ALA Poster Session: Mobilizing to Support Mobile Users  

What is a mobile technology or application? What makes something mobile? What devices are considered mobile?Clickers, laptops, netbooks, the Kindle - are these considered mobile devices? Or are we limiting ourselves to hand-held mobile devices (though clickers would fall into this category)?

"Mobilizing to Support Mobile Users"

According to a 2007 survey by the Pew Internet Project, over 30 percent of respondents aged 18-29 have accessed the Internet using a cell phone or PDA and 14 percent reported doing so on a typical day. Another survey by the CTIA, a wireless industry group, revealed similar results: one in three teens is browsing the web on their phone.  What are academic libraries doing to prepare to serve these users and their preference for accessing information via mobile technology? This poster will detail a planning process for deciding how best to serve or even if to serve these users.

What questions need to be answered? What products and/or services should we be providing?  What does mobile-friendly content look like?  What mobile services make sense for a library to implement? How should we be providing access to existing content? What are other academic libraries doing?  The poster will include results of a literature review, handouts, and examples of mobile friendly content for attendees to try out on their own cell phones.