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Hi Sarah Good question. What are we doing at the moment, nout. I really like the Libguide pages Newcastle have developed, and Moira just mentioned. They highlight what is out there, alongside other services/facilities related to mobile. I would imagine at some point Some back-of-an-envelope thoughts... I think your typical undergrad will be more interested in an app that searches all content they have access to, not specific collections/resources. Though there may be subject/content-type exceptions. With this in mind, apps associated with Resource Discovery services (Summon, Primo, EDS, Worldcat, etc) could be much more useful. If they are working on an essay, they probably already have a laptop open, and hence this will be their access to online content. Our stats (to our own sites) suggest iPads and iPhones are by far the most popular devices, with Android devices some way behind. I suspect the iPhone (and other phone sized devices) will be adevice of last resort only used for consuming academic content if no other device is to hand. When it comes to Use Cases, I think they separate between tablets and mobiles. People are increasingly doing more and more on tablets (especially the iPad). But what advantages will an App have over a webpage? And if using an App, I wonder if interoperability with other Apps is key, i.e. it's not much use to find a highly relevant article, if you can't save it to your bibliographic library (Zotero, Mendeley, Refworks), or easily cite it within your Word processing app. For mobiles, it seems more limited, I guess someone on a train/coffee shop (with no laptop) planning an essay/research will find it useful to search and read content. Bedtime reading perhaps? I can't help but feel services such as http://www.instapaper.com/ might be more useful here. (allows you to flag an article for reading on your computer, and read it later) However it's no good for publisher/content sites which only provide PDFs (which is another reason why you shouldn't only provide PDF as a format!). Which is a very long way of saying that while we need to keep abreast of mobile developments, and show our users that we are, I'm not convinced of how useful these apps will be for the majority of uses, especially regarding phone sized devices. However for the long tail of different types of user/content/needs they may highly useful. I've got no evidence to hand of the above, so feel free to add [citation needed] liberally throughout. Finally, a reminder that Serials recently had a special issue on Mobile Technology http://uksg.metapress.com/content/u3k72x4ulx70/ Chris Chris Keene Technical Development Manager, University of Sussex Library Contact: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/profiles/150000 > -----Original Message----- > From: An informal open list set up by UKSG - Connecting the Information > Community [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Taylor, > Sarah > Sent: 29 March 2012 11:39 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: [lis-e-resources] Electronic resource apps > > Hi all, > > > > With more electronic resources launching apps, I was just wondering if > any of you are actively promoting/publicising them to your users? If so, > how, and if not, why not? I've got my own thoughts on the matter, but > wondered what others were doing. > > > > Thanks in advance. > > > > Best wishes, > > > > Sarah > > > > > > Sarah Taylor > > Electronic Resources Librarian > > The Peter Marsh Library > > University of Bolton > > Deane Road > > Bolton > > BL3 5AB > > > > 01204 903099 > > [log in to unmask] > > Please note that my normal working days are Mondays, Tuesdays and > Thursdays > > > > > lis-e-resources is a UKSG list - http://www.uksg.org/serials > UKSG groups also available on Facebook and LinkedIn lis-e-resources is a UKSG list - http://www.uksg.org/serials UKSG groups also available on Facebook and LinkedIn