Creating a Fully Mobile Catalog -- A Capital Idea!

Poster presented at: \ud Session VI: Infrastructure: Posters on building and equipment, management and technology. Sunday, June 27, 2010. 29th Annual ALA Poster Sessions. The American Library Association 2010 Annual Conference. Washington, DC.Libraries increasingly realize the need to make their websites mobile-device accessible. However, libraries lag behind on making one of their most important features – the library catalog – fully mobile-device compatible. OSU Libraries developed a mobile catalog in-house to incorporate all their desired mobile features. These features include the ability to search by keyword, title, subject, and ISBN, as well as a course reserves search. The search can be filtered by location, and results can be limited to one, five, or ten results. Results include call numbers and the availability of one-click access to the most pertinent data. The item records include title, author, a description or table of contents, and a link to the shelf-view of the item. Patrons can also email or text the call numbers to their mobile phones. At no time in their search do patrons need to leave the mobile catalog interface to view the record. The interactive features combined with design specifications appropriate for mobile phones make this library catalog compatible for all types of mobile devices and truly unique. Our poster will provide an overview of the development of our mobile catalog, images of the mobile catalog, and charts comparing our in-house catalog with vendor-supplied options