Library in a smartphone: necessity or redundancy?

Abstract

Digital information technologies’ rapid development over the recent decade has made the smartphone an integral part of the modern user’s life, turning this gadget into a means for instant information acquisition anywhere and anytime, therefore, library, as one of its most important sources, strives to use mobile technologies as efficiently as possible in the process of providing information to users, including by creating adapted versions of websites for smartphones or mobile applications. The purpose of the work is to determine, basing on domestic and foreign sources, as well as data from the Internet sites where mobile applications are presented, which software products meet the needs of library users, what their peculiarity and advantages and disadvantages are like. The absence of detailed domestic studies based on usability testing, which could have provided more complete information about the requirements for library mobile applications, is noted. The basic criteria used to form the first idea of the value of the presented product as well as the tools allowing to collect more detailed information about its applicability are listed. Based on the selected 35 applications, a list of options that are most popular with developers has been composed, and on the app stores, that provide information about user ratings and reviews, functions that are significant for users have been identified. The paper supports the idea that the development of a mobile application cannot be considered an obligatory requirement, it is noted that when planning its creation, the library should take into account a number of objective factors, for example, the availability of sufficient resources, valuable content, as well as social, educational and gender characteristics of its target audience.