Improving Your Library's Mobile Services

Improving Your Library’s Mobile Services

Sep. 12, 2013ALA TechSource Workshop

Bohyun KimDigital Access Librarian, Florida International University Medical Libraryhttp:/ /bohyunkim.net/blog | @bohyunkim

Today’s Topics

1. The significance of the mobile web2. Mobile consumer behavior3. Developments in libraries’ mobile

websites4. Responsive Web Design5. Building and growing your library’s

mobile presence6. Ask questions on the chat window or

on Twitter (@bohyunkim / #libmobile).

More Smartphones than Feature Phones in Usehttp://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Smartphone-Ownership-2013/Findings.aspx

http://www.pewinternet.org/Trend-Data-%28Adults%29/Device-Ownership.aspx 

Text, No Voicemail

Image from Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/40198520@N00/7943106962/

Text, No Voicemail

Leaving a voice mail instead of texting is impolite because it wastes the receiver’s time.

Asking people something that is easily discoverable on the Internet is equally rude because the communication is not only unnecessary but also time-consuming.Nick Bilton, “Disruptions: Digital Era Redefining Etiquette,” Bits (blog),

New York Times, March 10, 2013, http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/ etiquette-redefined-in-the-digital-age.

Preoccupied by Smartphone

Image from Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/35075971@N00/3839176730/

Preoccupied by Smartphone An estimated 20 million passengers miss bus

or train stops each year because of "digital distraction" from their smartphone.

The problem has affected 51% of Britons and causes around 15% of commuters to run late for meetings, according to the findings.

Over the last year, passengers have missed their stops an estimated 29 million times.

Mobile Life Report by O2/Samsung (2013), http://news.uk.msn.com/odd-news/smartphones-lead-to-missed-stops-1.

We Spend More Time with our Smartphone than our Partner

While the average British smartphone owner spends 97 minutes a day with their nearest and dearest, they spend 119 minutes – just shy of two hours – on their phones.

Mobile Life Report by O2/Samsung (2013), http://news.o2.co.uk/?press-release=i-cant-talk-dear-im-on-my-phone.

Image from Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/smith/6267342711/

Maslow’s Pyramid with Wi-Fi

Wireless Data Traffic Explosion

Over the five-year period from 2007 to 2011, wireless data traffic on AT&T, the second largest wireless carrier in the United States, has grown 20,000 percent, at least doubling itself every year since 2007.

Chris Velazco, “AT&T’s Wireless Data Traffic Doubles Every Year, but Throttling Is Not the Solution,” TechCrunch, February 14, 2012, http://techcrunch. com/2012/02/14/atts-wireless-data-traffic-doubles- every-year-but-throttling-is-not-the-solution.

More Increase Mobile Data Traffic

Worldwide mobile data traffic will increase 13-fold over the next four years, reaching 11.2 exabytes per month (134 exabytes annually) by 2017.

Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2012–2017, http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/ns537/ns705/ns827/white_paper_c11-520862.html

Cisco’s Mobile Data Traffic Forecast

Exabyte = 10006 byte

We now spend 37 percent of our Internet time on mobile.

ComScore, 2013 Mobile Future in Focus, white paper (Reston, VA: comscore, February 2013), 12, www.comscore.com/ Insights/presentations_and_Whitepapers/2013/2013_Mobile_Future_in_Focus

Mobile Web vs. Desktop Web

Image from Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29487767@N02/4053393372/

How We Use Our Smartphones

Mobile Life Report by O2/Samsung (2012)http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/mobile-phones/9365085/Smartphones-hardly-used-for-calls.html.

How long we spend using our smartphones (by activity) each day

Browsing the internet 24 Checking social networks 16 Listening to music 15 Playing games 13 Making calls 13 Text messaging 11 Checking/writing emails 9 Reading books 8 Watching TV/films 7 Taking photographs 3 Total 119 minutes  Mobile Life Report by O2/Samsung (2013), http://news.o2.co.uk/?press-release=i-cant-talk-dear-im-on-my-phone.

What we do on the smartphone and the tablet

ComScore, 2013 Mobile Future in Focus, white paper (Reston, VA: comscore, February 2013), 33, www.comscore.com/ Insights/presentations_and_Whitepapers/2013/2013_Mo- bile_Future_in_Focus.

