I think the point about typical undergraduates wanting to be able to
search across-content is a very good one, and not one I had thought of
(not having any such product here... sigh...). And I still can't
appreciate how an app is going to be much better than a site that simply
works well on a mobile device, although I fully concede that might just
be me being old!

I'm very wary of the support issue too. It's a bit like us only really
providing support for IE and suddenly having to be very good with Chrome
etc., if that makes sense.

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


-----Original Message-----
From: An informal open list set up by UKSG - Connecting the Information
Community [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Chris
Keene
Sent: 29 March 2012 13:39
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [lis-e-resources] Electronic resource apps

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

lis-e-resources is a UKSG list - http://www.uksg.org/serials
UKSG groups also available on Facebook and LinkedIn