I remember being in a management meeting a number of years ago at which we bemoaned the lack of effective technology to block mobile phone signals in the library. The mobile was seen basically as a nuisance, because of students' noisy phone conversations in the stacks. Now significant library services are being delivered via mobile devices. Indeed, Walsh reports fairly recent research that suggests that more than half of people's information needs will be generated when they are on the move. Usually the need is for more transient and immediate forms of information such us for travel. There cannot be much doubt that users access to and dependence on mobile devices will increase (though universal ownership of expensive smartphones cannot be assumed, e.g. in teaching). Therefore this book addresses an important topic.
The book is a well-written and concise (under 140 page) practical introduction to the use of mobile devices for library services. It is suitable for practitioners and LIS students wanting to get a handle on the topic, although as a specialist work it is inevitably expensive by the standards of a mainstream text book. Walsh has given many presentations and published many articles on information literacy and gamification as well as on mobile applications in the last few years (www.hud.ac.uk/ourstaff/profile/index.php?staffuid=librapw) and he won the Information Literacy Practitioner Award at LILAC 2012. We are in safe hands in terms of the author's expertise. His self-acknowledged perspective is of a UK librarian from a medium-sized academic library. Indeed applications in higher education are very much the emphasis of the book. However, this is a valid perspective and the viewpoint is expanded by more than a dozen case studies written by other librarians about specific best practice examples, many from beyond UK and one or two from beyond the academic library sector.
The book has an introduction and a conclusion and eight substantive chapters, offering comprehensive coverage of the topic. The first chapter reports on one of his own research projects at the University of Huddersfield in which he collected user focus groups' views on a number of potential mobile library services. Although a small study, the results ring true at least for 2012 and it is a successful way to frame the book, by pointing to the importance of considering what services users really want. It does, however, very much emphasise the point that this is a book about higher educational applications of mobile devices.
Subsequent chapters explain how people use mobiles for information; explore the impact on making the librarian mobile; analyse text based services in libraries; compare apps and mobile websites; explore linking (QR codes, RFID and location aware services); reflect on mobiles in teaching; and open up the world of e-books on mobile devices. The conclusion passes on some very practical advice to those thinking about developing mobile services.
The book has plenty of detail on practical applications. Each chapter has an annotated further reading section, making it an excellent resource. Specific sites and services are explained in pull out boxes. This and other variations in the text make the book fairly easy on the eye, even though there are only two pictures in the whole book. A few more screenshots might have been useful to help the reader visualise some of the services described, such as the location aware applications. One assumes there were copyright restrictions that prevented these being provided.
In a fast moving field there will be a need for a revision to the handbook in a very few years. Already we would expect more on tablets in such a book than we get. But I would anticipate this being a popular book for both LIS professionals and students.
