How the Auraria Library went mobile in the summer of 2011

1. Auraria Library Goes Mobile Nina McHaleMissouri State Library Technology Institute August 10 2011

2. Our Agenda Introduction About the Auraria Library and its Web Presence Mobile Project Timeline Mobile Content Philosophy & Strategy Gathering Data Quantitative Data: Mobile Web Statistics Qualitative Data: “One Question” Survey Results Development Prototyping Choosing a Development Platform: jQuery Mobile Framework Selecting and Massaging Existing Web Content What’s Next? Assessment Future Developments

3. About the Auraria Library Academic library near downtown Denver serving three schools: Community College of Denver Metropolitan State College of Denver University of Colorado Denver Total community size: ~50,000 (all students, faculty & staff) Fall 2010 FTE: 20,638 Commuter campus has many part-time and returning students ~6,000 visits per day, brick and click Web staff (Library IT Division) Web Librarian Web Programmer Dozens of content developers in Research & Information Services

4. Web Site Information Full library web site: library.auraria.edu Mobile development site: m.dev.auraria.edu Mobile production site (future URL, launching August 15th): m.auraria.edu

5. Mobile Timeline Fall 2010: Mobile Investigate Mobile Technology/Web Services Task Group Spring 2011: Data Gathering Mobile Analytics “One Question” Survey Summer 2011: Development Choose a platform Identify/modify/create (when necessary) content Fall 2011: Beta Launch Rollout to library staff and users for fall semester (August 15th) Usability testing (planned for November)

6. Auraria LibraryMobile Site Philosophy We aim to adapt existing site design architecture of the library's main site, prioritizing content and adapting and removing that content which does not lend itself to use on a mobile device. A "full site" redirect will be available on every screen so that users can opt to view the full, non-optimized site at any time.

7. Auraria LibraryMobile Content Strategy Create a mobile site, but not apps (for now?) Purchase AirPAC (Innovative Interfaces, Inc.) Optimize content for mobile by: Prioritizing resources (i.e., databases, LibGuides) Reformatting data in existing web site for mobile display (i.e., staff directory) Using RSS to pull data from existing web site to populate mobile site (i.e., Library FYI)

8. Quantitative Data:Mobile Web Statistics We have access to web statistics about use of our web site on mobile devicesfrom October 2009-present (Google Analytics). Web statistics are particularly helpful in telling us what content our users visit on their mobile devices; we know where they’ve been. Top content is frequently: Library hours Databases A-Z Library directions/maps Links to/information about the library

9. Two Tools for Gathering Mobile Statistics Google Analytics Free! (requires Gmail account) Began offering mobile-specific data in October 2009 Custom reports (“dimensions”) provide mobile-specific reports www.google.com/analytics/ Percent Mobile Full version free for non-profits (sign up, then indicate that you are non-profit for access to the full version) Provides and displays data more specific to mobile use of sites Kewl feature: shows pictures of the devices that patrons are using percentmobile.com

10. Sample Google Analytics Report(shows top mobile content)

11. Sample Percent Mobile Report(shows pictures of devices used)

12. Quantitative Data:Mobile “One Question” Survey Results "What would you like to be able to do on your phone or mobile device at the Library's web site?” Survey posted from April 21st-May 31st 2011 30 “real” results (graph summary and some responses follow) Survey limitations: Not posted very long More results would have been better

14. One Question Survey Results

15. Some Individual Responses Research and database access: “I would like to be able to look at different databases on my phone to research papers.” “Search journal articles for research.” Access to ILS functions: “RENEW BOOKS” “find location and status of library items” “Check out, download, read books, view all media, access to database without a decrease in user friendliness. Faster and more streamlined access.” “Ace my finals! ”

16. Development Low-tech Prototyping Pen and paper sketch Choosing a Framework Drupal vs. jQuery Mobile Framework

18. Drupal? Existing site (and all library-hosted sites) migrated to Drupal in August 2010 Push to get them all in Drupal 7, which was released January 2011 There are contributed themes and modules for Drupal that are aimed at making mobile development easier: Themes: Nokia, Fusion, Mobile, iUI Modules: Mobile Tools But, ultimately, our programmer felt that mobile theming was “just not there yet,” specifically regarding site administration functions