Mobile Device Use at Home According to the interviews and the

survey conducted by Yahoo! and the Nielsen Company in June 2010 , 93 percent of mobile users accessed the Internet on their mobile devices away from home but as many as 89 percent also used their mobile devices to access the Internet inside their home.

Ashmeed Ali, Edwin Wong, Gateley Meeker, andDavid Gill, The Mobile Shopping Framework Study: The Role of Mobile Devices in the Shopping Process, white paper (New York: Nielsen Company, January 2011), 5, www.slideshare.net/ashmeed25/mobile-shopping- frameworkstudy2010whitepaper-final.

Occasions for Mobile Device Use

Danielle Bulger, “smartphone owners: A Ready and Willing Audience,” Compete Pulse blog, March 12, 2010, http://blog.compete.com/2010/03/12/smartphone- owners-a-ready-and-willing-audience

Mobile Consumer Behavior

There’s a persistent myth that mobile users are always distracted, on the go, “info snacking” in sessions of 10 seconds. That’s certainly part of the mobile experience, but not the whole story. Mobile isn’t just “mobile”. It’s also the couch, the kitchen, the three-hour layover, all places where we have time and attention to spare. 42 percent of mobile users say they use it for entertainment when they’re bored. Those aren’t 10-second sessions. That means we shouldn’t design only for stunted sessions or limited use cases. Josh Clark, “Nielsen Is Wrong on Mobile,” .Net Magazine, April 12, 2012,

www.netmagazine.com/ opinions/nielsen-wrong-mobile.

Are Mobile Users in a Rush? People are turning to their smartphones more

to utilize their downtime than to meet some urgent need and that users are not always in a huge rush when they are using their smartphones. (p.11)

People are willing to and actually do turn to their mobile devices for a longer time than just a few minutes and for tasks that can be complicated. (p.12)

Bohyun Kim, The Library Mobile Experience: Practices and User Expectations, Library Technology Report 49(6), ALA TechSource, 2013.

Categories of Mobile Use

Lookup/Find (urgent info, local): I need an answer to something now -frequently related to my current location in the world.

Explore/Play (bored, local): I have some time to kill and just want a few idle time distractions.

Check In/Status (repeat/micro-tasking): Something important to me keeps changing or updating and I want to stay on top of it.

Edit/Create (urgent change/micro-tasking): I need to get something done now that can’t wait.

Luke Wroblewski, Mobile First (New York: A Book Apart, 2011), p. 50.

Don’t Dumb Things Down on Mobile

There are, of course, differences based on mobile and desktop usage patterns; but the core value of a web service remains the same across both formats and beyond. In fact, you’ll quickly find your customers will expect to do just about everything (within reason) on mobile. Especially those who primarily (or only) use their mobiles to get online. So don’t dumb things down on mobile—focus on what really matters most anywhere people can access your website.

Wroblewski, Mobile First, 22.

The Significance of the Mobile Web

The mobile Web is no longer an inferior or a complementary means of accessing the Web. It is a competitor to the desktop Web and will soon be accessed by more people than the desktop Web. Considering this situation, offering only a basic set of information and features on the mobile Web is no longer a viable strategy. (p.13)

Bohyun Kim, The Library Mobile Experience: Practices and User Expectations, Library Technology Report 49(6), ALA TechSource, 2013.

On Mobile – Libraries and Patrons

Mobile websites are preferred by libraries over native apps for the reasons of cost and development skills required.

But consumers overwhelmingly prefer native apps over mobile websites.

According to the recent survey and interview results from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 63 percent of Americans ages 16 and older would use apps-based access to library materials and programs (35 percent “very likely” and 28 percent “somewhat likely”), and 62 percent would use GPS-navigation apps that help them locate material inside library buildings (34 percent “very likely” and 28 percent “somewhat likely”).– Kathryn Zickuhr, Lee Rainie, and Kristen Purcell, Library Services in the Digital Age (Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, January 22, 2013), 57, http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2013/01/22/library-services.

Apps vs. Mobile Websites

Content in a walled garden Easily discovered by a search engine

Access to the device hardware such as GPS, microphone, camera, file system, etc.

