Smartphones: A Potential Discovery Tool

Headnote

The anticipated wide adoption of smartphones by researchers is viewed by the authors as a basis for developing mobile-based services. In response to the UNLV Libraries' strategic plan's focus on experimentation and outreach, the authors investigate the current and potential role of smartphones as a valuable discovery tool for library users.

When the dean of libraries announced a Discovery Mini-Conference at the University of Nevada Las Vegas Libraries to be held in spring 2009, we saw the opportunity to investigate the potential use of smartphones as a means of getting information and services to students. Being enthusiastic users of Apple's iPhone, we and the Web technical support manager, developed a presentation highlighting the iPhone's potential value in an academic library setting. Because Wendy is UNLV Libraries' director of user services, she was interested in the applicability of smartphones as a tool for users to more easily discover the libraries' resources and services. Eva, as the health sciences librarian, was aware of a long tradition of PDA use by medical professionals. Indeed, first-year Bachelor of Science Nursing students are required to purchase a PDA bundled with select software. Together we were drawn to the student-outreach possibilities inherent in new smartphone applications such as Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace.

Presentation

Our brief review of the news and literature about mobile phones in general provided some interesting findings and served as a backdrop for our presentation:

* A total of 77 percent of Internet experts agreed that the mobile phone would be "the primary connection tool" for most people in the world by 2020. 1 The number of smartphone users is expected to top 100 million by 2013. There are currently 25 million smartphone users, with sales in North America having grown 69 percent in 2008.2

* Smartphones offer a combination of technologies, including GPS tracking, digital cameras, and digital music, as well as more than fifty- thousand specialized apps for the iPhone and new ones being designed for...