Mobile Phones and Libraries

action research and analysis

Thomas Kozak
LIS 600
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Introduction

As portable phones and mobile computing become more ubiquitous, many libraries are exploring
options for providing services remotely. Currently, most systems offer reference service or
circulation functions (such as reserving or renewing items) by telephone, and some offer
reference service via online chat or instant-messaging software. Other libraries are
experimenting with text-message based services, and a few have developed applications to be
installed on mobile devices that allow for circulation functions.

The purpose of this study is to gauge the reactions of mobile phone users to the possibility of
such remote services, and to examine which users would be more likely to participate if these
services were offered. Learning as much as possible about these potential users would be
important to a library because it allows for more targeted marketing as well as the design of
services more closely tailored to the needs of the likely user base.

Methods

An online survey was created and distributed to 30 users of the Facebook social networking site.
These users were encouraged to spread the survey to their own contact groups in order to
increase the pool of respondent. The survey (appended at the end of this document) consisted of
18 questions in three main categories. The first series of questions were on mobile phone use,
especially the frequency with which certain features were used (Text messages, multimedia
messages, Instant Messaging, and web browsing). Secondly, the survey asked how often
respondents used library services (checking out materials, reference help, and access to the
library's website). Finally, respondents were asked to rate how likely they would be to use
certain hypothetical library services (text message notifications, reference text messages, and
installation of a library application on a mobile phone). Respondent age and gender information
was also gathered.

Hypotheses and Predictions

The initial hypothesis was that age would have an impact on both mobile phone use and the
likelihood to use mobile library services. In addition, there would be a connection between
frequency of use of mobile services and the likelihood of adopting library-based uses of the same
features.

Specifically, the survey was predicted to show a negative correlation between age and frequency
of use of cell phone features. Age was also expected to show a negative correlation with
expected likelihood to use the hypothetical remote library services. A positive correlation was
also expected between likelihood of hypothetical library service use and frequency of mobile
feature use as well as frequency of actual library service use.
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Results

82 respondents completed the online survey. The following charts show their responses to the
survey questions.

Respondent Gender:

Respondent Age
14

12

10
Frequency

0
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61
Age
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Which of the following CAN respondents do on their mobile phones?

90

80
Send a Text
70 Message
Send a Media
60
Message
50 Access Instant
Messaging
40 Brow se the Web
Install new
30
Applications
20 Send and
Receive Email
10

What do respondents use text messaging for?

Conversation
w ith Friends
Tw itter, Face-
book, or other
social w ebsites
business (bill pay-
ing, etc)
Google Searches
Other
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How often do respondents SEND text messages?

Many
Never times a
day

How often do respondents RECEIVE text messages?

Many
Never times a
day

How often do respondents SEND multimedia messages?

Many
Never times a
day
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How often do respondents RECEIVE multimedia messages?

Many
Never times a
day

How often do respondents use Instant Messaging on a mobile phone?

Many
Never times a
day

How often do respondents browse the web from a mobile phone?

Many
Never times a
day
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How often do respondents check out books from the library?

Once a
Never week
or more

How often do respondents use a library for help answering a question?

Once a
Never week
or more

How often do respondents use a library website?

Once a
Never week
or more
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How likely do respondents consider themselves to be to sign up to receive library notices via text
message?

Extremely very
unlikely likely

How likely do respondents consider themselves to be to ask a librarian questions via text message?

Extremely very
unlikely likely

How likely do respondents consider themselves to be to install an application on a mobile phone to

use library services?

Extremely very
unlikely likely
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Certain values showed statistical correlation:

Responses with weak correlations (0.3-0.45)

Age/Likelihood to ask a librarian questions via text message 0.35
Age/Likelihood to install an application to use library services 0.3
Frequency of sending text messages/Frequency of sending multimedia messages 0.37
Frequency of sending text messages/Frequency of receiving multimedia messages 0.44
Frequency of sending text messages/Frequency of browsing the web from a mobile phone 0.33
Frequency of sending text messages/Likelihood to sign up for library notices via text 0.35
message
Frequency of sending text messages/Likelihood to ask a librarian questions via text 0.39
message
Frequency of sending text messages/Likelihood to install an application to use library 0.42
services
Frequency of receiving text messages/Frequency of sending multimedia messages 0.34
Frequency of receiving text messages/Frequency of receiving multimedia messages 0.44
Frequency of receiving text messages/Likelihood to sign up for library notices via text 0.33
message
Frequency of receiving text messages/Likelihood to ask a librarian questions via text 0.35
message
Frequency of receiving text messages/Likelihood to install an application to use library 0.38
services
Frequency of sending multimedia messages/Likelihood to sign up for library notices via 0.3
text message
Frequency of receiving text messages/Likelihood to ask a librarian questions via text 0.4
message
Frequency of browsing the web from a mobile phone/Likelihood to install an application 0.4
to use library services
Frequency of checking out books from the library/Likelihood to install an application to 0.37
use library services
Frequency of using a library for help answering a question/Likelihood to ask a librarian 0.36
questions via text message
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Responses with strong correlations (0.45 and above)

