1. 1.People are in Motion and the Library
Follows Them
– on the Mobile Library in a Mobile Era
Introduction about myself
First I´d like to say thank you for the
possibility to speak at this conference, I´m
obviously very pleased to be here.
On a daily basis, I work as a library consultant at
the County Library Gävleborg, and my main focus
is to follow the development in media and ICT.
Easier said than done these years!
With my presentation here today, I wish to
illustrate why and how our libraries need to “go
mobile”-and I´m not talking about caravans!
When I use the term “ mobile “ in my
presentation, my focus is on what could be done
with and through our cell phones, ie smartphones.
I started to develop a fascination in the cell phone
as something more than just a phone, when I
-quite by accident - found an article about a young
Japanese girl who had written a complete novel
with her cell phone.

2. What on earth was this? I was completely
mesmerized by the article and the possibilities it
implied, and I still haven´t recuperated –hopefully
I never will …
The term for this phenomenon-novels written on
cell phones - is “keitai shosetsu”. Well, what
does it stand for?
Keitai is Japenese for cell-phone, shōsetsu for
novel; so keitai shōsetsu is “cellphone novel” (also
“thumb novel”): a new literary genre started
by young japanese girls. Their novels are
posted to a media-sharing site as a series of text
messages, which millions of Japanese teens
download and read on their mobile phones.
Readers rapidly respond, and sometimes suggest.
Some authors have used the best suggestions to
alter their plots. Quite a few of these cell-phone
serials have evolved into successful paper novels!
The appearance of cell phone novels has a lot to
do with the prevalence of affordable, high-quality
personal communication devices. Almost every
adult has a cell phone, and many have one apiece
for work and private. According to a recent

3. government report in Japan, 31.3% of elementary
school students and 57.6% of middle school
students have cell phones. Research firm Net Asia
adds that as many as 22.3% self-identify as cell
phone addicts.
Talking on the phone in many contexts is frowned
upon, so people tend to make use of text
messaging and emoticons to have lively
conversations. This is cheaper than phone service,
and especially pronounced among the young.
A single message can be 10.000 characters long!
(“Teenage girls began messaging with pagers in
the early ’90s,” says Mizuko Ito, a research
scientist who studies cell phone use among
Japanese youth. “Because of this, Japan was the
first country to have widespread mobile
communications, even before mobile phones
became affordable and popular”)
The way it works is this: novels are posted by
members of cell phone community sites to be
downloaded for free and read on other cell
phones. Reading often takes place in crowded
trains during long commutes.

4. The works are published in 70-word installments,
or abbreviated chapters -
ideal length to be read between shorter train
stops. This means that, despite small cell phone
screens, lots of white space is left for ease of
reading. Multiple short lines of compressed
sentences, mostly composed of fragmentary
dialogue, are strung together with lots of cell
phone-only symbols. The resulting works are
emotional, fast-paced and highly visual, with an
impact not unlike manga.
Japan’s first cell phone novel was keyed in
by “Yoshi,” whose “Deep Love: Ayu’s Story”
(2002) details the struggles of a teenage prostitute
in Tokyo. This work — like most — is romance
peppered with scenes of rape, pregnancy,
abortion, suicide attempts and drug addiction.
“Deep Love” became a grassroots sensation and
was picked up by Starts Publishing and made into
a printed book. By early 2007, “Deep Love” had
sold about 2.7 million copies and spawned a TV
series, movie and manga.

5. The book also sparked a renaissance among cell
phone users with time and creativity to spare.
Other publishers followed and in 2006, 22 books
hit the shelves; the following year, there were 98.
The popularity of the genre is spreading
beyond young girls.
Ten of the bestselling printed novels in
Japan in 2007 were based on cell phone novels,
and each sold around 400,000 copies. The sales
were strongest for costly hardcovers, which
readers who had already experienced the work on
their cell phone screens bought as memorials.
Starts alone has released 40 titles that have sold
10 million copies.
But the novelty of cell phone novels is
turning out to be a hard sell among many
adults. On the one hand, the novels are praised
for inspiring youngsters to take an active interest
in reading and writing; on the other, they’re
criticized for a lack of diverse vocabulary and a
general dumbing-down of traditional literary
approaches.
From an article originally published in Metropolis
magazine (www.metropolis.co.jp).

