Library in their PocketUsing Technology to Meet Patrons Halfway

Presented by:Sarah Glassmeyer, JD MLSDirector of Content Development

Center for Computer Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI)sarah@cali.org

Agenda

• What is mobile tech?– Considerations

• WordPress Basics– Plugins/Widgets– Themes

• QR Codes• eBooks, eReaders, ePatrons?

Notes

• Not a CALI sales pitch• Arthur C. Clarke magic• Glassmeyer Theory of Library Tech– Cheap– Easy– Patrons will actually use it• Stuff they’re already using• Stuff they *should* be using

Mobile Tech

The Stats Slide

• One mobile device for ever person on earth by 2015

• More people use phones to go online than PCs by 2013

• 71% expect mobile site to work as fast as desktop

• 23% of adults have cursed at their phone when the mobile site doesn’t work

Source: http://www.howtogomo.com

Mobile Considerations

• Size• Operating system– Be system agnostic– Flash

• Play to their strengths– Cameras– Pre-made apps– Ubiquitous-ness– Easy

To App or Not to App?

• Short answer: Nope.• The case against apps:– Lots of development time/money– Extra step to access– Not system agnostic – Rarely an advantage use wise–Maintenance of changes

App Alternatives

• Mobile friendly sites• QR Codes• eBooks

Mobile Friendly sites

• Keep it quick• Simple navigation• Thumb friendly• Visibility• Mobile redirect (if possible – link

okay)• Not sure?

http://www.howtogomo.com/

Mobile Test Example

Mobile Test, 2

Mobile Test, 3

Q. What if your site is NOT mobile friendly?

A. Make one.

Wordpress

• Blogging platform• Hosted or Self

hosted–Wordpress.com–Wordpress.org –MU (your institution

or CALI classcaster

• Open Source• Plugins

Plugins/Widgets

• ~19,000 Plugins• http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/

• Uses– Add functionality with press of button– change look– change entire site

(Themes also do some of the above but are more appearance based.)

Wordpress Uses

• Library Website• Research Guide(LibGuides)• Course webpage (TWEN/Blackboard)• Other type of website• Blog• Podcast Host

All of these will be mobile friendly!

Wordpress in Action!

Wordpress, 2

Wordpress Basic Start

Dashboard

Themes

Plugins

Only for self-hosted or Wordpress MU wordpress sites. Otherwise use widgets.

Widgets

Functionality as well as page layout

Adding Content

Ta-da!

Make it Mobile!

Mobile Site

PART THREE

Q. We know what mobile means and how to make a mobile friendly website. How

do we get it from the web onto their device?

A. QR Codes

QR Codes

• Quick Response Code• Free to make, Free to decipher• Bar code on steroids– URL– App in app store– Contact information– Phone number

QR Codes, 2

1. What do you want QR code to point to?

2. Create QR Code3. Release into wild4. Patrons scan them

Creating QR Codes

Creating QR Codes, 2

Suggested Uses

Put on book dummy and link to electronic version

Research guides

Library Tours

Business cards, office doors, library doors

Suggested Uses, 2

Patron Surveys

PART FOUR

eBooks, eReaders, e-cetera

eBooks

• Why eBooks?– Easier to read on mobile than PDF or

Word

• What are eBooks?– 2 Standards – ePub and .mobi(Kindle)–Mini-website

• What about iBooks?– Forget it. Just another app.

How to Make eBooks

• Full instruction (with pictures!) on my website: http://sarahglassmeyer.com/?p=951 (Making eBooks for Fun and No Profit)– Free software

• Open Office Writer to ePub extension http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/en/project/Writer2ePub

• Calibre http://calibre-ebook.com/• SIGIL http://code.google.com/p/sigil/

– Word -> Open Office Doc -> Save as ePub ->Edit in SIGIL ->transform to .mobi in Calibre

• Alternatively, wordpress plugins http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tags/epub

Suggested Uses

• Anything you put on website in word or PDF

• Anything in the public domain – Statutory supplements

• Law reviews/in House publication

Thank you!

Questions?

Image Credits• http://www.flickr.com/photos/williamhook/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/3gstore/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/adrianblack/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/edans/ • http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshb/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/azmichelle/ • http://www.flickr.com/photos/frostwire/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/clonedmilkmen/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/dyanna/ • http://www.flickr.com/photos/foobarbaz/