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Mobile technologies and devices have changed people’s lives dramatically since

being introduced. There are many players in this mobile technology sphere.

The iPad is one of the dominant players and is considered a “must-have”

technology. The iPad is not just for entertainment; lawyers are finding innovative ways to

use iPads in their practices to improve productivity and efficiency. According to the 2013

Clio “Apple in Law Offices” survey, three-quarters of respondents said that they own an

iPad and two thirds of them said that they currently use iPads in their law offices. iPad

has penetrated the legal market.

Technical Services Going MobileHow technical services librarians can benefit from integrating mobile technologies anddevices into their daily workflow

By Ning Han

© 2014 Ning Han • Photos courtesy of Anne Mostad-Jensen

Technical Services Librarian Ning Han uses mobile devices to transmit scans of book title pages to theremote cataloging librarian.

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There is a similar trend in legaleducation. Mobile technologies anddevices have been a favorite topic ofdiscussion at conferences in recent years.Law librarians are among the earlyadopters in this changing landscape.There are many great articles discussinghow mobile technologies and devicescan be used to facilitate reference servicesand research instruction at individualinstitutions or firms. However, what wehaven’t seen or heard much about is howtechnical services librarians can benefitfrom integrating mobile technologies anddevices into their daily workflow.

This article will address the needs,values, and practices of using mobiledevices for technical services librarians.Specifically, it will discuss areas whereusing a mobile device can tremendouslysimplify workflow and dramaticallyimprove productivity and efficiency.

Everyone’s Gone Mobile, So Why NotTechnical Services?

Our LibraryLike many other law libraries, George R.White Law Library is an early adopterof mobile technologies and devices,especially in the areas of referenceservices and legal research instruction.In addition, our students have atendency to use tablets along with theirlaptops for studying. The library hasalways been very responsive to students’mobile-technology needs since it openedits doors in fall 2012. Under thisinstitutional environment, I started towonder how I could be more proactivewith students’ needs as a technicalservices librarian.

Our Technical Services DepartmentIn addition to the law schoolenvironment, our Technical ServicesDepartment presents its own uniqueneeds for employing mobile technologiesand devices. We have a one-persontechnical services department. I amcharged with performing a widerange of tasks, from acquisitions,system management, and cataloging tocollection development, budgeting,policy setting, and student workertraining. It would seem to be anoverwhelming job, but the stronginfrastructure support that we receivefrom our main campus library has madeit a manageable one. That being said,on a daily basis, I still must manageto get things done in a timely andorganized manner. Being efficient is key.

Take cataloging maintenance workflow,for example. I found it to be quite awaste of my time to run between stacks,my office, and the processing room inorder to gather all the informationI need to make necessary changes inour Integrated Library System (ILS).Oftentimes, I realize I need to refer torecords other than the one I have printedout. This is especially true when workingwith legal serial titles. It usually takesme more than two trips to gather all theinformation I need. I believe that mostof you, especially cataloging librarians,understand this pain. Not only is timewasted, but unnecessary printing costsare incurred. Mobilizing this workflowwould be beneficial.

Maybe saying that I am a one-persondepartment is not totally fair. We dohave a cataloging librarian who worksremotely for us on a part-time basis.She is based at our main campus inPortland, Oregon. We share her timewith the main campus library. It is greatto have extra help, but the fact that sheis 400 miles away from us poses newchallenges. She cannot catalog any bookswithout seeing them. We need a solutionto bridge the distance gap between ourremote cataloging librarian and all thenew books. In the past, the solution wasthe scanner/copier in our printer room.It is not a bad solution, but there areproblems. Often, I need to play withdifferent paper size options to make ascan work. Some books or binders aretoo bulky, so I can’t get a good scan.And we share this scanner/copier withstudents. I often find myself in students’way as they impatiently wait to printout assignments for their classes. Mostimportant, it is not feasible for me toadd book titles or ISBNs to the subjectline of a scanner email at the same timeas I am doing the scanning. All thescanner-generated emails have a randomsubject line. I need to modify the subjectline as a separate step so that we cansearch for all the scans when needed. Notto mention how many times the booksneed to be hauled around the library forsuch a simple task. This is another areawhere mobilizing and streamlining theworkflow saves tons of time.

