“Refining Mobile Library Services.” My introduction to a Special issue of The Reference Librarian (volume 53, 3) dedicated to papers from the 4th Handheld Librarian conference held February 2011. Preprint. http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/wref20/53/4

1. “Refining Mobile Library Services.” Introduction to Special Issue: Papers from the
Handheld Librarian IV Conference. (preprint)
Joe Murphy, Librarian & Technology Trend Spotter http://joemurphylibraryfuture.com
libraryfuture@gmail.com Twitter: libraryfuture
The Reference Librarian. Special Issue: Papers from
the Handheld Librarian IV Conference.
Vol 53 (4), 2012. Pages 347-348
The information landscape shifts under pressure from technological change. Libraries
continue to adapt with flexible services that meet their lasting core mission. The articles in this
volume impart practical steps for implementing services that address some of the most
important current topics of one prominent area of technological evolution: mobile technology.
These detailed guides, coupled with your own personal experience using the technologies and
knowledge of your library’s unique considerations, will bring you up to date on how best to
leverage handheld technologies in your library.
Twitter continues to serve as a fundamental social platform for mobile connections,
and A. Nicole Sump-Crethar shows us how to make the most of it in our libraries. Amy
Vecchione and Margie Ruppel take a multi-library look at best practices for reference service
with SMS. Allison Bolorizadeh, Rabia Gibbs, Michelle Brannen, and Thura Mack explore the
need for and means of enhancing library instruction and outreach services by incorporating
mobile technologies into teaching efforts.
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/wref20/53/4 QR Codes, those small bar codes
scanned with smart phone cameras that enable us to add links to physical surfaces in our
libraries are growing as a powerful and low cost mobile tool. Kristen Yarmey and Thomas
Swartz reveal how they implemented a QR Code project in a science-specific academic
environment. Michael J. Whitchurch shares lessons learned through an implementation of QR
Codes for a library audio tour. Dantrea Hampton, Amanda Peach, and Benjamin Rawlins
explain how they made use of QR Codes in promotion of their library’s mobile web resources.
Amy Vecchione and Margaret Mellinger write about using SCVNGR, the social location-
based mobile app, for gamifying orientation and instruction at an academic institution. Stacie
Joe Murphy

2. Williams and Valerie Enriquez explore how Medical Libraries and more can capitalize on the
portability of mobile technologies to better serve their users. Andrew Carlos demonstrates that
by understanding the possible applications of various mobile resources, we can gain a better
perspective on research on the go.
Sharon Whitfield shows how to use a cross-platform framework for developing native
mobile applications for libraries. James Elder outlines the terminology and challenges for
building mobile apps as well as what libraries need to do in order to get started developing iOS
specific applications. Scott Brown shares the need-to-know apps in the context that librarians
should be aware of the most important and impactful mobile applications.
These papers, based on expert talks delivered at the fourth online Handheld Librarian
conference http://www.handheldlibrarian.org/ (held February 2011) cover the current central
mobile library services and represent one half of the knowledge base necessary to successfully
launch mobile services at your library. The other half includes personal experience with the
tools and an understanding of the impacts they are having on information behavior, both of
which will inform your service designs. Play with the technologies as you read about their
applications and consider the larger implications of each upon information behavior as you
address their service side as a librarian.
The technologies here covered have staying power, but the field is rapidly changing.
Stay on top of the next batch of important tools by attending the next online Handheld
Librarian conference and joining the discussion or sharing your expertise as a presenter and
writer.
- Joe Murphy, guest editor and conference programming committee member.
For an official e-print: see issue # 4 of volume 53 of The Reference Librarian
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/cKTDvgVpuJv4gitnEYfG/full
Joe Murphy