Could 2013 be the Year of Responsive Design?

Rather than tailoring disconnected designs each tailored to a particular device or browser, we should treat them as facets of the same experience. In other words we can craft sites that are not only more flexible, but that can adapt to the media that renders them.

Ethan Marcotte, Responsive Web Design, 2011 

2012 was perhaps the year of the M-word (that's MOOC, in case you missed it) and open access, both of which captured the mainstream's attention for various reasons. This year it may be the turn of Responsive Design (or "I'm not saying native apps are dead but....").

I blogged about this idea some time ago, and I still hold a similar view. I think HTML5-based web apps will continue to grow at the expense of native mobile apps, as content providers realise that responsive design can often offer a far more elegant solution. Digital publishers must now now only consider downscaling desktop design for smartphones and tablets, but also upscaling it for TV. As HTML5 is accessible through any browser it means anyone can access it; with a native app you need an iOS version, an Android version, a Windows version (well, possibly :)).

Many people don't just use mobile devices to access content on the go, but more generally also. From a content provision perspective (particularly for publishers of journals, newspapers etc.) responsive design can work really well (The Boston Globe is one example, though they also have a mobile app alongside it, so make of that what you will!). In the context of library websites, evidence suggests a lot of people still view static information like opening hours and contact details from their phones. You don't need an app for that; good responsive design makes much more sense. However, the growing use of mobile devices does provide an opportunity to rethink your overall content strategy in general. Content providers normally pare down and streamline their information delivery significantly for mobiles, but if it's not important enough for the mobile environment, is it really valuable content at all? Delivering a more targeted and less cluttered content approach across all devices may well be a more successful way of reaching your users.

That said, there are obviously contexts where apps can add real value compared with simply viewing information in a browser. Content aimed at creating rich interactive experiences for users or apps that utilise functionality specific to certain devices (for instance, augmented reality apps that tourists can use on their phones) are some examples where native apps still make sense. Apps can also offer benefits from a branding and marketing point of view by creating unique and memorable experiences for the user, and this can apply for libraries also. So mobile apps may well be sticking around for the next while, but the nature and quantity of them may be very different to what we see today.

Read More

BiblioTech – a public library without books

There are interesting developments to report from the digital libraries frontier. The first digital-only public library, BiblioTech, will pilot in Bexar County this coming autumn.

The library is designed for the digital age and will offer about 10,000 e-books to start with. Access is also provided to desktop, laptop and tablet computers as well as study spaces, meeting rooms and a designated interactive children’s area. Patrons can either borrow e-readers or bring their own (see press release for further details).

No details have been released as to which e-book distribution service will be recruited, but 3M Cloud Library could well be a viable contender for the provision of the necessary technical infrastructure.

The driver of this initiative, Judge Nelson W. Wolf, regards the bookless library not as an exclusive alternative, but rather as an experimental add-on to the traditional public library service. A comparative example within the academic library context would be Drexel’s Library Learning Terrace (a decentralised library in the shape of a bookless and flexible learning space that includes computers providing access to the school’s digital library resources near where graduates live and eat on campus; see Howard, 2011 for more detail).

But pushing a bookless library service onto the stratified citizen, rather than then the tech-savvy student, is a more complex story altogether. For example, challenges revolve around the creation of an easily accessible technical environment that will make interaction (retrieval and borrowing etc.) with electronic books a straight forward and intuitive experience for all public users. Another issue is that of digital rights management as the business model shifts from content ownership to content licensing, i.e. e-books are not always owned when purchased by libraries.

Another challenge is the potential for limited discovery of e-book content as libraries want a single, easy-to-use, easy-to-search platform: many platforms offer restricted interoperability (see for example Overdrive, 3M, ProQuest, EBSCO). Considered should also be the limitations for interlibrary loan opportunities due to potential operational limitations set by e-book vendors.

Regardless, it will be interesting to see how the BiblioTech experiment pans out once it goes live.