In development:- File system APIs- Device /media APIs- Audio APIs

Easy payment collection Can be cumbersome or not supported

Continual updates / Separate installation

No need for installation or updates

Can function without Internet connection

Requires Internet connection

Faster Slower(Mobile Data Speed is improving)

Libraries’ Mobile Websites

NCsU Libraries’ mobile website MobiLIB in 2007 [Image credit: Markus Wust, “MobiLIB: A Library service for

Generation ‘Mo bile’ at North Carolina state University” (presented at the RUsA MARs Hot Topics Discussion Group at

Ameri- can Library Association An- nual Meeting, Washington, DC, June 23, 2007), www. lib.ncsu.edu/documents/dli/

projects/mobilib/presenta- tion_ALA.ppt]

Images from Aaron Tay’, “What Are Mobile Friendly Library sites offering? A survey, April 24, 2010,

http://musingsaboutlibrarianship.blogspot.com/2010/04/comparison-of-40-mobile-library-sites. html.

Comparison – 2010, 2012, 2013

http://www.csupomona. edu/~library/m/

Support for Research

Comparison – 2007, 2012, 2013

http://m.lib.ncsu.edu

NCSU Mobile Website, Current

Comparison – 2010, 2012, 2013

https://www.lib.umn.edu/mobile

Search Box on the Mobile Homepage

http://sherman.library.nova.edu/m/

Comparison – 2010, 2012, 2013

More Search Boxes

And more

Trends in Libraries’ Mobile Website

More information and resources beyond hours and contact info

Research section Article Search Course Reserves

Catalog Search Box on the mobile website homepage

Mobile-appropriate (for 2013) features Study rooms, computers, account

management

Kent State University Libraries2009 Focus Group

“Participants’ interest in conducting research using their mobile device was certainly a surprise. Our assumption was that basic library information would suffice on a mobile Web site; however, the students who participated in this study wanted to be able to interact with library resources on their mobile devices.”

Jamie Seeholzer and Joseph A. Salem, “Library on the Go: A Focus Group Study of the Mobile Web

and the Academic Library,” College & Research Libraries 72, no. 1 (2011), 17

Students’ Wishlist in 2009 Being able to search the library catalog on the mobile device. Request or place an item on hold from their phone. Customizable options and personalized information from the

library regarding their library account and other services such as: Contacted by text messaging when a requested library item was

available for pickup or when a material was nearing its due date. Text message reminders about upcoming library appointments.

Being able to customize their mobile web experience such as: Being able to pick their favorite databases or choose their own top

ten links to see on a mobile Website A library building guide and an explanation of the call number

system. Text or have a live chat with a librarian about a research

question or how to cite a source.Jamie Seeholzer and Joseph A. Salem, “Library on the Go: A Focus Group Study of the Mobile Web

and the Academic Library,” College & Research Libraries 72, no. 1 (2011), 15-19.

What would be mobile-appropriate in 2016? MIT Libraries’ 2011 Survey

Heather Denny, “survey snapshot: Library Research Using Mobile Devices,” MIT Libraries News,

December 3, 2012, http://libraries.mit.edu/sites/news/survey- snapshot-library/9911

Improve Your Library’s Mobile Website Step-By-Step

Create a Mobile Website Mobilize Your Library Catalog Put the Catalog Search Box on Your

Library’s Mobile Website Homepage Add More Mobile-Friendly Library

Resources and Content Offer Library Account Management

Feature Other experiments

Responsive Web Design (RWD)

What is it? How is it used in libraries? Pros and Cons Resources and Tools

This is Not RWD

RWD in Libraries

RWD in Librarieswww.library.nd.edu

RWD in Libraries

www.saclibrary.org

See more examples in

Eric Rumsey, “Responsive

Design Sites:

Higher Ed, Libraries,

Notables,” Seeing the

Picture (blog), May 3,

2012, http://blog.

lib.uiowa.edu/hardinmd/2

012/05/03/ responsive-

design-sites-higher-ed-

libraries-notables.

Responsive Library Catalog

http://onesearch.library.utoronto.ca/

Definition - RWD

The term, “responsive web design,” has become popular from the article that a web designer and developer Ethan Marcottee wrote in 2010.

The goal of responsive web design is to make a web page look equally well regardless of the screen size of a device.

Ethan Marcotte, “Responsive Web Design,” A List Apart, May 25, 2010, http://alistapart.com/article/responsive-web-design.