6. 3. OK, think of a printed book that you´d like
to borrow from your nearest library-but you
don´t have the possibility to use a regular
computer. How can the library make it easier
for you?
This could be illustrated throgh
•Library Thing
who recently developed an iPhone application,
Library Thing Local Books,
http://www.librarything.com/blog/2010/01/local-
books-iphone-application.php
It shows you local bookstores, libraries and
bookish events wherever you are or plan to be. At
present Local Books does not show inventory from
local bookstores and libraries.
You can read more about it on the LT blog!

7. 4. In october 2009, I attended the conference
Internet Librarian International in London, and
listened to a very interesting presentation held by
Rurik Greenall,
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
(NTNU).
He had constructed an iPhone application where
he integrated library services and it looked like
this:
I don´t know if you can read the words, but on the
disply you find
Search, My page, Branch libraries, Prices and
Borrowing. He had also added Talk to a Librarian
+Help

8. 5. So – there you have it - The Mobile Library is
not a fantasy anymore…
Another very interesting presentation at Internet
Librarian was called exactly"The Mobile Library"
and was held by Patrick Danowski - Emerging
Technologies Librarian, (Fellow) at CERN in
Switzerland:
He talked among other things, about the modern
cell phone which today equals computer,
and how you can use your cell phone as a
reading device.
•He illustrated it with a free application you can
find on your iPhone,
Stanza
You can use Stanza to download from a selection
of over 100,000 books and periodicals, and read
them right on your phone.
The format used is the epub format, which adapts
on any chosen reader
Personally, I have found myself more and more in
the situation that my cell phone is the first choice
when it comes to reading when I am out and
about. I read my mail (obviously), use Twitter,

9. facebook, and I also read a large variety of
magazines and newspapers on it - a quick and
easy way to keep myself updated!
When I wake up in the morning, my first instinct is
to reach for my iPhone-and I consider myself
pretty normalp !!!!This is also the last thing I read
upon before I go to sleep…
By the way, no one with the slightest interest in
reading devices could have missed out on Apple´s
new device, The iPad. It has met some criticisms ,
but I don´t think it will be possible to overlook it
this invention. I´m not at all convinced about the
necessity of separate reading devices like this, but
we -librarians- indeed need to keep up with the
development, especially in this area. The iPad may
well be something that develops into a more
overall tool, and reach new customers, who don´t
care that it doesn´t have a camera, you can´t
multitask, use flash , plug in a usb-memory etc etc

10. 6.Another topic Patrick Danowski raised was
Location based services: eg the possibility to
find the nearest open Library in a new way?
Im now talking about a feature, called
Augmented Reality (AR)
To illustrate this, I´d like to show you a
video of an application called
Layar , is worlds first mobile Augmented Reality
browser.
It is a free application on your mobile phone which
shows what is around you by displaying real time
digital information on top of reality through the
camera of your mobile phone. It was first launched
in June 2009 in The Netherlands,
Here is the video:
Layar is run by Raimo van der Klein, Claire Boonstra &
Maarten Lens-FitzGerald.
7. He concluded:

11. 1/3 of all cell phone users use Internet on their
•
cell phones
So, the question is:”The web goes mobile-
do you follow?”
8. Now, I´d like to stress the importance of
studying reports from mobile companies. In
Sweden, for instance, Telia publishes a Trend
report every year
and another vital source of information is
World Internet Institute
a research institure pursuing research in
social and behavioural sciences, focusing on
the Internet and its influence on man and
society.
http://trend.teliasonera.com/Global/Downloads/tre
ndrapport_koncern_low.pdf
9.I quote from a recent report fom the WII
(2009):

