Survey of Policies to Assure Mobile Device Access to the Library Website (PDF)

The 100+ page study looks closely at the measures taken by academic, public, and special libraries to assure that mobile devices–iPads, iPhones, Android devices, Kindles and many others–can access the library website easily and fluently. The report looks at the development of new versions of websites specifically designed for mobile access, at use of various paid and open source services and product for mobile device access, and at general library policies designed to ease the experience of mobile device users. The report presents highly detailed data on the extent of library website traffic accounted for by mobile devices, the impact on library resource use of the deployment of mobile friendly information products from vendors, and much more. More than 60 libraries contributed comprehensive data and insights to the report, and data is broken out by size and type of library and other useful criteria. The study helps its readers to answer questions such as: What kind of apps are libraries developing for mobile technologies? How are libraries testing their sites for mobile device access? How many libraries and what kinds of libraries are using for-fee services to enhance mobile device access? What is the impact on use of library resources? What has been the experience of libraries with various open source products to enable mobile access? What are libraries planning for the future in this mission critical area?