In recent years, we have seen huge growth in mobile
technologies available to consumers. One
of the areas in which there has been significant increase is in the quantity and
variety of mobile apps available to be downloaded on mobile devices.
There are now more than 1.2 billion smartphone owners worldwide, and mobile apps provide
an effective and efficient channel for companies, governments, charities and
other organizations to market their products and services to consumers,
particularly to younger, tech-savvy users.
Mobile technologies enable us to connect and share information with the
web with mobile devices, and this has accelerated the pace of our lives, and
opened our lifestyle to the world in ways that were not previously possible. We are no longer just connected, but hyper-connected
to the world around us.
A study
conducted last year by United States analytics firm Flurry investigated consumers’ daily engagement with their mobile devices, and found that
consumers are increasingly spending more time on mobile apps than they do on
web browsing. Specifically, the average user spent 9% more time using mobile
apps than the internet. They concluded
that this growth in mobile app usage was the result of more sessions during the
day per user, as opposed to an increase in session length. For example, users are checking in on social
networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, more often throughout the day
for brief periods, as opposed to browsing sites for extended periods of time. The research found that out of all apps users
spent their time on daily, games captured the most (47 per cent), followed by
social networking (32 per cent), news apps (9 per cent) and entertainment (7
per cent). This heavy use of different types of mobile apps has been
reflected by the development of a mobile app that seeks to split professional and personal apps on users’
devices, and allows users to use one mobile device for both private and work
use, instead of using multiple devices.
Many libraries,
both in New Zealand and overseas, have already embraced mobile app technology,
and are providing patrons with new ways to engage with their library. For example, library patrons can now use apps
to access their library catalogue and use self-service options, such as requesting
or renewing items, as well as being able to use their phone to scan an item’s barcode or QR code to look up library copies, or additional
services associated with that item.
Mobile apps can also provide library patrons with information about the
library, such as opening hours, building floor plans, workshop timetables, and
enable patrons to search electronic databases for information. Technology that is also being trialed to
enable patrons to use their mobile phones as library cards in libraries.
All of these
technologies provide libraries with opportunities and challenges, and it is crucial
that we embrace these technologies and provide our patrons with the best
possible service in a delivery format relevant to their needs, wherever they
need it. Mobile apps provide an
effective way of doing this.
