This book covers an area of great emerging importance to libraries; that of mobile technologies. It consists of papers presented at the First International M‐Libraries Conference. The conference was co‐hosted by the Open University in UK and the Athabasca University in Canada and included speakers from the UK, Ireland, Canada, Europe, USA and Russia as well as Africa and Sri Lanka, all of whom are currently working in the field of virtual and mobile learning and Open University course delivery. Therefore this book is a first collection of writing and experience on this important new topic.
In his foreword Lorcan Dempsey (currently Vice President OCLC, and author of Lorcan Dempsey's Weblog on Libraries, Services and Networks http://orweblog.oclc.org/) describes the new mobile telecommunications scene. Networking is spreading and libraries need to be ready for mobile communication. How can we socialise and personalise library services and brand these services from the library?
In universities especially, the new connectivity is key, with no discrete library and much broader learning available. Lorcan talks about the differences between the generations, but admits that the older generations are also caught up – mobile communications are changing everyone's lives. Networks are the basis, a desktop is no longer the sole focus for communications, while we have other devices such as cell phones and blackberries. Services are being synchronised‐ just think of the ITunes and IPod relationship.
Mobile communication reconfigures relationships with time, space and other people, and in amongst this is operating a huge market for music, games, and entertainment, as well as shared interest forums.
So the library is caught in a blurring of social/leisure and work barriers. Social space may remain important, expectations of flexibility are high. Reference services are expected to contain aspects of chat, email, instant messaging. Resources are expected to be audio and e‐books, pod casts and video; alerts to be provided by RSS, text, email and made available over networks, or in wireless environments. At the same time there is the expectation for traditional library services to continue.
The book is organised into four parts. Part 1 The changing landscape, Part 2 Mobile technology for development, Part 3 Initiatives, innovations, and challenges and Part 4 Practice perspectives
Part 1 of the book “The changing landscape” discusses changes in learning styles and the new concept of knowledge sharing. The opportunities presented by M‐technology are vast and include learning in the developing world, even by nomadic people and importantly, via a variety of these technologies. Aspects of public library uses are covered too.
Part 2 “Mobile technology for development “covers aspects of teaching for trainee teachers in sub‐Saharan Africa, and health workers in developing countries.
Part 3 “Initiatives, innovations and challenges” contains ten papers covering mainly tertiary environments but focuses on optimising creativity and creative uses of m‐technology. Students who are on placement, or as distance learners, or academic staff running collaborative projects between universities, can have electronic access from virtually any device. A paper on metadata standards reminds us that making accessible user‐generated content should not compromise its quality. Finally there are two papers on course delivery by cell phone.
In Part 4 “ Practice perspectives” are four chapters on using cell phone guides for new student orientation and as information literacy programmes.
This is a much‐needed book, which helps librarians to reflect on issues connected with social networking and how the technology can be adapted especially in academic and public library environments.
M‐Libraries can provide all learners with an equal chance, from any location and from virtually any device. The benefits to people living in remote locations are huge.
The book contains reports of first attempts to harness the power and capacity of the new technologies and these case studies can assist with practical help in implementing programmes in our own libraries, whether they be concerned with blogging, digital imagery, audio and video, messaging or wiki sites. It also provides full descriptions of the particular technologies and how they can be used to assist libraries with the challenge to M‐obilise content and services.
