mobile technology Archives | Page 2 of 2 | American Libraries Magazine

2015: Year in Review

By the editors of American Libraries | January 4, 2016

Librarian of Congress Moves On James H. Billington (left) retired as Librarian of Congress after 28 years. During his tenure, LC launched the National Digital Library and National Book Festival, among other accomplishments. Billington’s decision came after the Government Accountability Office issued a report identifying weaknesses in LC’s information technology planning. … Continue reading 2015: Year in Review →

The New Digital Divide

By Meredith Farkas | January 4, 2016

But ask someone to fill out a form, search a library database, or edit a term paper, and it quickly becomes clear that a phone is not a perfect replacement for all of a computer’s functions. According to a recent Pew Research Center study of smartphone use, for approximately one in five Americans, their mobile … Continue reading The New Digital Divide →

Mobile Beacon, which provides mobile Wi-Fi devices (pictured above) and grants to libraries and other organizations for Wi-Fi lending programs, is one of the nonprofits that has filed a lawsuit against Sprint over a contract dispute. Photo: Mobile Beacon

Temporary Injunction Keeps Affordable Internet Access at Libraries

By Timothy Inklebarger | November 5, 2015

Updated Nov. 6, 2015 with Sprint’s statement. Mobile Citizen and Mobile Beacon, which provide unlimited broadband access for $10 per month to 61 libraries, 429 schools, and 1,820 nonprofits, requested the emergency relief order after negotiations stalled between Sprint and the nonprofits in October over the terms of the transfer to the new network. Sprint … Continue reading Temporary Injunction Keeps Affordable Internet Access at Libraries →

Rebecca K. Miller, Heather Moorefield-Lang, and Carolyn Meier

Embracing the Future

Char Booth’s 2009 report, Informing Innovation: Tracking Student Interest in Emerging Library Technologies at Ohio University, cautions against experimenting with too many programs at once. She argues that decisions should be grounded in insight into local library, information, and technology cultures—a policy that we call “intentional integration.” A 2014 Pew Research survey indicates that 64% … Continue reading Embracing the Future →

Wild Colorado Wildlife Discovery App

By Joseph Sanchez | October 30, 2015

American Libraries invited Joseph Sanchez of Mesa County (Colo.) Libraries to talk about a project he has been working on: a wildlife app managed by the library. Like fly-fishing? See photos of fish, flies, books, river locations, upcoming seminars, as well as other content in the app, all eventually to be cross-referenced in the library’s … Continue reading Wild Colorado Wildlife Discovery App →

New mobile hotspot users attend a launch event at New York Public Library’s Mott Haven branch.

Bridging the Tech Gap

By Timothy Inklebarger | September 11, 2015

For years, libraries have helped bridge the digital divide by offering internet access at brick-and-mortar branches. Many are expanding this mission by offering patrons mobile Wi-Fi hotspots for checkout. New York City launched a program this year that provides 10,000 mobile hotspots to patrons across three library systems, and in 2014, Chicago Public Library rolled … Continue reading Bridging the Tech Gap →

SirsiDynix booth at ALA 2015 Annual Conference and Exhibition

A Look at Tech

By Marshall Breeding | July 23, 2015

One current trend in library technology aims to improve the engagement of patrons with libraries or to provide tools to help users work more effectively. In many respects, the technologies on display reinforced the theme of the “Library Systems Report 2015,” operationalizing the innovations brewing in recent years, including the increased adoption of Semantic Web technologies … Continue reading A Look at Tech →

Left to Our Devices

An excerpt from American Libraries Live | July 22, 2014

Moorefield-Lang, a former school librarian who is now education and applied social sciences librarian at Virginia Tech, was joined by Katherine Messier, managing director at Johnston, Rhode Island–based Mobile Beacon, a nonprofit that provides broadband service to libraries and other nonprofits; Bohyun Kim, digital access librarian at Florida International University Medical Library in Miami; and … Continue reading Left to Our Devices →

Continuous Learning

By Karen Muller | November 26, 2013

Funds shift, coworkers leave, a new director arrives. Such unexpected job changes may require you to learn a new skill—fast. In my experience, I feel as though I can learn nearly anything from books. Even if I need to take a class, watch a webinar, or participate in a hands-on demonstration, reading about a topic … Continue reading Continuous Learning →

