”:
  – Place holds
  – Renew items
  – Send results to citation manager
• Exploring use of text messaging for library
  applications
                   Credits
• Staff of NCSU Libraries
• Especially:
  – Tito Sierra
  – Emily Lynema
  – Nick Mangine
  – Jeff Essic
                 Questions?
• MobiLIB
  – Service
    http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/m
  – Project
    http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/dli/projects/mobilib/
• Markus Wust
   NCSU Libraries Fellow
   markus_wust@ncsu.edu