Now more than fifty years later in this day and age of constricted language like BTW, GGIMA (good grief it’s Monday again,) and ROFL, we end up with “Apps.” In a former language called English, these things are actually computer programmed applications. “Distros” are actually updated software program distribution files which send us apps.

Like the handmade cards above, we now have those kinds of electronic apps; a way to capture important but elusive bits of information not in our databases, but in our cumulative knowledge which can greatly help our customers/patrons.

We are now living in a world of links which are supposed to help us in our daily lives. Often we now find searching for solutions brings us to databases of links to suggested problem solving or forums. The issue is these are often circular, one doesn’t always know exact terms to bring up a solution, and you can spend a good portion of time without getting the answer needed. Computer generated answers to our searches are unlikely to be what we need, and often following them don’t work.

Librarians are in a unique position to find those URL links, phone numbers, and people by collecting these undocumented bits of information, and this collection can be facilitated by certain apps.

We now have, by virtue of the Internet, enough links about apps to keep us searching for what we need for a very long time. Searching for “Librarian’s note-taking app” gives a result of 3,400,000 items. I don’t think there’s time to look and try out all of those.

Of course, each of us have different needs for which some apps might be useful, but our particular way of working doesn’t fit the way the app wants us to work. So is it trial and error that we use apps? Do we get friends to suggest a good app for us? There are of course resources we might use (see below links and reference.)

To fix things; to fix issues, we need to determine, as in all goals, the issue or problem. These are the things strategic planning is all about. What’s the mission, the goal, the tasks needed to achieve? Once we have that information, it is a good hunt, but not an extensive one. I’ve written about finding things; it’s a process which is pretty much the same as for finding the right app:

Example: Do we need to take notes? Do we need to find what notes we made? Is there a search engine for this app? What will it search? What is the criteria needed for my app? In the case of the Evernote app, I found it could search words within photos placed on Evernote. I find that wonderful and fascinating as it was something we tried to do unsuccessfully back in the 1980s. Do I use Evernote? Not now, but I may decide to go back to it if I discover it works better than some of these desktop search programs.

THE APPS LIBRARY FOR LIBRARIANS

ACQUIRING BOOKS

BookBub, a daily email that alerts readers to free and deeply discounted ebooks that are available for a limited time.

BOOKS ABOUT APPS.

Selecting and Evaluating the Best Mobile Apps for Library Services

LISTS OF APPS:

Everything

45 Most Exciting Apps For Librarians – This alternative list to Everything desktop search engine is quite valuable.

10 Must Have iPad Apps For Librarians

Apps for academics: mobile web sites & apps: Library research

TRAINING :

Best Apps for Teaching & Learning 2016

LIBRARY RECOMMENDED APPS:

Mobile Apps for Libraries

Mobile Apps via Alexandria Library

ORGANIZING:

4 Android Apps for Managing Your Personal Book Library – This could come in handy for reference; categorizing books for different research requests.

PUBLIC RELATIONS:

A suite of apps for business, organizations, and churches.

The post Useful Apps for Your Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

MELSA previously offered a program called Museum Adventure Pass, which allowed patrons to check out physical passes to local museums and other institutions.  This program was well-loved by patrons but had downsides, including the fact that patrons had to physically go to a library branch to obtain one of a limited number of passes, which often ran out early in the day, and patrons had no limits on repeat checkouts.[ii]

With the new smARTpass, patrons can obtain tickets and passes straight from an app on their smartphones, making them more widely available to MELSA patrons.  These tickets are still limited and still run out quickly, sometimes within hours, but new policies help spread the cultural wealth among patrons.[iii]  First, patrons can generally only reserve one pair of free admissions to each institution per year, unless the institution permits more, and once reserved the admissions cannot be returned – if they are not used the patron still cannot reserve another set that year.  Second, patrons can have only two active reservations at a time, with reservation slots available up to two months in advance.  With this policy, if a patron reserves a set of tickets to two different institutions for the next month, they cannot reserve a set of tickets for another institution until they’ve used the first of their reserved tickets.[iv]

“It works best if you have a lot of cultural organizations that can contribute, so lots of people can take advantage of it,” said Sally Lederer, communications manager for MELSA. “Luckily for us here we have a lot of great arts partners.”[v]

MELSA has partnered with more than two dozen organizations to provide passes and tickets for this program.[vi]  The tickets are provided by the organizations and are not paid for by MELSA; it is up to each institution to decide how many tickets they will offer, with what restrictions, and for what specific dates.  Partners can also offer discounted tickets, which are usually not limited by the free ticket policies, allowing interested patrons further admission to their favorite institutions.[vii]

“The good thing about [smARTpass] is that it’s really scalable for different sizes of organizations,” said Lederer.  “It can be a small theater company or a large museum that’s open every day; it just depends on what the organization has to offer.”[viii]  Current smARTpass partners include museums, orchestras, smaller music ensembles, theaters, and even a dance studio.[ix]

The smARTpass app was built by Nerdery, a Minnesota-based web developer, and the app and website are maintained by MELSA staff.  The app’s backend allows partners to generate reports to see how many people are using the partner’s offered tickets and which libraries the users come from.[x]

The program is marketed with ads on local news sites,  MELSA’s website,  websites of its member libraries, and in individual branches via bookmarks and posters. Currently, smARTpass has about 16,000 registered users, a small percentage of the library population, and “the ones on there are pretty serious about making reservations,” said Lederer.[xi]

References

[i] “Partners.” MELSA smARTpass. Accessed January 21, 2017 https://smartpass.melsa.org/partners/

[ii] Sally Lederer, Communications Manager at MELSA, in a phone interview with the author, January 5, 2017

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] “How it Works.” MELSA smARTpass. Accessed January 21, 2017 https://smartpass.melsa.org/how-it-works/

[v] Sally Lederer, Communications Manager at MELSA, in a phone interview with the author, January 5, 2017

[vi] “Partners.” MELSA smARTpass. Accessed January 21, 2017 https://smartpass.melsa.org/partners/

[vii] Sally Lederer, Communications Manager at MELSA, in a phone interview with the author, January 5, 2017

[viii] Ibid.

[ix] “Partners.” MELSA smARTpass. Accessed January 21, 2017 https://smartpass.melsa.org/partners/

[x] Sally Lederer, Communications Manager at MELSA, in a phone interview with the author, January 5, 2017

[xi] Ibid.

The post Patrons Can Check Out a Museum Pass with smARTpass App first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Times have changed. E-books, something many of us never thought were possible, are now commonplace, and many checkouts from the library never even involve a visit to the stacks.

Not everyone has access to them though, especially families who are poor and cannot afford to pay for content, even if they have a smartphone or computer. Checking out e-books from libraries is one option, but at the end of February, the White House released a new app: Open eBooks.

Getting started with the app is easy. Educators can sign up at openebooks.net and receive codes for their students. The students can then use those codes to download the app to a smartphone or tablet, and then they will have access to the e-book collection.

“Clearly, the Open eBooks program can provide another digital gateway for millions of children to develop a love of reading,” says Sari Feldman, President of the American Library Association, “and what smarter investment in our future could we make than getting books in front of kids?”

The White House has been slow to adapt, but is rapidly catching up in the digital realm. Some developments include the first Chief Data Scientist in US history leading the white house into the world of big data, as well as the Department of Education launching an initiative called #GoOpen and encouraging educators and their districts to use openly licensed educational resources (OERs).

Open eBooks is different from those programs in that it deals primarily with copyrighted material. It does, however, follow a similar pattern from the White House: gather data and make sure it is publically available, use OERs to enhance education, and make e-books free to those who cannot afford them.

The app involves partnerships with ten major publishers, who provide the texts, with the Digital Public Library of America, First Book, The New York Public Library, digital books distributor Baker & Taylor and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

What do you think? How will Open eBooks affect libraries and classrooms? Tell me your thoughts in the comments below.

The post Open eBooks: A Digital Gateway first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

But not all libraries have the capacity to serve summer meals. This is where Range, a mobile app created by Caravan Studios (a division of TechSoup), comes in to help. Range helps youth and those who work with them find locations where free summer meals are served.

