Foreword

Summary

Libraries have moved quickly into the mobile environment, and the papers in this volume, from presentations at the 5th M-Libraries Conference in Hong Kong in May 2014, reflect the wide array of developments in the field. When I gave a keynote at the first M-Libraries Conference, held at the Open University, UK, in 2007, my talk focused on trends and suggestions for the future because there were so few examples of mobile applications in libraries at that time. This volume will provide many avenues for libraries to pursue as they develop a portfolio of content and services suited for mobile devices and their users.

An international conference such as M-Libraries, with speakers and attendees from many countries and continents, makes us realize how much we are part of the global information environment. Libraries must simultaneously keep in mind the world of information while tailoring their own offerings to their own user community. For public libraries, this means understanding the particular needs of their citizens: from small children, who are increasingly reading and playing games on tablet devices, to senior citizens, who are keeping in touch with family members far away via various video chat platforms. For special libraries, this means tailoring content and services for the particular needs of an industry or profession. For academic libraries, this means focusing very intentionally on how the mobile information environment can support the research, teaching and learning activities of the institution. The key is to keep the programmatic needs of the user community as the focus rather than library operations as the focus.

While many libraries are already providing fundamental services for mobile devices (such as easy information about the hours and location of the library, group room reservations, catalogue access and chat reference service), they can use the mobile environment/platform to pilot services that reach more deeply into the work of their clientele. For academic libraries, in which I have a particular interest, this can involve working at the institutional level on e-content policies and procedures, determining who is going to have the responsibility for acquiring, licensing, storing and maintaining all types of content that might be useful on mobile devices, from e-journals to e-textbooks to image collections.