Frequency of sending text messages/Frequency of receiving text messages 0.92
Frequency of sending multimedia messages/Frequency of receiving multimedia messages 0.73
Frequency of checking out books from the library/Frequency of using a library for help 0.59
answering a question
Frequency of checking out books from the library/Frequency of using a library website 0.47
Frequency of using a library for help answering a question/Frequency of using a library 0.58
website
Frequency of using a library for help answering a question/Likelihood to install an 0.46
application to use library services
Likelihood to sign up for library notices via text message/Likelihood to ask a librarian 0.66
questions via text message
Likelihood to sign up for library notices via text message/Likelihood to install an 0.55
application to use library services
Likelihood to ask a librarian questions via text message/Likelihood to install an 0.68
application to use library services
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Conclusions

Certain outcomes were not at all surprising. The strongest correlations were between related
uses of mobile technology. For instance sending and receiving text messages or multimedia
messages showed a very strong correlation. Similarly, respondents who frequently check out
books from the library also reported a higher frequency of using the library to answer questions
(ie reference services). These results were not part of the original hypotheses but neither do they
serve to support or undermine it.

It cannot be said that the results strongly support the hypotheses. Age was not strongly
correlated (either positively or negatively) with frequency of use of any of the features examined,
and in fact correlated positively (though weakly) with predicted use of mobile library services. A
positive correlation was seen between frequency of text message use and estimated likelihood to
use the mobile library services, but again the correlation was weak (less than 0.5 in all cases).
The strongest correlations were between frequency of use of library services and predicted
likelihood of mobile service use, which was predicted. In short, the relative strengths of the
correlations seen suggest that frequent library users will be those most likely to use mobile-
phone-based remote services.

Survey reliability and possible improvement

While the results of this survey provide an interesting exploration of the relationships between
the variables investigated, there is certainly much that could be done to improve their solidity.
Primarily, the sample size of 82 is much too small for reliable conclusions to be drawn.
Furthermore, the age demographic represented by the results is fairly narrow and younger
respondents are overrepresented. The survey also relies on users to assess their own likelihood
of using hypothetical new services, which may not offer a strong predictive value.

Based on these weaknesses, a second study might be done which sampled a larger population. It
might also be helpful to include additional demographic questions to help a library target mobile
services to likely users. According to feedback from the respondents, the frequency scales could
be more concrete to give more precise results.
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The Survey

This series of questions has been designed by Thomas Kozak as part of a class project. Thanks
in advance for taking the time to answer!

* Required

Gender *
• Male
• Female

Your Age (In Years, please!)

Yes
Do you own a mobile phone? *

Which of the following CAN you do on your mobile phone? * (please select all that apply)
• Send a Text Message (SMS)
• Send a Media Message (MMS)
• Access Instant Messaging
• Browse the Web
• Install new applications
• Send and Receive Email

How often do you SEND text messages from your mobile phone? *
1 2 3 4 5
Many times a
Never
day

How often do you RECEIVE text messages from your mobile phone? *
1 2 3 4 5
Many times a
Never
day

How often do you SEND multimedia messages? *

1 2 3 4 5
Never Many times a
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day

How often do you RECEIVE multimedia messages? *

1 2 3 4 5
Many times a
Never
day

How often do you use Instant Messaging on your phone? *

1 2 3 4 5
Many times a
Never
day

How often do you browse the web from your phone? *

1 2 3 4 5
Many times a
Never
day

What do you use text messages for? * (choose all that apply)
• Conversation with friends
• Twitter, Facebook, or other social websites
• Business (bill paying, etc)
• Google searches
• Other:

How often do you check out books from the library? *

1 2 3 4 5
Never Once a week or more

How often do you use a library for help answering a question? *

1 2 3 4 5
Never Once a week or more

If your library has one, how often do you use its website? *
1 2 3 4 5
Never Once a week or more
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Would you sign up to receive library notices via text message? * (How likely is it that you
would?)
1 2 3 4 5
Extremely very
unlikely likely

Would you ask a librarian questions via text message? * (How likely is it that you would?)
1 2 3 4 5
Extremely very
unlikely likely

If you could, would you install an application on your phone to use library services? * For
instance, searching for books or renewing books (How likely is it that you would?)
1 2 3 4 5
Extremely very
unlikely likely

Thanks again for taking the time to complete these questions! If you have any thoughts or
comments I'd be glad to hear them, so feel free to add your input here: