1. Kathleen Baril, Ohio Northern University
Jennifer Donley, Ohio Northern University
Brent Etzel, Cedarville University
2. Cedarville University
Ohio Northern University
Cedarville:
• 3,386 students.
• College of Arts and Sciences, College of Professions (includes Business and
Engineering), College of Health Professions (includes Pharmacy and Nursing).
• Library app in use beginning March 2011.
Ohio Northern University:
• 3,577 students.
• College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business Administration, Engineering
College, Pharmacy College and Law School (has its own library).
• Library app in use beginning May 2011.
3. • Some 88% of U.S. adults own a cell phone of some kind
as of April 2012, and more than half of these cell owners
(55%) use their phone to go online.
• 17% of cell phone owners do most of their online
browsing on their phone, rather than a computer or
other device.
• Nearly half of all 18-29 year olds (45%) who use the
internet on their cell phones do most of their online
browsing on their mobile device.
Smith, Aaron. “Cell Internet Use 2012.”Pew Internet and American Life
Project. Pew Research Center, 26 Jun 2012. Web. 16 Aug 2012.
5. • “When a library looks at its mobile strategy, it doesn’t take long to
realize that mobile apps are everywhere.” --Rapp, David. (2012, February 7).
Apps: What Do Patrons Want? The Digital Shift, Retrieved from
http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/02/mobile/the-state-of-mobile-in-libraries-2012/
• “Apps get good visibility with consumers because they are
distributed through the phone manufacturer’s app store.” --Hird, Jake.
(2011, July 28). The fight gets technical: mobile apps vs. mobile sites. Econsultancy, Retrieved from
http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/7832-the-fight-gets-technical-mobile-apps-vs-mobile-sites
• Apps are cool. Simply posting a QR code for the app around
the library notifies the students that we have a library product to
offer them.
6. Design the app yourself
vs.
using an outside vendor
• With limited personnel, we felt more
comfortable using a vendor to develop
and maintain our app.
• Time costs money as well, so developing
our own app would have taken time away
from other projects.
• When we looked at existing apps, we saw
that most were developed by Boopsie.
7. • Goal: determine features before app design
• Interface usability survey conducted in December 2010
• 10 students, 2 faculty/staff asked to rank usefulness of
various features:
• Catalog
•Library Information
•My library account
•Ask a Librarian
•Hours
•Other
8. • Respondents asked to rank options (1-6) in order of
what they would most likely use:
• Library catalog (1.58 mean score)
• My library account (2.42)
• Ask A Librarian (3.17)
• Library information (3.50)
• Library hours (3.58)
• “Other” options submitted included:
• Search databases
• Media resources information
• Interlibrary loan request form
9. • Promotions begin in February 2011.
• Banner ad for library website/university website.
• Balloons, table signs, five-foot poster in library.
• Advertisement at university chapels.
• Announcements via e-mail, Facebook, and library e-
newsletter.
• Launch on March 14, 2011.
10.
11. Features:
• Search the Catalog
• My account
• Library information
• Ask a Librarian
• Research Tools
• Facebook
14. • 100-140 Users per month
• 2000-4300 queries per month
• Most popular features: CU catalog, My
Account, Research Tools
• Least popular features: Facebook link, “Ask a
Librarian”
• Usage stats aiding in a revision of the app
15. • An in-house product was considered, but it was decided that
this would be too time intensive to develop and update.
• In 2010, our library looked for developers who were able to
create an app that included library information, hours, the
catalog, and research databases. Boopsie was able to provide
all of these features for us.
• Next, we decided on the specific menu items to include.
• We then supplied the graphics for the icons and the data for
our library.
• Our library also supplied the initial output of the catalog
records.
• Updates are now done through Google Docs and periodic
FTPing of all the records from the library catalog.
16. Icon from the
library’s website
that also appeared
on the school’s
main page. Brochures with
app information
We designed frisbees with the app’s information and a QR Code.
and handed them out at the school’s Welcome Fest.
17. • Solicited participants using the undergraduate
listserv and offered a gift card as incentive.
• Interviewed 10 students ranging from freshman to
seniors, and representing four different colleges.
• Mobile usage and library usage data gathered for
background at the beginning of the interview.
• Students then completed five tasks using the mobile
app on the library’s iPad.
• Afterward, qualitative feedback was gathered from
the students about their experience using the app.
18. Mobile Devices Used
3 3
2
1 1 1 1 1 1
Droid Droid HTC Iphone Ipad Ipod Nook Samsung Sprint
Incredible Rhyme Reality Innuendo
Two (Droid
system)
20. Have you used the library’s mobile app? Did you
know it existed before you saw our email?
21. Five tasks to complete using the app.
• Find the library’s hours.
• Find someone to contact about research help.
• Find a book in the library catalog.
• Find an article on plagiarism using the database
Academic Search Complete
• Find a research guide that would help you if writing
a paper on education.
24. Some confusion
due to the
layout. Everyone
wanted to enter
text where it says
“Enter”, instead
of in the white
box, and this is a
Boopsie layout
feature.
25.
26.
27. Goes to the device’s web browser, EBSCOnet
mobile, and away from the mobile app.
28.
29. Search Check
library hours, 3
catalog/
check
availability
of Check
materials, Library
6 account, 2
Databases/
Periodical
articles, 2
Renew Look up
Research books, 2
paper or contact
information,
report, 1
1
30. Links used most often on library website, based on surveyed student responses.
New acquisitions list
Hours
OhioLINK
Databases
Catalog
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
31. Easy to use and no
major difficulties for first
time users.
Convenient, since you
take your phone with
you everywhere, but not
necessarily your laptop.
Faster to use than
library website because
of simplicity and
directness.
32. Hard to do in-depth research on a small screen.
Back button became Holdings when searching in
the Library Catalog.
Home button unclear for navigation.