19. jQuery Mobile Framework! “A unified user interface system across all popular mobile device platforms, built on the rock-solid jQuery and jQuery UI foundation.” jquerymobile.com Beta 2 released August 3 jQuery Mobile Framework integrates smoothly with existing Drupal site Content can be added and edited via the Drupal site, and mobile version does reformatting Mobile site can therefore beread-only for security as well Programmer wrote a code library for the RSS and database features, but most functionality was as-downloaded

20. Device-Specific Functionality in jQuery Mobile Framework (Demo) The two following slides demonstrate device-specific functionality: On phones, when users touch the “Phone” button in the footer, the phone begins to place the call. (iPhone screen captures follow) On tablets, when users touch the “Phone” button in the footer, the device offers to save the phone number as a contact. (iPad screen captures follow)

21. Functionality for Phones (iPhone shown)

22. Functionality for Tablets(iPad shown)

23. Search Box, Full Sitelibrary.auraria.edu

24. Search Box Changes for Mobile Issue: The wide, horizontal orientation of the “Start My Research!” box on the home page was not suited to the majority of mobile devices, which are small and tend to be vertical. Solution: The programmer recreated the six horizontal tabs (“Books,” “Articles,” etc.) and the search functionality of each tab in a vertical menu styled simply for mobile use. Users can expand and collapse menus for each search type, which conserves valuable real estate on a mobile screen, much as the tab layout does on the full site.

25. Search Box, Mobile Site(viewed on iPad)

26. Staff Directory, Full Sitelibrary.auraria.edu/nina-mchale

27. Library Staff Directory Changes for Mobile Issues: The photo, while a nice touch on the full site, is perhaps not as relevant or necessary in a mobile context. Extra information (blogs, social networks) beyond contact information (phone number, email) seems equally extraneous for mobile. Solution: The mobile site draws the basic content desired for mobile display from the full library web site database, but only includes name, title, rank, service unit, email, phone number, and room. Any changes to staff information made on the full site are automatically reflected in the mobile site.

28. Staff Directory, Mobile Site(viewed on iPhone)

29. Ask A Librarian: Full Sitelibrary.auraria.edu/services/researchhelp

30. Ask A Librarian Changes for Mobile Issue: Two-column display of all modes of reference (IM, phone, text, email) is far to big to merely shrink successfully for a mobile screen. As coded, this page would not make optimal use of mobile device functionality for the different means of communication with Research & Information Services staff. Solution: Programmer created four buttons in a floating footer on the mobile version that connect users to all reference channels. Buttons adapt to device functionality: When users touch “Text” on a phone, SMS application opens. When users touch “Phone” on a phone, it places the call.

31. Ask A Librarian: Mobile Site(viewed on iPhone)

32. Library FYI: Full Sitelibrary.auraria.edu

33. Library FYI Changes for Mobile Issues: We needed a way to import content from our news and events blog easily, without duplicating work for bloggers (i.e., having to post in two places). Solution: Programmer wrote an RSS library to pull the content from the database backend of our full Drupal-based site. Blog entries are pulled from the database and redisplayed, optimized for mobile. On tablets, the Library FYI adds secondary content to fill available space without crowding out the most important mobile elements. On phones, the FYI content is still available, but “below the fold.”

34. Library FYI: Mobile Site(viewed on iPad)

35. What Content Was Omitted? Research Tools (first full site navigation item) All content omitted; it seemed redundant with mobile optimization of search box. Library Services (third full site navigation item) Only Research Help (i.e., “Ask A Librarian”) info included as the series of buttons in the footer. Library Info (fourth full site navigation item) Directory, Comments, Maps and Hours included/highlighted Jobs, Mission, and Policies omitted

36. What’s Next? Assessment Web analytics (Google Analytics and Percent Mobile) Usability testing with patrons planned for November 2011 Further integration with other electronic resources Reserves (Docutek) InterLibrary Loan (ILLiad) Serials Solutions’ Summon (licensed, but not launched) CSS/design Color/images to better match full site More featuresforthcoming in jQuery Mobile Framework

37. Questions? Comments? Facebook, Twitter, SlideShare: @ninermac This slide deck is available on SlideShare: www.slideshare.net/ninermac/missouri-statelibrarymobile