Connect with Your Library: A Mobile app for Washington
The Washington State Library is delighted to announce a $200,000 grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation which, in combination with Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds, will develop a mobile application or “app” to connect patrons with their libraries. Libraries that sign up by Friday, April 19, 2013, will have the opportunity to be in the initial phase of implementation.
LSTA funds will pay for development costs of a mobile app for academic, public, and tribal libraries to connect individuals with the library’s online services. Two statewide apps, one for academic libraries and one for public libraries, will be developed. The Allen Foundation funds will pay for public and tribal libraries to use and test the application for the year 2014. Academic libraries will need to pay the subscription fee themselves. Allen Foundation Funds will also pay for a state wide internet PR campaign to publicize the application’s availability.
After the completion of a formal procurement process, and with the advice of an advisory committee, Boopsie was selected as the vendor for this project. Boopsie currently supplies a similar app to the Seattle Public Library (as shown in the image) and to the King County Library System, as well as having provided a similar statewide implementation in the State of Virginia.
More information, including a listing of app features and the Intent to Participate Form can be found at: www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/app. Questions? Contact Carolyn Petersen [email protected], 360.570.5560, or Will Stuivenga [email protected], 360.704.5217.
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April 11th, 2013 at 5:23 pm
Do you know what benefits the app will offer for the patrons? I’m just curious to know how app technology will benefit patrons. I think this is wonderful though.
April 15th, 2013 at 11:21 am
Hello Karen Falgore,
Thank you for your interest in the mobile app project! If you follow the link to the project’s web page (http://www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/app) you can read a list of features that the app will include. Here’s a sample:
Patrons can use the app to check their library accounts, see which books they have checked out or on hold, make renewals, add holds, search the catalog, and that’s just the catalog part of the app. They can use the app to locate the library nearest them, check for library programs (story hour times, etc.), interact with the library’s social media (blogs, FaceBook, Twitter, etc.) and much more.
The idea is to make as much of the library’s online presence as possible available directly from the patron’s mobile device in a format that is designed for the mobile experience.