What Makes RWD Responsive? A flexible, grid-based layout Flexible images Media queries

Comparison

Common Problem 1

An extremely long page filled with too many navigation items,links, and more links.

Str

eam

lin

e c

on

ten

t

Common problem 2

Responsive sites usually do not give users an option to go back to the look of the full desktop website.

For those who are familiar with the existing library website and know exactly where to go and get the information they want, the automatic change in the website layout on a small-screen device can be disorienting and confusing.

Opt-Out Option

Provide an option for mobile device users to opt out of responsive design by removing or changing the viewport meta tag. A demo page for one of the solutions is found at : http://creativeandcode.com/demos/responsive-view-full-site/.

“Should Users Be Forced into a Responsive Design (without the Ability to Opt Out)?,” Stack Exchange - UX, May 1, 2012, http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/20824/should-users-be-forced-into-a-responsive-design-without-the-ability-to-opt-out .

Chris Coyier, “Opt-Out Responsive Design?,” CSS-Tricks, September 12, 2012, http://css-tricks.com/user-opt-out-responsive-design/ .

Common Problem 3

Brad Frost, “Separate Mobile Website Vs. Responsive Website,” Smashing Magazine, August 22, 2012, http://mobile.smashingmagazine.com/2012/08/22/separate-mobile-responsive-website-presidential-smackdown/.

Make the Site Light and Fast

Example: A typical page on Romney’s mobile website was about 687 KB and loaded in about 8.75 seconds.

By contrast, the size of a typical page on Obama’s responsive website was about 4.2 MB and took whopping 25 seconds to load.

Brad Frost, “Separate Mobile Website Vs. Responsive Website,” Smashing Magazine, August 22, 2012, http://mobile.smashingmagazine.com/2012/08/22/separate-mobile-responsive-website-presidential-smackdown/.

Performance savings in mobile sites

Web performance researcher Guy Podjarny reported that his performance test on 347 responsive websites showed that as many as 86 percent of them had little to no performance savings when loaded in the smallest window compared to the largest one, thereby making the page load painfully slow.

Guy Podjarny, “Performance Implications of Responsive Design – Book Contribution,” Guy’s Pod, July 11, 2012, http://www.guypo.com/mobile/performance-implications-of-responsive-design-book-contribution/.

RWD Resources and Tools WordPress Responsive theme

http://themeid.com/demo/responsive Bootstrap

http://twitter.github.io/bootstrap JQuery Mobile

http://jquerymobile.com The Responsinator

http://responsinator.com

Ethan Marcotte, “Responsive Web Design,” A List Apart, May 25, 2010, http://alistapart.com/article/ responsive-web-design.

Matthew Reidsma, “Responsive Web Design for Libraries: Beyond the Mobile Web,” in Mobile Library Services: Best Practices, ed. Charles Harmon and Mi- chael Messina (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2013), 79–94.

Library’s Presence on Mobile - Make It Stand Out

Mobile e-readers and tablets E-books/audiobooks downloadable to a

mobile device Mobile devices for check-out

(e.g. Flip camera, iPod touch, laptop, etc.) Mobile resources

(Part of your library collection) Mobile services and communication

(e.g. Facebook, SMS reference, etc.) Mobile website

Auto redire

ct

http://libguides.calpoly.edu/mobile/1192

Notify

?

Put Mobile-Friendly Content Forward

Simple to Use & Rich in Content

Promote Mobile in Physical Space

Florida International University Green Library.Images from Bohyun Kim, “Making Library e-Books on the e-Book Reader Visible,” ACRL TechConnect Blog, http://acrl.ala.org/techconnect/?p=498

Talk ‘about,’ not ‘to’ your patrons

Consumers are Device-Agnostic

http://www.mckinsey.com/Insights/Telecommunications/Developing_a_fine-grained_look_at_how_digital_consumers_behave

Ubiquitous Screens

http://trendwatching.com/trends/12trends2012/?screenculture

Library First, Mobile Second

NYPL Photo Booth Project - http://www.nypl.org/blog/2013/08/12/snapshots-nypl

Keep It Simple?

Don’t Dumb Things Down?

OR

Keep It Simple?

Don’t Dumb Things Down?

Simple to Use &

Rich in Content/Features&

Attractive Enough to Appeal to Patrons

Questions?

Image from Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/37307410@N02/7305895166/