Ref.
Sendze M. The E-Book Experiment. Public Libraries [serial online]. January 2012;51(1):34-37. Available from: Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text, Ipswich, MA. Accessed January 23, 2013.
See also Charles Hamaker ‘Ebooks on Fire: Controversies Surrounding Ebooks in Libraries’

Read More

Research Project on Trust and Authority in Scholarly Communications

Post by Clare Thornley

I am currently working on a research project with CIBER Research UK Ltd and the Center for Information and Communication Studies at the University of Tennessee funded by the Alfred. P. Sloan foundation examining how decisions on trust and authority in scholarly communications are being changed (or not) by developments in digital technology.

We are looking at how scholars decide what to trust when searching for information and also how they judge which is the most authoritative place to publish their results. A key question is whether emerging social media channels present any real challenge to the well established high impact factor journal route to academic prestige? This links into previous debate on libfocus on the growth of altmetrics.

In terms of searching for information do academics use Google as freely as we tend to assume their students do or are they relying on their own specialist sources? All these questions are important to libraries as they concern how people make the complex assessment of what defines quality information that they can trust. Changes in where scholars publish will also eventually have an effect on the type of information resources that libraries hold.

The study is international but the qualitative data is being collected from the USA and UK for this phase of the research and I am interviewing academics from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has views or experience on the topics covered by this research project. Please contact me on clare.v.thornley[at]gmail[dot]com.

Further information on this project can be found at utk.edu and ciber-research.eu.

Read More

Library Innovation Survey

The survey below might be of interest to you.

Sarah and Heather are two librarians in Seattle who are doing research on innovation in libraries for an upcoming book chapter and conference presentation. If you are a librarian or library worker, we would appreciate if you could take a few moments to let us know about your experience with innovation at your library. Thank you for your time!

Is innovation a priority--either explicit or implicit--in your organization?

Read More

Strategies for encouraging IR deposits

I attended last Wednesday’s RSP webinar, where Rebecca Kennison of the Center for Digital Research and Scholarship at Columbia University gave us a flavour of their IR advocacy approach.

Given the prominence and sheer scale of their IR, it is probably no surprise to anyone that such a sophisticated operation deploys clever advocacy strategies that seem to successfully capture research output at every opportunity. 

From the outset Rebecca noted that their approach is perfectly suitable for any IR operation: I agree in principle with the caveat in mind, though, that adequate manpower is in place.

In many ways, Columbia’s advocacy approach revolves around common sense. The items listed below indicate as much:

• Interact with the research community in such a way that individual researcher’s needs are met at all times
• Keep communication simple (thus effective)
• IR operations should form part of the researcher’s workflow (an unspectacular and natural extension of their activities)
• Create a personal feeling (get out there physically and talk to people)
• Appeal to vanity (healthy egos do exist)
• Be mindful of what’s going on in the publishing community that your researchers are active in
• Accept anything researchers want preserved (data sets included)
• Offer prompt solutions to individual problems (copyright, deposit etc.)
• Maintain meaningful contact with all IR stakeholders
• Communicate responses to news coverage of research
• Utilise social media to keep people in the loop (#, @)
• Create and distribute monthly statistics

People activities include new-student orientations, a steady presence at departmental meetings and the running of workshops that cover dissertation preparation, copyright awareness and personal data management. Library, teacher and administration colleagues represent natural champions for IRs as they frequently interact with the target community.

Most importantly, the act of self-depositing must be a straightforward affair. Interestingly, Columbia University enables users to tweet their contribution at the point of self-deposit; self-depositing researchers can thus spread the news instantly.

Another important factor is SEO for Google Scholar. Check out in particular Indexing Repository Content in Google Scholar and the Google Scholar Blog.

I also like the fact that dissertations published on Proquest are included in their IR via metadata feedback including the full text of items.

Interesting is also the Open Access Resolution workflow deployed by Columbia and the ultimate scenario of a smooth self-deposit process (refer to archived webinar for detail).

(As an aside, also check out COAR's IR training materials)

Read More

LAI Career Development Group Open Day - 2nd Feb 2013

CDG Open Day 2013:
Alternative careers for librarians and information professionals

Our friends in the LAI Career Development Group are holding an open day on Saturday 2nd February in Pearse Street Library, with a great line-up of speakers (and tea, biscuits & networking!).

The event is free and more details including how to register, are available on the CDG blog.

Read More