1. Library in Your Pocket Strategies and Techniques for Developing Successful Mobile Services
NCSU Libraries
David Woodbury, NCSU Libraries Fellow
Jason Casden, Digital Technologies Development Librarian

2. About NC State University
Largest higher education institution in the state
31,000 students
8,000 faculty members
Large focus on science, technology, engineering & mathematics
History of innovation & collaboration
Centennial campus as research hub
Many public and private partnerships

3. Our motivation

4. NCSU Mobile Web (Campus Site)

5. NCSU Libraries Mobile Team
Jason Casden, Digital Technologies Development Librarian
Developer
David Woodbury, NCSU Libraries Fellow
Project manager
Markus Wust, Digital Collections and Preservation Librarian
Developer & co-creator of MobiLIB

6. Project timeline Campus site launch (September 3, 2009)
Planning & wireframes (September)
Programming (early October)
Beta launch (late October)
Formal launch & promotion (November)
Main website redirect (December)
Over 22,000 pages viewed (January 2010)

7. Our mobile services http://m.lib.ncsu.edu Locations & Hours
Computer Availability
Catalog Search
Reference Services
News & Events
Webcam Feeds
Link to campus mobile site

8. Locations & Hours

9. Computer Availability

10. Catalog Search

11. Reference Services

12. What to mobilize? What services are currently available?
What services are applicable on a mobile device?
What services translate well to the mobile environment?
What tools can be created easily?
What would be fun to see?

13. Don’t mobilize everything
Nearly 100 links!
Always can link back to home page, if needed

14. “Mobile” is not just shrinking the page

15. Use only essential, relevant content

16. Use only essential, relevant content

17. Reduce options, simplify

18. Use the mobile interface

19. Provide appropriate tools for the user’s context

20. Expose hidden, useful content

21. Mobile Planning Tips Start with the services that make mobile sense
Limit the amount of data entry
Limit the scope of the information
Link back to main site
Promote your site
Talk to students to get reality check

23. When to Make a Native App
Charging for it
Creating a game
Using specific locations*
Using cameras
Using accelerometers
Accessing the filesystems
Offline users
* Actually available to web-based applications

24. The Case for Mobile Web Apps
“I believe that unless your application meets one of these native application criteria, you should not create a native application, but should instead focus on building a mobile web application.”
— Brian Fling, “Mobile Design and Development”

25. Our tools Mobile website MIT Mobile Web Open Source Project
XHTML 1.0 transitional
CSS
non-essential JavaScript and AJAX
MIT Mobile Web Open Source Project
Leaned on pre-existing web services
Targeted higher-end devices

26. Best practices Standards and official guidelines Design Patterns
Useful, but slow-moving
Don’t get stuck
Design Patterns
Still emerging

27. Lots of Devices Top Level iPhones, Android phones, Palm Pre
Large touch screens, sophisticated web capabilities
Middle Level
Blackberry, Nokia smartphones, Windows mobile, etc.
May lack touch screen and some CSS and JavaScript capabilities.
Low Level
Web-enabled flip phones
Small screens, low web functionality

28. Content Adaptation

29. Separating data from presentation

30. Testing
CC BY-SA 2.0:

31. Recommendations

32. Be Agile Rapid Development Cycle Think iteratively
Adjust to change quickly
Avoid paralysis

33. Play

34. Collaborate Campus efforts External projects Steal what you like
Improve it, so it can be stolen back

35. In Summary… Mobile websites are becoming very sophisticated
Mobile web app development is web development
just a little different
You can do it

36. What’s popular at NCSU Libraries

37. What devices are being used?

38. Coming Soon! Study room reservation service
Patron account information (checkouts & renewals)
Access to electronic reserves for classes
Building wayfinding
Tools for staff
Initiative for mobile projects at NCSU Libraries

39. Resources
Ballard, Barbara. (2007). Designing the Mobile User Experience. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Fling, Brian. (2009). Mobile Design and Development: Practical Concepts and Techniques for Creating Mobile Sites and Web Apps. Sebastopol, California: O’Reilly Media.
W3C Mobile Web Best Practices:
W3C CSS Mobile Profile:
Griggs, K., Bridges, L. M., Rempel, H. G. (2009). “library/mobile: Tips on Designing and Developing Mobile Web Sites”, The Code4Lib Journal, Issue 8. Retrieved from:
MIT Mobile Web Open Source Project:
NCSU Libraries Mobile Project Page: