Thing 11

The first thing I did for Thing 11 was take a look at the ELM site. I'm using an iPad, so I can't speak for smartphone users, but I liked the overall look and presentation, it's not too much different from the PC/web version. I didn't delve into it much, though I encourage others, especially reference staff that haven't, to do so. It's a great resource for all and has sections dedicated to professionals and the public. I suppose a lot of the info and databases on ELM's site can be found on one's library site, but I do like having another option and even something just different than what I'm used to.

I looked at HCL's mobile app since it is the app of my local system in addition to that of my employer. Outside of work, I rarely use any other system...I think I've been to Anoka and that's really it. 

Long story short, HCL mobile seems optimized for phones. Not that it can't be used on a tablet, but personally, I just go to the "regular" site via Safari on my home iPad. I've been using photo examples for a while...so why stop. Here's how the mobile app home looks on an iPad 

 And here's Hclib.org on Safari on an iPad

Since I can gesture to zoom, etc. I prefer using the regular site. There are some instances where the mobile app is superior; one instance is BookLook, which uses your device camera as a scanner and allows you to scan the ISBN code on a book and after it's identified, you can get a short summary of the item and see if any HCL branches own it. I had a tough time using it with an iPad, but I was successful, eventually. It is pretty nifty, but probably makes more sense on a phone than a tablet...say I'm at a bookstore, see something awesome...then I see the price. I can go to BookLook via HCLmobile and see if we have it anywhere for checkout. Or if I'm on the bus, plane, etc and I see something cool the person next to me is reading, I can scan the ISBN and see if we have it in HCL...with said person's permission I suppose.

The mobile app works with our ebook section a little (key word is little) better. It's just a slightly different process with a different interface. It's smoother,  but sometimes it's nice to get all the info you'd get via the web version of our ebook catalog. I tried downloading both via our mobile app and the web...and I was successful and I will say I still prefer the web version.

Another strong point of our mobile app is if you're in a hurry or like going through less steps, taping the sections (ie catalog) is a little more seamless. 

My final thought though is that HCL mobile is more for a smartphone user and while it offers all the basics (account info, catalog, IM, locations, etc) in a easy to use interface, I like the web version more since it is more in-depth and it is useable with a tablet.

Onto Thing 11, "part 2"

HCL has an entire section dedicated to mobile apps, see below

Personally, I use Zinio since I like it for magazine browsing; including the ebooks I downloaded for this thing, I have now used OverDrive all of 3 times. I do like ebooks and enjoy them on my iPad, it's just that since my iPad rarely leaves home and since it is shared by 3 people, I don't use it much for ebooks since I won't have time to read the books before the app automatically returns them.  I wouldn't say my system promotes ematerial over physical, but we are seeing increased ematerial downloads and checkouts and staff is starting to field more questions. 

Once in a while Zinio can be handy for us as a tool to show the public since they can access a magazine our location doesn't have, but one we subscribe to, etc. To reiterate, I like to use it since I just "flip" through the mags at my leisure then remove them when I'm done.

I've used Freegal to download free, legal (get it) music, but I'm not the biggest fan of it on mobile since it saves the songs to its own app rather than iTunes/music and they can't be moved (I've tried and according to Freegal, it can't be done). If you don't mind having a second or third app for music, by all means, check it out. Of course, you can find Freegal in our databases on hclib.org and download to a PC or Mac and then synch it over to your device.

The biggest complaints I hear about ematerial use is all the log in and log out and passwords, etc. The most annoying (to me) is the adobe account with OverDrive...but once you get the initial resistance out of the way, it's hardly noticeable.