Mobile Information Jenni Rankin, marketing manager, Annual Reviews


numbers; Android is there, the Blackberry is re-vamping itself and even the iPad is used a lot to access content. We’ve been working with our technology


partner, Atypon, on the mobile publishing platform, ‘Literatum for Mobile’ and have just launched our second build. Content is our bread and butter so we’ve taken a broad approach, making content the priority. The content from all our publications is


Back in the 1990s, we saw a shift from researchers reading content in print to reading it online, and now we’re seeing a similar shift from the desktop and laptop to the mobile device. We’ve seen mobile traffic growing exponentially. It’s still a very small slice of total traffic, but it’s definitely growing. The iPhone was the first device that


really started this change, and this time last year it was the top device. Now, though, we’re seeing other devices used in greater


Matt Hawkins, CEO, SirsiDynix


Librarian customers have noted that 70 per cent or more of their public interface traffic originates from outside the physical library with the iPhone and Android devices being commonly used. This traffic is significant and is key to why we continue to develop our software, in-house, with the mobile user in mind.


Through our BookMyne iPhone – and soon Android – mobile app, researchers can access full library content including e-books and other e-resources via their mobile devices. Users can search the library catalogue, place holds on materials of interest, and save content relevant to their subject area to customised lists for future reference. Future planned releases will broaden mobile platform support and we will also integrate RSS, Twitter and Facebook feeds. Meanwhile, a second mobile app for library


staff, PocketCirc, offers circulation functions such as check-out, check-in, inventory and patron registration. The County of Los Angeles Public Library also uses it to scan opening day


www.researchinformation.info


collections for new libraries as they arrive, and uploads transactions to update receipt status of thousands of items quickly. Our key products are also compatible with


mobile browsers so end-users can access library resources from any platform. Mobile access via a browser duplicates desktop browser access, whereas mobile application-based access focuses on the most commonly-per formed activities


including


keyword searching, and payment of fines and fees. The chief benefit of


developing our apps in- house has been the depth of integration we’ve achieved with our underlying software.


But [the fact that] cross platform code management for mobile platforms is still at a toddler


stage brings challenges. While, increasingly, there are tool sets allowing a single code base to be used for multiple mobile platforms, these tools are far from inclusive. Because of this we prioritise mobile development by mobile platform popularity. We also handle as much


intelligence as possible at the web services or underlying layers so coding for the specific mobile platform remains at a minimum. In the foreseeable future, we believe the ubiquitous nature of mobile devices, twinned with the huge growth in availability and usage of tablet computers, will make mobile the main mechanism for end-user access to library resources. We also anticipate increased use of mobile devices, particularly tablets for staff use in areas that are inherently “mobile”. This will include shelf work, holds management, management of closed stacks and storage areas, provision of reference services and more.


AUG/SEP 2011 Research Information 15


available, not just what has been published in, say, the last five years. We also include the full text. On asking one focus group of students if they would actually read a 25-page review article on a phone, they said ‘yes, absolutely’. We’ve also learned a very important


lesson on authentication. We had originally developed a pairing app in which the mobile device user could request a pairing code and then be authenticated through his or her institution. However, the researcher had to be using an authenticated computer in the library, and the librarians got back to us saying: ‘Why are you making this so hard? Researchers want to have mobile access without any barriers.’


So now we have totally removed the native


app and developed automatic and seamless pairing. As long as your phone is logged onto an authenticated WiFi campus or institution, you will be automatically authenticated for six months so then you can be off-campus, at home, in Starbucks and still access our content from a mobile.


We are experimenting in the app world but we’re going to wait and see what will happen with different devices


We are also working with partners and experimenting in the app world but we’re going to wait and see what will happen with the evolution of different devices. Ten months ago we had a focus group in which only a few people had smartphones. Now every single person in our focus groups has either an iPad or an Android smartphone.


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