Caravan Studios’ Community-Centered Approach

I spoke with Anna Jaeger, the CTO of Caravan Studios, to learn a bit more about the team’s approach to developing apps. Caravan’s model for understanding and prioritizing community needs is not unlike how many libraries develop programming.

Jaeger describes Caravan’s app development process as a “community-centered approach.” It’s a five-step process that begins with events called generators, where leaders from the nonprofit and library communities discuss what gets in the way of delivering their missions. The Caravan team then listens and identifies ways that technology can intervene to solve or alleviate the problems.

Caravan worked with the California Summer Meals Coalition, particularly with its director, Patrice Chamberlain, who served as an advisor for the app.

“As we start to design, build, and select, we have advisors in the community who are trusted experts who are willing to give us input and help guide our work,” Jaeger said.

Chamberlain introduced Caravan to the California Department of Education and the USDA, who further guided the team’s work. The USDA also provided Caravan with a dataset of summer meal sites across the country.

Screenshot of Range App

How Libraries Can Use Range

Public libraries are starting to play a larger role as a referrer of community health and social services. Many larger public library systems (such as Washington, D.C. and San Francisco) are adding social workers to their employee roster. In a recent TechSoup for Libraries and WebJunction co-hosted webinar, we examined social service referral programs from three libraries of varying sizes. And at ALA 2015, WebJunction showcased its Health Happens in Libraries program along with five library participants at a poster session.

But for libraries that don’t have the budget or staffing to develop a robust social services or meal program, a tool like Range is an easy (and free!) way to get started. One librarian I spoke with said that she posted a flier about Range on her library’s community bulletin board. She said that although they don’t get a lot of questions about social services, there is a high poverty rate in her community. She thought that posting Range’s information could help a family in need if they were too afraid to ask.

What’s Next for Range

One exciting addition to Range, coming in 2015, is that the app will show the locations of nearby public libraries, using library data from IMLS. That’s a whopping 17,000 libraries! Caravan held a crowdfunding campaign last spring to raise funds to also add the days and hours of operation for all of the libraries in the United States (the IMLS dataset doesn’t currently provide that information).

Why add libraries to Range? In the aftermath of the events in Ferguson, MO and in Baltimore, MD, it was evident that libraries are viewed by the community as safe places in times of crisis. But during a normal summer day, the library is also a safe place for a child who isn’t at camp, swimming, or on vacation.

You can download Range today to help youth in your library’s community locate free summer meals. Range is available for Windows Phone, Android, and Apple iOS devices.

The post How Range Can Help Libraries Connect Kids to Summer Meals first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Novel Engagement (NE) has four basic components: Authors, Books, Events, and Reader Zone. The best part of the app may be the Books section, which not only allows a search for books by title, but also by subgenre and theme. Keywords such as “cowboys” or “vampires” can be entered to narrow down a search. Looking for just a romance novel is often not enough for today’s educated romance reader. Romance novel enthusiasts have their own specific tastes and this app could help a librarian narrow them down.

The application also includes contests and giveaways, both online and live. In addition, readers can sign up to be notified through the app when their favorite author has a new release coming up. An author’s entry in NE often includes a bio as well as a list of titles, website addresses, social media connections, and any awards the author has received.

Allison Kelley, RWA’s executive director, strongly believes this app will be of value to librarians. “The app is a great tool for…romance readers to use to find books they can then go check out via their library or request that their libraries add to their collections. We think this will be a great resource for librarians to use for romance readers advisory.”

The app, which is free, is still in the process of being updated. “We have a website version on the way,” Kelley says.

It’s up to RWA members to apply to be part of NE. Some of the authors currently listed include Sandra Brown, Sylvia Day, Sabrina Jefferies, and Susan Wiggs.

According to a press release, the app lists 1,000 authors and over 5,000 romance novels. With RWA’s membership of 10,000 worldwide, those listings are certain to increase in the future. And with an estimated $1 billion in sales of the genre, this app is sure to help librarians and readers find the perfect romance reading fit.

