The Education InstituteProviding Mobile Web Library Services

David Woodbury, NCSU Libraries FellowJason Casden, Digital Technologies Development

Librarian

NCSU Libraries

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David Woodbury

Project Planning and Design

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Why invest in mobile development?

5 billion reasons

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“People expect to be able to work, learn, and study whenever and wherever they want to.”

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Our motivation

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About NC State University Libraries• We serve the 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– Endeca discovery layer on our catalog– Early mobile library site (MobiLIB)

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Our mobile services

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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

• Project planning, site wireframes in September (one project manager)

• Development and testing in October (two developers)

• Formal launch & promotion in November

• Main website redirect in December

Three months from planning to launch

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Project timeline

• Enhancements added by other developers

• Bug fixes as needed for new devices

Iterative development since launch

new

newnew

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Our mobile services• Locations & Hours• Computer Availability• Book & Article Search• Room Reservations• GroupFinder message board• Reference Services• News & Events• Webcam Feeds• Link to campus mobile sitehttp://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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Catalog Search

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Reference Services

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GroupFinder (message service)

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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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Limit data to mobile context

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Limit data to mobile context

• For time oriented data, we assume current day & time

• We assume action oriented

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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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Jason Casden

Technical Planning and Implementation

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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 applications32

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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WolfWalk

• Native iPhone App• Geolocated special collections images• Track the user’s current location• Browse historical images of sites on

campus

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Shoutouts

• The project team– Tito Sierra, Jason Casden, Steven Morris,

Markus Wust, Brian Dietz, Todd Kosmerick, Joseph Ryan

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WolfWalk, Two Ways

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Distribution Channels

• Open vs. Controlled– Administrative overhead– Bottlenecks– Technical restrictions

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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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No developers?

• Tools that require only HTML knowledge– WordPress, iWebKit, iUI, jQTouch, Dashcode…– Good for static content– May lack good multi-tiered device support

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No developers?

• Vendors– Boopsie, Terribly Clever…– Can manage mobile development process for

you– You may lack control over the final product– May be expensive– Doesn’t develop internal expertise

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Data Reuse

• CatalogWS• Library Hours• Study Room Reservations• GroupFinder

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Best practices

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

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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/ 48

Recommendations

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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

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David Woodbury

Assessment

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Assessing the site

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Pageviews by service

What’s popular at NCSU Libraries

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Views by device

What’s popular at NCSU Libraries

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Further assessment

• Assess actual student needs– Survey students– Study behaviors

• Invest in services that can be used in a variety of contexts

• Get input from across library staff

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Coming Soon!

• Patron account information (checkouts & renewals)

• Access to electronic reserves for classes• Building wayfinding• Tools for staff

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Questions?

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