[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Mobile app

[Schooff, Rose (LVA)]

Here in Virginia we have Boopsie mobile app, BUT for our libraries that have Evergreen I have Boopsie just link them straight to the URL.  Normally Boopsie requires that you FTP a file to them from your catalog or they can link straight to the URL of your catalog.  They don’t like to link straight to the URL because (and I can understand) they use a smart search type technology.  But I don’t want to go through the gyrations of getting Equinox to FTP a file when the regular site works just fine.

Boopsie does so much more than just the catalog with their apps so take that into consideration when looking at them.  Ie Calendar Events, maps, hours, Overdrive (if you have it) – they are trying to integrate as many other apps into theirs as possible.

Just my 2 cents worth.

From: open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org [mailto:open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org] On Behalf Of Rogan Hamby
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2014 3:00 PM
To: Evergreen Discussion Group
Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Mobile app

There was effort at one point to put together an Android app but that's been inactive for a few years I think.  My reading of the community interest as of a year or so ago was that there was more interest in making the responsive design for the OPAC strong enough that an app was largely unnecessary.

And I think that's largely been done.  At the Hack-A-Way last year there was a big push for the responsive design and it's continued.  A lot of folks were involved in that but off the top of my head the names Ben Shum and Kathy Lussier come to mind as two involved so they might have opinions on that score.  I've heard a lot of compliments within my consortium in the last year about the usability of the web site searching and placing holds and such since that work was done even on relatively "small" smart phones like the current generation iPhones.  (They're still current until Friday anyway.)

On Mon, Sep 15, 2014 at 1:49 PM, Steven W. Campbell <swcampbell at scenicregional.org<mailto:swcampbell at scenicregional.org>> wrote:

My library system migrated to Evergreen in January as part of the Missouri Evergreen consortia. We recently have been looking into a mobile app for our OPAC that will work with iPhones and other Apple mobile devices. I was surprised to learn that there doesn’t appear to be an open source mobile app available for the Evergreen OPAC. I can hardly believe it with the rapid growth of mobile devices.

Boopsie will design our library a mobile app for $5,000, plus a $12,000 annual maintenance fee (every year). I thought that seemed high. I also thought that if we were going to spend that much money, I would rather spend it on funding an open course version that everyone can use and may not require as much money for future maintenance costs.

Am I missing something? Is there an open source mobile app available for Evergreen’s OPAC for iPhones and other Apple mobile devices (or any type of mobile device)? Is there something already being worked on?

Thanks,
Steve

___________________________________________

Steven W. Campbell
Library Director
Scenic Regional Library
308 Hawthorne Dr.
Union, MO 63084
636-583-0652<tel:636-583-0652>
www.scenicregional.org<http://www.scenicregional.org/>




--

Rogan Hamby, MLS, CCNP, MIA
Managers Headquarters Library and Reference Services,
York County Library System

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”
― C.S. Lewis<http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1069006.C_S_Lewis>
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