Yesterday, I was one of the many attendees at the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals Becoming Upwardly Mobile briefing day in London. Clearly the topic is a very hot one amongst Libraries of all levels but the clear message was not to merely jump on the bandwagon, but instead to integrate mobile into existing strategies and approaches. I was responsible for co-ordinating the Library’s current Strategy for the Web [pdf] and delivery to mobile devices was one of the areas that was clearly cresting the horizon even then (our level of mobile uses was doubling month on month, although the numbers remained low).
One of the more difficult points of discussion was trying to define ‘mobile’ – in a world where betting on a particular technology or hardware device is risky at best. Rather than thinking of a particular type of device or form-factor most felt that its more the principle of delivery “at the point of need” – whether that be in the Reading Room, in a train carriage or on the street.
In many senses the “mobile question” is more difficult for National Libraries than for
other types of libraries. We’re ‘closed stacks’ so you can’t walk around our shelves
(unless, of course, you’re on one of our twice-weekly organised tours) – which means
that those cool new ‘locate this book’ functions aren’t relevant. Similarly, we have a wide-ranging user community (our charter; defines our role as “To collect, preserve and give access to all kinds and forms of recorded knowledge, especially relating to Wales and the Welsh and other Celtic peoples, for the benefit of the public, including those engaged in research and learning.”) so we can’t easily tap in to focus on a technology linked to a particular group who we can watch and adapt to (as academic libraries can, for example).
A couple of really exciting areas of opportunity for us are geo-focused content (some of the Library’s collections are available with geo-referencing on the People’s Collection Wales website) and micro-contentent (deliving small and focused content to users on the go). And all these areas come together in a really interesting way through Augmented Reality applications which overlay the real world with electronic ‘added value’ – combine this technology with image recognition and we’re very quickly in a world where an exhibtion of paintings becomes digitally enhanced with overlaid background information about the creator, subject and period or a book or manuscript can be surrounded by related content and online discussion comments.
The question of mobile web vs mobile ‘apps’ also came up in the discussion – personally I
tend towards being ‘platform agnostic’, wanting everone to be able to use our content
regardless of whether they buy from Apple, Nokia or any other hardware producer, and the
discussions certainly headed in that direction too. Apps are great when you’re using the
specific hardware (with games, for example) but the Mobile web is there or nearly-there in
delivering non-hardware reliant services (compare the BBC News Mobile site to the BBC
News App).
However apps have other benefits, not the least of which is the fact that they sit on the user’s device – taking up important real estate on the screen and prompting you to make use of them. Apps are also starting to redefine all kinds of other formats – take a look at the myFry app if you want a good look at how the book can be deconstructured and reconfigured.
The opportunities are out there, and we have ideas of our own, but the question is really “What would users like to do with the NLW when ‘mobile’?” (answers on a postcard or in the comments below!).