To learn more about the app and download it, visit www.rwa.org or www.novelengagement.com.

The post Need More Romance? There’s An App for That first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

MozGo employs an innovative cloud-based “mobile mediator” to provide a flexible solution that can be used with almost any integrated library system (ILS). VTLS applies the library’s branding to the MozGo app, tailoring it to each library. The deployment process is simple: the application is distributed to patrons through the iTunes Store or Android Marketplace under the library’s name. Using the Mobile Mediator, MozGo connects directly to the library catalog to provide real-time information. Once deployed, no extra work is needed to support new ILS versions, or even entirely different ILS implementations at your library. MozGo is based on a new open VTLS platform, Open Skies.

The post VTLS Releases MozGo first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Just in time to keep us focused during the season of electronic joy and twinkling hi-def distraction, two recent studies by The Wall Street Journal¹ and Juniper Networks reveal that while you may be amusing yourself with Angry Birds, other nefarious activities may be taking place beneath your screen’s surface. Personal details such as current location, your phone numbers, your name/ID, age, gender, income, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and political views may be sent to tracking companies without your consent. More alarming, many apps request permission to perform such unnecessary functions as sending texts, taking pictures (activating your device’s camera), stealing pictures, accessing text-message archives, or making phone calls.

Though many apps list and require the user to sign-off on certain permissions before installing — the explicit detail and the access being allowed is often collapsed within drop-down menus, while the “Accept & Download” button is dominantly placed. While many companies say that they do not share their data (which is to say your data) with outside sources, a lack of standardized practice necessitates a call for discretion, as the way in which permissions are displayed does not differentiate between a company legitimately using your private information for the app’s straightforward intention, from spyware placing an outgoing call to eavesdrop on conversations within earshot of your device. Unfortunately, there is also little that can be done to sidestep this tracking. Rarely is there an “opt out” function, but rather, a flat ultimatum to agree and install or decline and leave empty handed. Here are a few ways to you can help filter the good from the bad:

–          Free apps were more than 4 times as likely to access contact lists (or perform other invasive functions) than paid apps.

–          Many apps collect location data in interest of assigning localized ads – but again, read the permissions and if anything sounds shady orvague, opt out.

–          Many apps are no more than a ruse to collect your data, the most popularly downloaded apps (racing games, gambling/card games, word games) thus yield a higher frequency of posers .

–          Be especially cautious of financial related apps, many request permission to make outgoing calls in the background , but provide no explanation for why.

–          keep an eye out for apps that don’t have button/logo art, that do not look professional, have spelling errors, are knock-offs, or do not list a company .

–          Read the apps reviews – especially the negative ones – why are they disapproving?

–          Perform a web search for the app or the company, they should also list the permissions on their website – perhaps with greater detail – if they do not list a referral site, beware.

–          Delete/Remove and report apps (via the app store they were downloaded) that may come factory on your phone and you do not use, or that you feel compromise your data.

To some extent, this level of intrusion is our new normal and is not limited to smart phones. Tablet or eReader users operating  iPads/iTunes, Kindles/Amazon, or Nooks/Barnes & Noble will recall that in order to even have the ability to download an app, free or pay, they must enter an active credit card number.

Upon “purchase” of a free app iTunes lets you scramble the number; and you can delete the card from Amazon, but Nook requires you to keep an active card – and even runs a .01 transaction that is immediately refunded to verify each “purchase, while all let you keep a card and password protect purchases. And when you consider that Apple and Google are the main companies administering the “rules” for app online-tracking – and that they run the biggest services, by revenue, for putting ads on cell phones – the outlook can feel daunting.

Before you enjoy your free lunch, always read the fine print.

_________________

1. Yukari Iwatani Kane and Scott Thurm, “Your Apps Are Watching You,” The Wall Street Journal, accessed November 8, 2012, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704694004576020083703574602.html

For further reading:
John Leydon, “Free Android Apps Often Secretly Make Calls, Use the Camera,” The Register, accessed November 8, 2012, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/01/android_app_privacy_audit/

The post There’s No Such Thing as a Free App first appeared on Public Libraries Online.