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

• Access keys– Easier navigation

• Phone numbers can

be dialed by clicking on them

1. Catalog Search2. Computers3. Library Hours4. Campus Directory5. Contact Us6. Links7. Wolfline Status

MobiLIB

Currently 7 services:1. Catalog Search2. Computers3. Library Hours4. Campus Directory5. Contact Us6. Links7. 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

– Projecthttp://www.lib.ncsu.edu/dli/projects/mobilib/

• Markus WustNCSU Libraries Fellow

markus_wust@ncsu.edu