Transformation Day 2

Martin White Managing Director from Intranet Focus Ltd was one of the keynote speakers who spoke about what it takes to succeed in a mobile services delivery.  Martin suggested that responsive web design for mobile devices is not about adapting information to fit onto a screen but more about understanding on how it is that people will use the information.   

Shapers of the mobile industry are driven by Microsoft, Apple and Amazon and Martin feels that libraries in particular need to keep an eye on what these companies are coming up with.   We need to plan for a multi device environment that users can move between seamlessly and we should develop significant understanding of mobile user requirements.  

Personalisation of mobile library services was a reoccurring theme throughout the sessions today.  Char Booth Instruction Services Manager and E-Learning Librarian, Claremont Colleges runs a library cart service on their campus.  Librarians will take their specific built cart and a mobile device outside the library to mingle and assist students with library related questions.   The term mobile libraries takes on a whole new meaning doesn't it?  Loaded with chocolates and healthy dose of enthusiasm, the staff have found it to be a "most excellent" way to find out more about their academic community whist demonstrating mobile library services.

In an attempt to bridge the physical virtual divide, Bournemouth University are using QR codes within parts of the collection that are heavily used as a way to lead students away from the printed collection to ebook collection.  They have even managed to include the QR codes on course outlines and recommended reading lists.

Implementation

Two stand outs from the conference today with varying degrees of relevance to Griffith.  The first one from Leeds University, Mobile library support and the use of tablet PC's at Leeds University Library was the web 2.0 version of our roving service.  Several things of note are:

• combined reference, lending desk and review of service led to the mobile service
• Redesigned and optimized the library web page for the mobile service
• Use of tablet devices to deliver the service
• searches on the library catalogue can be performed by text, voice and barcode reader (QR code?)
• students can text, tweet or use strategically placed QR codes to request support from anywhere in the library & staff go to them.

The other session was from a public library (the only one at the conference) in Edinburgh.  This library has embraced social media of all kinds to involve and invite the community into the library spaces, both physical and virtual - Libraries surviving and thriving in the multi-device, multi connection world

• catalyst for change - apps, ebooks, portals, mobile, customer expectation, digital inclusion, public sector shift
• library app - similar to ours in that it has access to account information, catalogue, events, map, news and twitter (all social) media feeds - but also...
• Patrons can scan the barcode of any book in a shop from the mobile app, to see if the library has the book to borrow rather than buy the book! (not sure what the booksellers make of that!)
• presence in all social media - available from app

This I love - Use of a google map overlaid with book-covers to reveal the geographic location of author - obviously not down to street view! Simple but interesting use of AR.  The library has seen a
9.5% increase in visits in 12 months and virtual library visits and transactions have had a 251% increase.  Final note...its all about content

Final plenary speaker Thomas Cochrane from AUT
Thom used a QR code to activate his wiki by using SIRI voice activation! A fantastic interactive start to a very informative session. We also polled about what mobile device we had, we had two people in the audience show us their favorite apps which was projected onto the screen and we had a demo of several apps with a use case example for each of them. The  theme  ubiquitous disruptive technology, about the learner not the technology and learner generated content and context resonated.   Thom was inspiring in his use of technology as a teaching tool.  Very interactive presentation - certainly practices what he is preaching. By far the most interesting presentation of the conference in my view!
Notes on this presentation can be found on his blog entry http://thomcochrane.wikispaces.com/

Transformation theme

There is some amazing talk going on about libraries and their use of mobile technologies.   We've heard about some fantastic ways libraries are utilising QR codes and augmented reality.  Brilliant stuff!    Perhaps we could apply augmented reality applications and QR codes to our collections? More on QR codes to come.

A cost effective content alert system delivered via SMS for library services is currently being trialled at Bundelkhand University Library.  Students/staff receive an SMS to their phones notifying them that holds are waiting, that books are about due or a reminder about the work shop their enrolled in.  How cool is that!

