You’re riding the bus and suddenly remember that you have a book that might be due back at the library. Normally, you’d either have to stretch your memory or call the library’s automated voice service to access your membership account. Now there’s an app for that, making your smartphone just a little bit smarter.
The St. Albert Public Library (SAPL) has officially launched its new applications for smartphones that allow patrons full access to their accounts and the catalogue while they’re on the go.
“It’s cool. It makes it a little bit easier for people to use the library on their phone,” said public services manager Heather Dolman.
The new free SAPL mobile applications are available for iPhone and Android phones as well as iPods and iPads as well as most other tablet computers. Blackberry, Windows Phone and Kobo Vox users can access a mobile version of the library’s catalogue that loads automatically when accessing the library’s website on those mobile devices.
Shelley Martell, the library’s communications assistant, appreciates how some of the apps’ features have made her life easier.
“I’m an iPhone user and I love one of the new search features on the SAPL iPhone app,” said Martell. “If I am out and about and come across a book I’d like to read, I can open the SAPL app and scan the publisher’s ISBN barcode number on the book with my phone. In a flash, it shows me if the library has the book. In a touch or two, I can place it on hold.”
Dolman uses an Android phone.
“Before the mobile site became available, I’d go to our website pinching and expanding and I’d have to go back and forth to see what I want to see, so the mobile site just makes it a whole lot easier to go through,” she said.
The new applications also make it easier to stay abreast of the most current and popular items in the collection by categorizing items that were recently reviewed, recently arrived, on order, or on bestseller lists.
“The SAPL app has a screen that allows me to easily see all the items I have checked out, when they’re due back, what I have on hold, what I’ve recently returned, and if I have fees due. It lets me keep my own ‘shelves’ of books I’ve read, or want to read too. It’s easy and quick to do it with the app,” Martell added.
The apps were developed by BiblioCommons, the software company that supplies the library’s catalogue. These apps follow suit with the Edmonton Public Library, along with several others across the province.
There were 17,612 visits to the St. Albert library’s online catalogue over the last month with 2,327 of them coming from mobile devices. Now that the apps have been launched library officials expects that number to skyrocket.
The apps can be found by searching “SAPL” on iTunes, or “St. Albert Public Library” on Android Market.
The library also has a variety of other features that are available for smartphones and tablets including e-books and e-audiobooks, databases, and Mango language learning.
To learn more about the library’s apps, visit www.sapl.ab.ca/page/go-mobile-apps.
