Preprint: Mobile Technologies & Academics: Do Students Use Mobile Technology in their Academic Lives and are Librarians Ready to Meet this New Challenge?

Title
Mobile Technologies & Academics: Do Students Use Mobile Technology in their Academic Lives and are Librarians Ready to Meet this New Challenge? (Preprint)
Authors
Angela Dresselhaus & Flora Shrode
Utah State University
Source
Information Technology and Libraries
Abstract

In this paper we report on two surveys and offer an introductory plan that librarians may use to begin implementing mobile access to selected library databases and services. Results from the first survey helped us to gain insight into where students at Utah State University (USU) in Logan, Utah stands regarding their use of mobile devices for academic activities in general and their desire for access to library services and resources in particular. A second survey that we conducted with librarians gave us an idea of the extent to which responding libraries offer mobile access, their future plans for mobile implementation, and librarians’ opinions about whether and how mobile technologies may be useful to library patrons. In the last segment of the paper, we outline steps librarians can take as they “go mobile.”

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Filed under: Journal Articles, Libraries, Patrons and Users