Roving service is also discussed along with ideas about how to expand the service.  For example Kingston University have developed and installed an application that allows rovers to connect remotely to desktop from their iPads providing them further capability to complete transactions typically performed at the desk i.e. change passwords and log jobs directly their service tool.      

University of Glasgow library has really embraced mobile technologies.  They have developed a mobile policy plan which contain 10 different strands and have had a working party concentrating on each strand.  Their objective is to work on designing sustainable,  library services that can used via mobile technologies.  

There is so much going on at the conference and we're looking forward to bringing all these bringing back to GU for consideration.

Inspiration sessions

Interesting session from NZ about using NFC (Near Field Communication) in smart phones to replace student ID cards - eventually, though this project is far from completion. Students are able to check out library books, pay fines or fees and everything else.  Would love to see this at Griffith.

Also of interest was an app that used old London survey maps overlayed with Google street maps as a teaching tool for a geography course. Using gps on a smart phone, students could bring up the map to compare new with old, tweet about it, annotate it and read old police file notes on what happened in this area hundreds of years ago...fascinating! Thinking of ways this can be utilised at Griffith...

On the downside developing three versions of a homepage for different devices seems like nonsense to me. One for smart phones, one for older style phones and one for mid range phones like Blackberry's! Didn't quite believe that one.  Our developers would never do something like that when you can create code that optimises the screen to suit any device.

More later....

Day 1

Off to a flying start...

5 Keynote speakers from a variety of different places; UNESCO, New York Law Institute, UK Dept. of Health and Microsoft. The theme of the conference is mobile technologies transforming lives and libraries.  This was immediately apparent with Steve Vosloo from UNESCO, who spoke about the BBC Janala project in English Language Skills.  This project utilises mobile technology i.e. Kindle and smart phones to reach and teach Bangladeshi's via the technology (wifi) that is the cheapest option available. Implications for libraries to consider, think mobile, think smart phone, anywhere anytime access.

Parallel sessions were also themed around Inspiration, Imagination, Transformation, Exploration and Collaboration...no more 'tions' were available :)

Unfortuately we couldn't attend all the streams but we split up so that we could get different perspectives.  Toohey attended the Transformation stream (no noticeable difference in her appearance so ...) and Hickson attended the Inspiration theme (and just quietly she is feeling the pressure to inspire...).

Off to the grandly named Gala Dinner...bit of an overstatement one might think but we have been assured we don't need ball gowns...lucky that huh?

Will blog tomorrow.  Tweeting was a bit hap hazard as neither of us are twits (you know who this came from don't you...)

Toohey and Hickson

Well, we have arrived at our hotel for the conference.  Seemed an age since setting up the blog to actually being here and posting our first London post.

For two car reliant Australians we had quite the little adventure catching two trains to get here - one on the London underground and one on the district line. Not something we usually do on the Gold Coast.

The weather has not been kind to us the last two days, so its been brolly and coat weather and wet shoes all round!  Hasn't dampened the enthusiasm though!

Haven't had time to explore the surroundings yet and will soon be heading off to the welcome reception before the conference starts properly tomorrow.

Cheers for now, ta very much!

Sue & Julie

Welcome peeps!

Our amazing adventures to ye olde London Town will be commencing on the 24th September 2012.

We will be attending the 4th annual m-Libraries conference - this year in Milton Keynes.

The main theme for the conference this year is "From margin to mainstream: mobile technologies transforming lives and libraries"

Mobile technology has transformed so many aspects of our lives: how we work, how we communicate, how we study and how we play. Since the first successful M-libraries conference in 2007, libraries around the world have made huge advances in harnessing the technology to improve and enhance their services.  The Fourth conference will bring together researchers, technical developers, managers and library practitioners to review achievements to date and consider the creative challenges and opportunities ahead. http://www.m-libraries.org/

Looking forward to blogging our adventures and sharing our new found knowledge with you all.

Updates also from sue_hickson@twitter and julietoohey@twitter