Library Access via Mobile Devices
After my talk, Ball State University Assistant Dean for Library Info Technology Services Bradley Faust passed around a few mobile devices, like a Pocket PC, and talked about Ball State’s decision to offer special Web sites for people using Web browsers on smaller devices.
The library developed a number of special search services geared toward people using mobile devices. There’s a special version of the card catalog and a list of journals. Imagine wandering around the library with a mobile device and being capable of searching the card catalog when the book you want isn’t on the shelf. In a large academic library where the nearest catalog terminal could be a floor away or a ten minute walk, it could be very, well, handy.
Bradley said they don’t actually know how many and what kinds of devices students use–whether it’s cell phones or handheld computers or what.
Remember those days when Web design was geared toward 480X640 monitors? What the PocketPC showed of this weblog is the top left corner: the white space, j’s scratch, and the tagline.
Maybe I need to pass around my Feedster iPod instead of just holding it up …
