Going Mobile
the In’s and Out’s of an Academic Library Mobile Site
Ronda Holt, Information Technology Librarian
Butler Community College
Mary Walker, Electronic Resources Librarian
Wichita State University
CULS 2010, Emporia, KS October 15, 2010
Agenda
 Facts
 Devices
 Mobile Website
Mobile Catalog
 Mobile Database
 Future of Mobile
A Few Facts - General
 “Mobile web access is growing faster than desktop
internet did…” (Milligan)
Smart phone sales is the fastest-growing segment of
the market
 1/3 of Americans used cell phone in 2009 to access
internet (Farkas)
 71% of 12-17 year olds in 2008 owned a cell phone
(Johnson, et al)
(Fox, R)
A Few Facts – Higher Ed
 66% of college students own a cell phone
(Fitzpatrick)
 ½ of all undergraduates own a mobile device
capable of accessing the internet (Farkas)
 Portability (Johnson)
 Information & training materials increasingly being
accessed (Johnson)
A Few Facts - Libraries
Medical Libraries - 2000 (Pope,2010)
2009 ECAR Study - 14.8 respondents would use
library services ("2010 top ten," 2010)
Library user needs on Mobile Devise – Educause
Quarterly (Aldrich, 2010)
85% Opening hours
28% Electronic journals
SmartPhone Devices
Blackberry – Introduced 1996
Personal Digital Assistant
2002 SmartPhone introduced
iPhone – Introduced 2007
2008 APP Store launched with over 200,000
App’s
4 Generations
 Android – Introduced 2008
Open source platform from Google
(Wikipedia, 2010)
Mobifyme
http://mobify.me/tour/
First attempt
Join – Basic is free
Capture content on website
Wanted code - Control issue
Mobile Site Generator
iUI: iPhone User Interface Framework
Download iUI file
Enter your Title
Add Header Image – 320 x 40
Start adding information
HTML code - Notepad
Mobile Site Generator v1.1
http://www.hiddenpeanuts.com/msg/
Item 1A:
Item 1B:
Item 1C:
Item 1D:
:
Item2A:
Item 2B:
Item 2C:
Item 2D :
Montana Library Example
Montana Library Demo
http://www.lib.montana.
edu/~jason/files/m/
Butler Library Web Site
Marketing approved
May 2010
Design May/June 2010
Marketing designed logo
July 2010
Launched September 2010
Testing October 2010
http://bit.ly/bNN8mz
Tips and What I Learned 
Keep it Simple
Keep it Informative
Keep Images under 1KB
Keep to one Column
Keep away from html Software, use Notepad
WSU Libraries Mobile
Website
Live July 22
Campus announcement, July 27 (36 visits)
Library Open House, Aug 26 (26 visits)
July 22-Sept. 30 Statistics
486 visits
1,762 page views
2:59 minutes - avg. time on site
Viewport : http://learnthemobileweb.com/2009/07/mobile-meta-tags/
http://libcat.wichita.edu/vwebv/searchBasic?sk=mobile
Mobile Catalogs
Auto-Graphics - iLib2Go Features:
• Unique StackMap feature that provides
interactive “stacks” navigation to locate
an item’s physical location within the library.
• Locate libraries in your area that are
iLib2Go enabled.
• Log-in to a patron account using a
username and password.
• Review and update account information.
• Search all library resources including topic
search based on BISAC categories.
• Place and review reserves (holds).
• Renew items.
Mobile Databases
Vendors With Mobile Sites / Apps
Mobile Databases
Finding Vendors with Apps / Sites
 Vendor Newsletters
 Listservs
 Literature
 Blogs
 Colleagues
 Internet search
Mobile Databases
Setting Up Mobile Access
Depends on the type of app provided
•iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch
•Android…
Depends on vendor
•EBSCOhost – special URL
Mobile Databases
Created Spring 2010
From regular web site to
mobile site – Summer
2010
http://bit.ly/9FIYua
Future of Mobile
 2015 – five billion people connected
via mobile device
 2020 – internet access primarily
through mobile device
 More Universities using mobile
devices in the classroom
(Fox, R)
(Farkas)
(Johnson)
Future of Mobile - WSU
 will continue to grow mobile
 features added to mobile page as
developed
 facelift for mobile databases page
Future of Mobile - Butler
 Text a Librarian
Add iLib2go
Add Electronic Resources as they become
available
Thank you!
Bibliography
http://bit.ly/cwdPGM
Contact
Ronda Holt, rholt@butlercc.edu
Mary Walker, mary.walker@wichita.edu