E-COMMERCE IN LIBRARIES TODAY- IN THE CONTEXT OF MOBILE COMPUTING

E-Commerce is becoming ubiquitous but what does it mean for libraries? Some would argue that in strict terms, libraries have been involved in e-commerce for years with the marketing of services and resources through web pages. Another side of e-commerce is libraries are the companies delivering products and services to libraries. Delivering materials to libraries using e-commerce methods has some benefits and some drawbacks to previous methods. An additional feature to be considered is the increased use of credit cards which speed the process. On the other hand the need to work with consortia and hierarchical or group buying of other sorts brings new complexity. Media Sleuth enables the purchase of non print educational media and the accompanying MARC cataloging over the web. This article will examine trends and developments for E-Commerce & mobile devices and will discuss what impact they may have on the future of academic library services. The students that we serve in higher education often own a variety of mobile devices, including laptop computers, cell phones, and MP3 players or other audio player devices. In 2008, the annual EDUCAUSE survey of undergraduates’ use of technology stopped asking about student ownership of cell phones because they are so ubiquitous