Don’t Dumb Down

By Bohyun Kim | September 24, 2013

People’s behavior on smartphones, however, increasingly challenged this assumption. Web designer and developer Luke Wroblewski classified mobile usage into the following four interaction types on page 50 of his book Mobile First (A Book Apart, 2011): Lookup/Find (urgent info, local): I need an answer to something now (frequently related to my current location in the … Continue reading Don’t Dumb Down →

40 Great Apps for Mobile Reference and Outreach

By Sanhita SinhaRoy | July 1, 2013

More than 200 conference-goers packed the small room booked for the session, with many peering through the doorway and sitting on the floor. During their presentation, branch manager Richard Le and adult services librarian Mel Gooch, both from San Francisco Public Library, shared what they have found to be dozens of apps that provide innovative … Continue reading 40 Great Apps for Mobile Reference and Outreach →

Latest Library Links

1d

Genevieve Trainor writes: “The Guinness World Record holder for Most Prolific Book Thief is Ottumwa (Iowa’s) Stephen Blumberg. The 23,600 volumes he accumulated between the 1970s and his arrest in March of 1990 were all stashed in his 17-room home. Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, got involved with Blumberg as part of the FBI’s efforts to return the stolen manuscripts and rare books to their museums and libraries. Referred to as the Omaha Project, the information science proving ground involved four weeks, 44 catalogers and reference librarians and 600 volunteer hours to determine who might be the rightful owners.”

Little Village (Dubuque, Iowa), Dec. 4
1d

Casey Newton writes: “At the moment, no one knows for sure whether the large language models that are now under development will achieve superintelligence and transform the world. And in that uncertainty, two primary camps of criticism have emerged. The first camp, which I associate with the external critics, holds that artificial intelligence (AI) is fake and sucks. The second camp, which I associate more with the internal critics, believes that AI is real and dangerous. Today I want to lay out why I believe AI is real and dangerous.”

Platformer, Dec. 5
2d

Latia Ward writes: “One way to keep current with what students think of the library and its services is through Student Library Advisory Committee meetings. These meetings are a way to gather feedback and reinforce the library as a welcoming place. How do librarians create a welcoming environment within Student Library Advisory Committee meetings? Librarians create a welcoming environment through community, purpose, and dedicated space.” Also see part 1 of this blog post.

RIPS Law Librarian Blog, Nov. 13, Dec. 5
2d

Eleanor Hecks writes: “Few things are as frustrating to a user as when a site won’t respond. Unfortunately, it’s also an all-too-common scenario. Graceful degradation is a design approach that ensures the basics of a website will still function even if specific individual parts of it stop working. The approach removes single points of failure: just because one thing stops working doesn’t mean the system as a whole fails. A site following this principle fails in pieces instead of all at once, so the most important features remain available when some components encounter an error.”

Smashing Magazine, Dec. 6
3d

Camruinn Morgan-Rumsey and Lexi Lepof write: “On December 3, Knox County (Tenn.) schools received a list from the district of books to be removed from school libraries under Tennessee’s Age-Appropriate Materials Act. Knox County’s board of education voted in July, passing a policy to remove ‘explicit’ books from everyday student access in response to the new law. Some of the books on the list of nearly 50 titles might surprise parents. Among those to be removed are Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five.”

WVLT-TV (Knoxville, Tenn.), Dec. 4
3d

Joe Foley writes: “Copyright rules vary from country to country and have changed over time. In the US, works created between 1929 and 1963 that gave notice and renewed copyright have 95 years from their first publication date. That means that on January 1, 2025, a host of works from 1929 will enter the public domain. This means that copyright will expire on Buck Rogers, Captain Easy, Horace Horsecollar, Tintin, Hal Foster’s first Tarzan comic strips and, yes, Popeye.” Other notable works entering public domain in the United States include the Marx Brothers’ first film, The Cocoanuts, contralto Marian Anderson’s first record, and Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms.

Creative Bloq, Dec. 7; Everybody’s Libraries, Dec. 3, Dec. 7; Public Domain Review, Dec. 10
4d

Brittany Adams writes: “The digital landscape of libraries is expanding rapidly, with an increasing shift towards electronic resources and online services. As members of the library community, we’re witnessing a transformative era where physical collections are complemented—and sometimes replaced—by digital ones. This transition offers new opportunities for enhancing accessibility and engagement, but it also presents challenges, especially for young patrons and their families. It is essential to equip children and their caregivers with the tools and knowledge they need to navigate this evolving space confidently.”

ALSC Blog, Dec. 9

View more Latest Library Links