That Was Then, This Is Now: Replacing the Mobile-Optimized Site with Responsive Design
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6017/ital.v32i4.4636Abstract
As mobile technologies continue to evolve, libraries seek sustainable ways to keep up with these changes and to best serve our users. Previous library mobile usability research has examined tasks users predict they might be likely to perform, but little is known about what users actually do on a mobile-optimized library site. This research used a combination of survey methodology and web analytics to examine what tasks users actually carry out on a library mobile site. The results indicate that users perform an array of passive and active tasks and do not want content choices to be limited on mobile devices. Responsive design is described as a long-term solution for addressing both designers and users’ needs.
References
Jeff Clabaugh, “BlackBerry U.S. Market Share Falls to 5.4%; Google’s Android Remains on Top - Washington Business Journal,” Washington Business Journal (April 4, 2013), http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2013/04/04/blackberry-us-market-share-falls-to.html.
Laurie Bridges, Hannah Gascho Rempel, and Kimberly Griggs, “Making the Case for a Fully Mobile Library Web Site: From Floor Maps to the Catalog,” Reference Services Review 38, no. 2 (2010), http://hdl.handle.net/1957/16437.
Anne Kaikkonen, “Full or Tailored Mobile Web- Where and How Do People Browse on Their Mobiles?,” in Proceedings of the International Conference on Mobile Technology, Applications, and Systems, Mobility ’08 (New York, NY, USA: ACM, 2008), 28:1–28:8, doi:10.1145/1506270.1506307.
Jakob Nielsen, “Mobile Usability Update (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox),” September 26, 2011, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mobile-usability.html.
The NPD Group, “Feature Phones Comprise Overwhelming Majority of Mobile Phone Sales in Q2 2009,” 2009, https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/press-releases/pr_090819/.
Kim Griggs, Laurie M. Bridges, and Hannah Gascho Rempel, “The Code4Lib Journal – Library/mobile: Tips on Designing and Developing Mobile Web Sites,” 2009, accessed March 22, 2013, http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/2055.
Alan Aldrich, “Universities and Libraries Move to the Mobile Web,” Educause Review Online, June 24, 2010, http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/universities-and-libraries-move-mobile-web.
Nielsen, “Mobile Usability Update (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox).”
Jakob Nielsen, “Mobile Site Vs. Full Site (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox),” April 10, 2012, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mobile-vs-full-sites.html.
Keren Mills, M-Libraries: Information Use on the Move, Arcadia Programme (Cambridge, U.K, 2009), http://www.dspace.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/221923; Bridges, Rempel, and Griggs, “Making the Case for a Fully Mobile Library Web Site: From Floor Maps to the Catalog.”
Kaikkonen, “Full or Tailored Mobile Web- Where and How Do People Browse on Their Mobiles?”.
Constantinos K. Coursaris and Dan J. Kim, “A Meta-Analytical Review of Empirical Mobile Usability Studies,” J. Usability Studies 6, no. 3 (May 2011): 117–171. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2007456.2007459
Emrah Baki Basoglu and Omur Akdemir, “A Comparison of Undergraduate Students’ English Vocabulary Learning: Using Mobile Phones and Flash Cards,” Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology - TOJET 9, no. 3 (July 1, 2010): 1–7; Suzan Duygu Eristi et al., “The Use of Mobile Technologies in Multimedia-Supported Learning Environments,” Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education 12, no. 3 (July 1, 2011): 130–141; Stephanie Cobb et al., “Using Mobile Phones to Increase Classroom Interaction,” Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia 19, no. 2 (April 1, 2010): 147–157; Shelley Kinash, Jeffrey Brand, and Trishita Mathew, “Challenging Mobile Learning Discourse Through Research: Student Perceptions of ‘Blackboard Mobile Learn’ and ‘iPads’,” Australasian Journal of Educational Technology 28, no. 4 (January 1, 2012): 639–655.
University of Iowa, ICON Mobile Device Survey, n.d., https://icon.uiowa.edu/support/statistics/ICON%20Mobile%20Device%20Survey.pdf.
Kaikkonen, “Full or Tailored Mobile Web- Where and How Do People Browse on Their Mobiles?”.
K. D. Pendell and M. S. Bowman, “Usability Study of a Library’s Mobile Website: An Example from Portland State University,” Information Technology and Libraries 31, no. 2 (2012): 45–62. http://escholarship.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/ital/article/view/1913
Jamie Seeholzer and Joseph Salem, “Library on the Go: A Focus Group Study of the Mobile Web and the Academic Library,” College & Research Libraries 72, no. 1 (January 2011): 9–20. http://crl.acrl.org/content/72/1/9.short
Mills, M-Libraries.
Angela Dresselhaus and Flora Shrode, “Mobile Technologies & Academics: Do Students Use Mobile Technologies in Their Academic Lives and Are Librarians Ready to Meet This Challenge?,” Information Technology and Libraries 31, no. 2 (2012): 82–101. https://napoleon.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/ital/article/view/2166
Bohyun Kim, “It’s Time to Look at Your Library’s Mobile Website Again!” (presented at the American Library Association Annual Conference, Anaheim, CA, June 24, 2012), http://www.slideshare.net/bohyunkim/its-time-to-look-at-your-librarys-mobile-website-again.
Bridges, Rempel, and Griggs, “Making the Case for a Fully Mobile Library Web Site: From Floor Maps to the Catalog,” 313.
Ethan Marcotte, “Responsive Web Design,” A List Apart, May 25, 2010, http://alistapart.com/article/responsive-web-design.
Ibid.
What Is Responsive Design!?, accessed April 9, 2013, http://vinaganda.com/what-is-responsive-design/.
Jeff Burnz, “Responsive Design,” Drupal.Org, February 14, 2013, http://drupal.org/node/1322126.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2015 Information Technology and Libraries
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Authors that submit to Information Technology and Libraries agree to the Copyright Notice.