12. – To be part of a web community, an online
community, earlier was somtheing for young
people and more advanced users, , says Olle
Findahl at [WII]. Now it is becoming increasingly
more common among older people as well. bland
äldre. Four out of ten are members of a
community.
-39% of Internet users today are members of a
community, almost three times as many
compared to 2007.
- In the ages 36-45 years there has been a
doubling.
- The social networks totally dominates the
scene today, with Facebook in front of it all.
Source “:Cell phone coverage in Sweden”/
"Mobiltäckningen i Sverige", WII Institute
10. Why is this important?

13. It´s because these social networks can lead into
the Libraries!
…and these are tools that you today frequently
11.
use on your cell phone”-which is pretty much
my point why libraries today must consider cell
phones as important communication tools in the
broadest sense!
Libraries in Sweden today are exploring the
possibilities to reach their audience through for
instance Facebook, but not to a very large extent,
yet. It is not even always allowed for the library
to appear on a community like facebook, it very
much depends on local policies where the Library
exists.
12.”Every cell phone it´s user”

14. 13. Reading device for books in various electronic
formats as well as Newspapers/magazines
•Music player
•Radio
•Video player
•Videocamera
•Reference tool

15. 14. The last point leads me to an example of the
cell phone used as a learning tool
A Swedish company
produces applications for learning: today they
focus on education for driver´s licenses, and
language courses.
15. It´s fascinating to take part of their goals and
overall standing in the matter of cell phones::

16. Everybody should be able to use the advanced
technology incorporated in the cell phone to
develop as human beings!
The Cell Phone itself is:
-Our most important channel for communication
-The perfect tool to rehearse what you have
learned
AND- Communication is a big part of what you
have learned
16. Some statistics from the presenter:

17. There are 1,4 billion computer users with access to
the Internet
There are 4 billion cell phone users
The cell phone penetration in Sweden: about 115
%
Our big phone company Telias data traffic ín the
summer of 2009 more than 200% compared with
2008
17. Do you want to be a pilot?
18. Conclusions:
•Try, learn, develop
•What do we want to show to our customers?
•What do we want to communicate??
•To whom?
•Why??
19.Before I finish, I´d like to take this opportunity
to say something about the jungle of devices and

18. formats presented to us today when it comes to
using digital books and music It really can be
difficult to find your way in this jungle, both as a
professional and as a private person. Show Pic of
devices
20. Pic of formats:To make it even worse,there
is an abundance of formats for reading books on
separate devices, and it can be quite an effort to
transfer a digital book from the library´s website
to your chosen equipment. Furthermore, the
libraries in Sweden today, can´t provide their
customer´s with downloadable books , videos or
language courses, with the exception of the
material provided by the so called media jukebox.
21. Pic of bookmobile:In August 2009, I had the
opportunity to visit the state of Ohio together with
colleagues from three other country/regional
Libraries; Värmland, Östergötland and Stockholm.
Our aim was to observe the so called Digital
Bookmobile, a bus touring the US and showing
people how to find and download books, music
and videos through library websites through a very
easily managed solution, the Digital Media Locator.

19. Overdrive,the Company behind this solution is a
small family based company situated Cleveland,
Ohio.
22.Here´s a video to show how it works
Now I have the pleasure to invite you all to a
Conference we are arranging in Stockholm on April
23d. Where Overdrive will participate.
Other presenters will be: Mats Hernvall, who has
been involved in developing
a National Audio Book Library in Denmark,

20. Jesper Klein, head of Digital Services Department
at TPB, Library of Talking Books and Braille Books,
Nils Saramo, Söderströms Publishing hous in
Finland, the Swedish Publishing House for Digital
books, Elib and FörlagEtt, the Company behind the
Media Jukebox.
23.
24. Pic with Thank You!