Summon and EBSCOhost To Debut New Mobile Interfaces

Better access to content resources promises more consistent mobile experience for library users

Josh Hadro -- Library Journal, 11/4/2009

• Summon mobile interface debuts today at Charleston Conference
• EBSCOhost Mobile promises similarly "enhanced mobile experience"
• Will users immediately embrace handheld options?

As if smartphones weren't already hard enough to put down, new, mobile-optimized interfaces are coming for both Summon, Serials Solutions’ discovery platform, and a number of EBSCO resources.

The Summon mobile interface should provide students and researchers most of the same features and options as the regular search interface, including access to both local materials and electronic resources available from the library. The mobile search site will debut today in time for the opening of the Charleston Conference in Charleston, SC.

The mobile search option is an alternative interface, not a separate downloadable app. Users navigate to a library's mobile Summon site the same way they would visit any web address, then authenticate themselves to access linked content—as is typical with remote resources.

Others offering access to library content are also gearing up for mobile access. EBSCO will soon release EBSCOhost Mobile; according to a post on EBSCO's support site,  “the interface will include many features for an enhanced mobile experience, is optimized for internet-enabled handheld devices, and qualified for all the major SmartPhones (such as iPhone, Blackberry and Treo)."

After mobile, the flood
So, will researchers incorporate this into regular use, or only when other tools are not available to them?

Gerry McKiernan, mobile device trend-watcher, science and technology subject librarian, and associate professor  at Iowa State University, said that it may take a little while for these services to be fully embraced, but that their day will inevitably come.

"At this point [mobile-specific searches] are supplemental, or impulse, such that if you're on the road and you want to search a particular resource ... you could do that," he said. But, he added, "The mobile phone is becoming an all-in-one tool for a variety of functions," and as that happens, users will come to expect some kind of mobile interface to the tools they're grown accustomed to using.

McKiernan also said a number of Pew Internet reports and dispatches indicating the inexorable march of progress on the mobile front can’t be ignored by content providers and other vendors.

Currently, handheld library service is represented by a patchwork of mobile-enabled OPACs, streamlined library site stylesheets, and text-message services that enable SMS reference, or the texting of call numbers to users’ phones.

A frequent complaint is that these services often draw users in through a streamlined mobile portal only to lead them to other site subsections or resources that are unwieldy on a smaller screen, or entirely unusable. As more content providers embrace the mobile medium, however, libraries will be better able to offer both smartphone users and traditional users an equal level of service.