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Library in Your PocketStrategies and Techniques for Developing Successful Mobile

Services

David Woodbury, NCSU Libraries FellowJason Casden, Digital Technologies Development

Librarian

NCSU Libraries

About NC State University

• Largest higher education institution in the state– 31,000 students– 8,000 faculty members– Large focus on science, technology, engineering

& mathematics

• History of innovation & collaboration– Centennial campus as research hub– Many public and private partnerships

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Our motivation

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NCSU Mobile Web (Campus Site)

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NCSU Libraries Mobile Team

• Jason Casden, Digital Technologies Development Librarian– Developer

• David Woodbury, NCSU Libraries Fellow– Project manager

• Markus Wust, Digital Collections and Preservation Librarian– Developer & co-creator of MobiLIB

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Project timeline

• Campus site launch (September 3, 2009)• Planning & wireframes (September)• Programming (early October)• Beta launch (late October)• Formal launch & promotion (November)• Main website redirect (December)• Over 22,000 pages viewed (January 2010)

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Our mobile services

• Locations & Hours• Computer Availability• Catalog Search• Reference Services• News & Events• Webcam Feeds• Link to campus mobile site

http://m.lib.ncsu.edu

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Locations & Hours

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Computer Availability

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Catalog Search

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Reference Services

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What to mobilize?

• What services are currently available?• What services are applicable on a mobile

device?• What services translate well to the mobile

environment?• What tools can be created easily?• What would be fun to see?

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Don’t mobilize everything

• Nearly 100 links!• Always can link back to home page, if needed

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“Mobile” is not just shrinking the page

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Use only essential, relevant content

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Use only essential, relevant content

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Reduce options, simplify

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Use the mobile interface

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Provide appropriate tools for the user’s context

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Expose hidden, useful content

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Mobile Planning Tips

• Start with the services that make mobile sense

• Limit the amount of data entry• Limit the scope of the information• Link back to main site• Promote your site• Talk to students to get reality check

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When to Make a Native App

• Charging for it• Creating a game• Using specific

locations*• Using cameras• Using

accelerometers• Accessing the

filesystems• Offline users

* Actually available to web-based applications 23

The Case for Mobile Web Apps

“I believe that unless your application meets one of these native application criteria, you should not create a native application, but should instead focus on building a mobile web application.”

— Brian Fling, “Mobile Design and Development”

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Our tools

• Mobile website– XHTML 1.0 transitional– CSS– non-essential JavaScript and AJAX

• MIT Mobile Web Open Source Project• Leaned on pre-existing web services• Targeted higher-end devices

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Best practices

• Standards and official guidelines– Useful, but slow-moving– Don’t get stuck

• Design Patterns– Still emerging

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Lots of Devices

Top LeveliPhones, Android phones, Palm Pre

Large touch screens, sophisticated web capabilities

Middle Level

Blackberry, Nokia smartphones, Windows mobile, etc.

May lack touch screen and some CSS and JavaScript capabilities.

Low LevelWeb-enabled flip phones

Small screens, low web functionality

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Content Adaptation

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Separating data from presentation

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Testing

CC BY-SA 2.0: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wfryer/3929189482/ 30

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Recommendations

Be Agile

• Rapid Development Cycle• Think iteratively• Adjust to change quickly• Avoid paralysis

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Play

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Collaborate

• Campus efforts• External projects• Steal what you like• Improve it, so it can be stolen back

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In Summary…

• Mobile websites are becoming very sophisticated

• Mobile web app development is web development– just a little different

• You can do it

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What’s popular at NCSU Libraries

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What devices are being used?

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Coming Soon!

• Study room reservation service• Patron account information (checkouts &

renewals)• Access to electronic reserves for classes• Building wayfinding• Tools for staff• Initiative for mobile projects at NCSU

Libraries

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Resources

• Ballard, Barbara. (2007). Designing the Mobile User Experience. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

• Fling, Brian. (2009). Mobile Design and Development: Practical Concepts and Techniques for Creating Mobile Sites and Web Apps. Sebastopol, California: O’Reilly Media.

• W3C Mobile Web Best Practices: http://www.w3.org/TR/mobile-bp/

• W3C CSS Mobile Profile: http://www.w3.org/TR/css-mobile/• Griggs, K., Bridges, L. M., Rempel, H. G. (2009).

“library/mobile: Tips on Designing and Developing Mobile Web Sites”, The Code4Lib Journal, Issue 8. Retrieved from: http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/2055

• MIT Mobile Web Open Source Project: http://sourceforge.net/projects/mitmobileweb/

• NCSU Libraries Mobile Project Page: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/dli/projects/librariesmobile/

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