Library in Your Pocket Strategies and Techniques for Developing Successful Mobile Services NCSU Libraries David Woodbury, NCSU Libraries Fellow Jason Casden, Digital Technologies Development Librarian

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

Our motivation

NCSU Mobile Web (Campus Site)

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

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)

Our mobile services http://m.lib.ncsu.edu Locations & Hours Computer Availability Catalog Search Reference Services News & Events Webcam Feeds Link to campus mobile site http://m.lib.ncsu.edu

Locations & Hours

Computer Availability

Catalog Search

Reference Services

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?

Don’t mobilize everything Nearly 100 links! Always can link back to home page, if needed

“Mobile” is not just shrinking the page

Use only essential, relevant content

Use only essential, relevant content

Reduce options, simplify

Use the mobile interface

Provide appropriate tools for the user’s context

Expose hidden, useful content

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

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

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”

Our tools Mobile website MIT Mobile Web Open Source Project 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

Best practices Standards and official guidelines Design Patterns Useful, but slow-moving Don’t get stuck Design Patterns Still emerging

Lots of Devices Top Level iPhones, 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 Level Web-enabled flip phones Small screens, low web functionality

Content Adaptation

Separating data from presentation

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

Recommendations

Be Agile Rapid Development Cycle Think iteratively Adjust to change quickly Avoid paralysis

Play

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

In Summary… Mobile websites are becoming very sophisticated Mobile web app development is web development just a little different You can do it

What’s popular at NCSU Libraries

What devices are being used?

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

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/