There is also the need to performinventory control, especially for ourstudy aids and other popular or high-demand titles. This is one of the tasksthat has traditionally been performedwith laptops but not necessarily throughmobile devices like tablets. Lightweight

and wireless equipment would be idealfor this purpose. It would be even moreideal if the selected equipment allowsus to make changes right after an erroror inaccuracy is spotted during anyinventory control projects. Besides,mobilizing this workflow withlightweight tablets has add-on benefits.If student workers were assigned tothis kind of project, they could bringthe tablet screen to their supervisor’sattention if a problem was discovered.Or they also could do a screenshot if nosupervisor was available at that moment.

In addition, having a mobile devicearound will help ensure that the OPACand websites are mobile compatible.I am responsible for customizing ourOPAC landing page as well as our librarysearch page. Since many of our studentsare using their mobile devices forresearch, I want to be as proactive asI can to make sure whatever the libraryoffers is mobile-compatible.

Cloud-Based ILSAlma, a cloud-based ILS that we recentlymigrated to, makes it possible for usto mobilize technical services workflowsat our library. This cloud-based structureallows us to access Alma via a webbrowser from any device that isconnected to the internet, includingtablets. Basically, this cloud-based systemfurther opens the door for our technicalservices department to go mobile.

Our Device ChoicesAll of the aforementioned needs lead toone obvious conclusion: going mobilewould benefit our technical servicesdepartment and the library as a whole.After getting approval from the librarydirector, the next question is what devicewe should choose.

Windows 8 Tablets vs. iPadsBudget and compatibility are two ofthe biggest concerns when it comes tochoosing a device. If we hadn’t migratedto Alma, Windows 8 tablets wouldbe the only choice available to us.A Windows 8 tablet can act as a laptopsince it supports a full windows system.Traditional library systems that requireinstallation can only be mobilized byusing a Windows 8 tablet. Since Almais cloud-based and no installation isneeded, we have more options in termsof choosing a device.

If budget was unlimited, Windows 8tablets would still be my first choice,even though they don’t seem to be

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necessary in our case. However, I doneed to operate within a budget. AWindows 8 tablet can easily cost from$800-$1,400, which is way beyond thebudget I have. That leaves me to choosebetween Android tablets and iPads.Between these two, it comes down tomore of a personal preference. To me,the iPad seems to stand out morecompared with other tablets availableon the market.

Before I committed to iPad,I performed some compatibility tests.I needed to find out whether Alma,our ILS, and OCLC Connexion wereiPad-compatible or not. I was hopingto find apps for both Alma andOCLC Connexion in the app store.Unfortunately, no such apps have beendeveloped. The option of running bothprograms on Safari is still available.As I expected, both Alma and OCLCConnexion run smoothly on the iPadweb browser, Safari. The interfacescame up exactly the same as on any PC.I performed a few tasks, such as addingitem records, changing location code,etc., and nothing indicated that Almaand OCLC Connexion are not iPad-compatible. So iPad passed both thebudget and compatibility tests.

The Quest for the Perfect WirelessBarcode ScannerFinding a perfect wireless barcodescanner was the next agenda item. Theinternal library barcode we use here is inCODABAR format, and the regular ISBNbarcode is in CODE 39 format. Thosetwo formats are the most commonly usedbarcode formats. Presumably any barcodereader should be able to read these formatswith no trouble—at least, that is the casefor all of our wired desktop barcodescanners. However, I learned that this isnot always the case. It is true that anybarcode scanner is capable of pickingup the raw data string embedded in abarcode, but not every barcode scannercan convert the raw data string to theformat that we need.

