New library mobile site provides students resources at their fingertips
February 4, 2012
Between checking the news feed on Facebook and fetching more pins on Pinterest, students can now access the Dick Smith Library resources on it’s new mobile site. If students are home, traveling or just too busy to stop by the library, they can use their Smartphone or tablet to acquire journal articles, search databases, renew checked out items, save citations to bibliographies, keep up with current events or ask a librarian for help with just a thumb-click away.
“The main university website has been made mobile and accessible so we wanted to do that as well,” Systems Librarian Tracy Holtman said. “We see people all the time that use their phone, everybody uses their phone to access stuff, so we wanted people to be able to search the catalog, find our hours and what kind of service are available to them.”
The mobile site links the top 10 most used databases including, JSTOR, PsychINFO, SocINDEX, Business Source Complete and Book Index with Reviews.
“When we update the site we will make it easier to search because a lot of the databases will have mobile interfaces and so this is a way that you can link to them,” Holtman said.
Besides the mobile friendly database searches, the site also provides 12 different downloadable mobile apps. To see what apps are available for iPhone, Android and other Smartphones visit www.tarleton.edu/library/mobile.html. “We have over 207 databases total and if every provider is coming up with mobile interfaces and mobile apps, as they are published or made available, then I hope to link to them so that you guys can use them,” Holtman said.
One of the apps, BookMyne, allows students to search Tarleton’s libraries catalog. Also, by using the University ID number, students can renew items or see what they have checked out. Another app, EBSCO, covers about two thirds of the database. This app provides both a search interface and mobile app where students can search broadly or specifically. The Mango application, available on iPhones or iPads, provides self-study language learning software.
“This new site will definitely make using resources in the library easier for students who commute and don’t want to leave the comfort of their home,” Junior Bethany Jenson said.