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Using wireless devices to enhance reference and information services.

Article Excerpt
A growing number of libraries have installed wireless data connections as a way of providing access to the Internet for members of the public. Some libraries have used their wireless networks to enable staff to use wireless devices to increase their mobility, effectiveness and responsiveness to client need particularly in providing reference and information services. This paper will look at some of these innovative applications of wireless data technology in libraries.

AN INCREASING NUMBER OF PUBLIC AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES HAVE INSTALLED WIRELESS connections as a way of providing access to the Internet (including access to library catalogues and subscription databases) for members of the public or for university students. The libraries provide the Internet connection and the library patrons provide their own hardware to access these resources. This is happening in Australia as well as in other countries.

Very little is being written about the additional uses to which this wireless technology can be put. Most of the information for this paper has come from listservs (electronic mails lists) and by e-mailing individual libraries, because not much is being published in the area of value adding to wireless services. Nor are there many examples to look at in this area of service delivery. A small number of libraries in the US and Canada are leading the way, some because they have a history of being early adopters of technological innovations, and others because the library staff have had to work out how to continue to provide a quality reference service with significant reductions in staff numbers. There are a limited number of small scale trials for additional uses for wireless technology.

Medical libraries were early adopters of wireless technology. One reason for this is that hospitals in developed countries are already high-tech environments. This has led to PDAs (personal digital assistants) being used extensively in medical libraries. (Solomons, 2004)

This paper specifically looks at how wireless technology can enhance the delivery of reference and information services. It aims to look at public library developments with a number of references to university libraries, which are using a very specific aspect of wireless technology because they have large area wireless networks.

Roving laptops

The simplest way of using wireless to enhance reference and information services is to take a laptop out of the library, or to a different part of the library, to provide a reference service. A campus-wide wireless network at a university is an ideal way of being able to do this, and was the starting point for thinking about additional creative and effective uses for this technology by library staff from a customer service perspective

Taking laptops out and about is particularly suited to university libraries. Campus-wide wireless networks have been installed so that students (and staff) can access crucial course-related data regardless of their physical location on the campus. They can work collaboratively regardless of location and library resources can be accessed over a much larger area. Staff are able to take wireless-enabled laptops to cafes or to particular faculties when there is a campus-wide wireless network. This approach has been taken at some Canadian universities: at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia laptops provide a reference service outside the library; at the Queen Elizabeth II Library at the Memorial University of Newfoundland library staff also use the roving wireless service to provide reference services, and...