In the interest of being budget-friendly, I initially purchased a relativelycheap Inateck barcode scanner offAmazon.com. It worked fine except forCODABAR reading. It picked up boththe start and stop characters every timewhen it read a CODABAR barcode, butthe start and stop characters need to bestripped in an ideal reading situation.

To give you a better idea ofwhat I am talking about, here issample reading of the Inateck scanner:A13702000021564B. We don’t need

either the A or the B in the reading atall. All we need is the barcode itself.The other problem with this scanneris that it doesn’t break each readingwith a space. If you read two or moreCODABAR barcodes in a row you willget: A13702000021564BA13702000021564B. It is really hard to read or workwith. I contacted Inateck tech support,and they confirmed that there is no fixfor either issue. But the tech supportrepresentative did indicate that we

should go with barcode scanners in ahigher price range. He pointed out thatthose scanners have gone throughprogramming to eliminate such issues.

After learning all that, I startedanother round of searching for a perfectwireless barcode scanner. I contacted afew vendor friends for recommendations.Socket Mobile barcode scanner seemedto be the best choice for us. It is smalland super lightweight with a retractablelanyard attached. Socket Mobile’scustomer service is also very responsiveand easy to work with. When I firstreceived the Socket Mobile barcodescanner, I ran into all the issues that Ihad with the Inateck scanner, but SocketMobile found solutions to every issue.I reconfigured the scanner by followingthe instructions they gave me. Now thescanner is doing exactly what I want itto do, especially with CODABAR.

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Most wireless scanners nowadays arecompatible with iPad through Bluetoothconnection. I didn’t run into any issuesin this regard.

iPad and Socket Mobile Scanner inActionIt only took a minimum amount ofinitial configuration before I was able toput both the iPad and the Socket Mobilescanner into action.

Bye-Bye Painful Scanning ProcessAs I described earlier, I need to scan newbooks and send images of the title pageand t.p.verso to our remote cataloger.The remote cataloger and I share anOutlook inbox just for those scans.We use the inbox as a repository for allthe titles to be cataloged as well as anorganizing tool for the already-catalogedtitles. I added this Outlook inbox to theiPad so that I can send and receive scansfrom the device. After the iPad and thewireless barcode scanner were introducedto the workflow, I no longer needed tohaul new books to the printer room andto the processing room. Scanning cannow be done wherever the new books arelocated. I also no longer need to occupyor take the scanner/copier away from ourstudents. Most importantly, I no longerneed to revise subject line or supplylocation and material-type notes in a

A close look at the iPad and the Socket Mobile scanner. On the screen is Alma, thecloud-based integrated library system that the library migrated to in December 2013.

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separate step. The iPad serves both asan image scanner and a PC in this case.

When I first switched to the iPad forscanning, I proposed snapping photosand sending those photos as attachmentsto our remote cataloger. But the feedbackI received is that multiple photoattachments are harder to work withthan a single PDF file. Based on thisfeedback, I installed an app calledCamScanner, which helps withconverting image files into PDF filesand is even capable of OCRing yourfiles if needed. But the simple capabilityof converting image files to PDFs issufficient for us.

To be more specific, I use theCamScanner app to create a “New Doc.”Then I take photos of the book’s coverpage, title page, t.p.verso, and the backcover page. If it is a multi-volume set,I may take more photos. But generally,four photos per book is good enough.CamScanner then converts the photosinto one PDF file so that I can emailit to the shared Outlook inbox. Whencomposing the email, I am able to typethe book title in the subject line and usethe wireless scanner to scan the ISBNinto the subject line. Plugging in titlesand ISBNs enables us to search for aspecific title when needed. I am also ableto supply information like location code,bookcirc, or booknoncirc in the body ofthe email so that the cataloger knowshow to code each title properly in ourILS. The cumbersome two-step workflowgets simplified with an iPad and awireless barcode scanner.

