Abstract

Library users now expect to be able to access academic content at any time from any location—not just in the library on a computer, but on their mobile phones, tablets, e‐readers, and other mobile devices. Taylor & Francis surveyed 139 individuals to discover how use mobiles are used in a library setting, how publishers can help with content discovery in the library and which mobile functionalities are considered important.Taylor & Francis found that 78% of respondents rated mobile integration to find resources as important.

Publishing has changed dramatically over the last decade, making the shift from print to electronic. From online publishing, publishers moved to the need for digitizing archival content and finally to the phenomena of open content, enhancing discoverability of our platforms, making content accessible via mobile, and the use of social media to promote content, all of which suddenly became top priority for both publishers and librarians.

The following case study from Temple University explores the end‐user approach to what professors and researchers need and want from the library. Laura Katz Rizzo, Director of the Dance BFA Program in the Esther Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University, has noticed a significant increase in student use of digital and mobile documents and applications in accessing material from the library and other research databases for both scholarly and research work in class and in performance.

Various strategies in use by publishers include creating a contained application native to a specific operating system (native app), developing an alternate web site that automatically launches when any mobile device is detected (mobile site), and developing journal web sites that resize when a mobile device is detected (responsive design). To determine the prevalence and functionality of these various strategies, top Library and Information Science journals were examined. It was discovered that responsive web design is the most popular strategy. Advantages and disadvantages of each strategy is described, and each strategy’s impact on the user experience is explored.

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Mobile Access—What the Library Wants: Mobiles as Discovery Enhancers

Library users now expect to be able to access academic content at any time from any location—not just in the library on a computer, but on their mobile phones, tablets, e‐readers, and other mobile devices. Taylor & Francis surveyed 139 individuals to discover how use mobiles are used in a library setting, how publishers can help with content discovery in the library and which mobile functionalities are considered important.Taylor & Francis found that 78% of respondents rated mobile integration to find resources as important.

Publishing has changed dramatically over the last decade, making the shift from print to electronic. From online publishing, publishers moved to the need for digitizing archival content and finally to the phenomena of open content, enhancing discoverability of our platforms, making content accessible via mobile, and the use of social media to promote content, all of which suddenly became top priority for both publishers and librarians.

The following case study from Temple University explores the end‐user approach to what professors and researchers need and want from the library. Laura Katz Rizzo, Director of the Dance BFA Program in the Esther Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University, has noticed a significant increase in student use of digital and mobile documents and applications in accessing material from the library and other research databases for both scholarly and research work in class and in performance.

Various strategies in use by publishers include creating a contained application native to a specific operating system (native app), developing an alternate web site that automatically launches when any mobile device is detected (mobile site), and developing journal web sites that resize when a mobile device is detected (responsive design). To determine the prevalence and functionality of these various strategies, top Library and Information Science journals were examined. It was discovered that responsive web design is the most popular strategy. Advantages and disadvantages of each strategy is described, and each strategy’s impact on the user experience is explored.