Mobile Technology and Libraries
Candace Moorer · Journal of the Medical Library Association JMLA · 2011
Today's students and professionals live in a 24/7/365 digital world. They conduct their lives in an integrated, mobile, just-in-time, and point-of-need fashion. School, work, and home lives are no longer distinct and segregated facets of daily living. Libraries around the country are responding to the call for accessing information on mobile technology. The second volume in “The Tech Set” series arrives at a time when libraries are optimizing their websites and services to be displayed on smaller devices. This is a how-to book for all librarians just setting out on the mobile access adventure or for those trying to improve an established mobile technology. The chapters cover mobile technology basics, planning, implementation, marketing, best practices, and measures of success. Each chapter provides a simple overview with ways to implement staff buy-in, use mobile cascading style sheets (CSS) code, track services, and plan for the future. In the chapter on planning and implementation, the author suggests that readers use the “Five Stages of Grief” as a change model for staff buy-in. This may seem to be an unusual thing for the author to suggest, but the stages blended with explanations, questions, and examples work to help readers achieve their potential goals. The author also includes a chapter about quick response (QR) codes. QR code is another kind of barcode that is gaining popularity in the library world and social media culture. The author explains QR code and gives the reader insight on how it works and its potential use in libraries. The second volume in the “Tech Set” will interest all librarians, regardless of their technical skill levels. It could easily be used as a supplemental text in teaching library website creation, content management, and Web 2.0 technologies.