Cataloging Maintenance Gone EfficientCataloging maintenance has becomeso much more efficient after we startedusing the iPad and wireless scannercombination. We now only need tomake one trip to the stacks. In addition,

we eliminated the need to print outrecords for reference and to bring penand scratch paper for notes. Locatingthe problem records in the local ILS andcross-referencing to the correct recordsin OCLC Connexion while in the stackshas also become much easier with amobile device like the iPad. Most errorscan be fixed right after they are spotted.For the ones that cannot be fixed on-site,I always have the option to either takescreenshots of the problem records ortake photos of the physical items inquestion so that I can do more researchafter returning to my office.

No doubt, mobilizing the catalogingmaintenance workflow can tremendouslyimprove efficiency and productivity.This would especially be true for largelaw libraries with stacks spread amongdifferent floors. In my case, since thereis no need to go back and forth betweenstacks and my office, I no longer getinterrupted by other peripheral mattersand can stay on task longer. More workgets done, and it takes less time to do it.It also potentially improves data accuracybecause there is no need to rely solely onmemory or notes.

A Better Tool for Inventory ControlI have also discovered that the iPad andwireless barcode scanner are powerfultools when it comes to inventory control.It is definitely much more lightweightand less cumbersome compared with thelaptop option. The iPad workflow isquite similar to the workflow of using alaptop. As I mentioned earlier, mobilityis one of the important benefits of usingan iPad and wireless barcode scanner inthis scenario. I have to employ studentworkers to work on projects like this,and they often don’t feel comfortablemaking changes to our ILS unless theyare well-trained. With the iPad, whoever

is assigned to perform the inventorycontrol can bring the screen to myattention if an atypical problem isdiscovered. If I am unavailable at themoment, they can take a screenshot toshow me when I become available.

For the FutureGoing forward, I see many other areaswithin the library workflow that couldbenefit from going mobile—and theseareas are not limited to technical services.In the near future, I would like to see atleast two more things happen: mobilizingthe check-in and check-out workflowas well as the fines-collection workflow.It is very much like bringing the retailstore check-out style to the librarysetting. With an external credit cardreader attached to an iPad, finescollection can be handled in a similarmanner, as long as the systeminfrastructure supports it.

Overall, from what I have tested,going mobile does a lot of good for meand our technical services department.There is an obvious improvement inefficiency and productivity, as expected.Moving forward, we would like todevelop other creative ways to integratemobile technologies into our dailyworkflow. If you are a technical serviceslibrarian who is interested in improvingyour workflow, I would strongly suggestyou consider employing mobile devices.Please feel free to contact me if you haveany questions about employing mobiletechnologies in your own technicalservices department. �

Ning Han(nhan@cu-portland.edu),Assistant Professor andTechnical Services Librarian,Concordia University School ofLaw, Boise, Idaho.

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As the new Congress progresses,AALL will keep you updated on therelevant policy issues being debated byCongress and send you action alertswhen we need your help. At the statelevel, we’ll continue to provide you withthe resources you need to advocate forUELMA and to protect funding for yourpublic law libraries.

Will you be ready to take actionwhen the time comes? Join our effortstoday by taking our Advocacy Team

Survey (www.aallnet.org/mm/Advocacy/aallwash/advocacyteam)and reviewing our recorded trainings,PowerPoint presentations, and LobbyDay materials on the GRO Presentationspage on AALLNET (www.aallnet.org/Documents/Government-Relations/Presentations).

Thank you to all the AALL memberswho dedicated their time, talents, andknowledge to make a difference for lawlibraries in 2014! We’re looking forward

to continuing to work together to movethe needle even farther next year. �

Emily Feltren,Director, AALL GovernmentRelations Office, 25Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.,Suite 500, Washington, D.C.20001 • 202/942-4233 •fax: 202/737-0480 • email:

efeltren@aall.org • www.aallnet.org/gro

washington brief continued from page 4

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