Building Mobile Library Applications (The Tech Set No. 12)

Joanne Dillon (Te Takere, Levin, New Zealand)

Library Review

ISSN: 0024-2535

Article publication date: 5 July 2013

260

Keywords

Citation

Dillon, J. (2013), "Building Mobile Library Applications (The Tech Set No. 12)", Library Review, Vol. 62 No. 4/5, pp. 345-346. https://doi.org/10.1108/LR-03-2013-0035

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


A mere 10 years ago when libraries were developing web sites, their main concern was to ensure the site could be seen on all Web browsers, of which there were only a handful. The content we put online now needs to be able to reach our users on devices that can fit in their pocket, on large television screens, and everything in between. This means developing web sites that are responsive and developing applications that can work independently of a web browser. An app is an application that is designed to work on a mobile device like a mobile phone or tablet. It is often designed with limited functionality such as a calculator, a stopwatch, or a game. Within libraries, apps allow you to search the catalogue, place holds, check opening hours and find out what events are taking place, to name a few. These apps are written for a specific platform, such as iOs for Apple devices, Android, Blackberry or Windows Mobile for other mobile phones and tablets.

The author of this book, Jason A. Clark, is the Head of Digital Access and Web Services at Montana State University Libraries. He builds digital library apps and regularly writes and speaks on the topic of mobile applications for libraries.

Like other books in The Tech Set series, Building Mobile Library Applications is aimed at both the beginner as well as the expert. It guides you through the planning, developing and launching of mobile library applications:

[…] how to develop an iPhone or Android application for your library, how to mobilize your library's catalogue, and how to create a mobile web site which can be viewed on smartphones.

My library's web site is already mobile‐friendly but I was keen to learn how to create a mobile version of our library catalogue. What better way to test the effectiveness of the book than to have a go at building my own app?

Requirements for this app included PHP and Javascript, HTML and CSS. However, there was one more requirement: the app is built using a WorldCat API and is based on your library's WorldCat holdings. My library is not an OCLC member so the API was not going to be able to query my library's holdings. That was disappointing but hardly a failing of the book. Having hit a stumbling block with my mobilized library catalogue I returned to the section on building an Android app. The web site address provided for App Inventor did not work but I was able to locate it easily enough with a search engine. I had a few other difficulties developing my app, mostly to do with the changes to the App Inventor web site since the book was published, but I ended up with a working app within the Android phone emulator on my computer screen. The instructions are comprehensive without being too technical, and all of the source code is available at the ALA Techsource companion web site.

Building Mobile Library Applications has a lot to offer library professionals. It will help those who are unfamiliar with mobile development, and enable them to provide new services for their library's clients. Those with some web programming experience will be keen to try some of the exercises in Chapter 5 but even those who do not want to create their own apps will be able to learn more about the state of play with mobile apps for libraries.

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