There is no doubt that smartphones are becoming the
hottest devices today. Now many people (including me J) prefer to own a smartphone rather than an ordinary
mobile phone. It is because smartphones can connect to the internet through the
carrier’s data network. This means that you are able to access the web,
check/send emails or read news on your smartphone screen anytime. Smartphones
also provide some other features such as GPS navigator, MP3 Player, digital
camera, touchscreen and video recording. Moreover, smartphones are designed to be small in size
so you can carry them around with you wherever you go. This is cool, right? But Wait! Another great thing about smartphones is the
applications – software programs - which allow you to download and install new
features to your phone and allow you to personalize your phone the way you like it.
There are an enormous amount of smartphone apps
that can assist, educate and entertain the smartphone users. Those apps are easy to download, free, fun and
convenient. In the future, more people will use smartphones to browse the information.
That is certainly going to have some impact on the
library services.
For Librarians, it is a challenge to improve library
services in this digital environment.
According to the Mobile Planet Report from Google,
44% of New Zealanders own a smartphone and 46% of them use their smartphones to
access the internet daily. These
numbers from the report are telling us that our library users use smartphones
out there. Thus, we as librarians need to consider new approaches and to
adjust new technology to meet the need of smartphone
users.
I have
heard that some New Zealand
libraries – namely the Nelson public library and the Open Polytechnic
library - are subscribing library mobile apps like Library Anywhere,
which allow library
users to search the catalogue, view records, and find nearby libraries via
their smartphones.
I think this app helps to promote library service on smart phones in order to support
smartphone users. Other library mobile apps like KeyRing and CardStar allow smartphone
users to load their library card onto their phone. The users can use their
smartphone as a
library card. I haven’t seen this apps introduced in New Zealand yet. These apps might
be great
options for those who always forget
their library cards.
However,
we need to be prepared to deal with these changes. The most important thing is
to understand
the needs of users and adapt to meet them in a flexible way. Recently, I read
this article
The State of Mobile in Libraries 2012 which explores what library users
want library apps to do for them.