I didn’t get to post something here for a couple of weeks. I have been busy with a new set of features for Innovative’s AirPAC product. I can’t help but feel like I’m spilling the beans on this, but everybody who sees the new AirPAC on an iPhone gets excited. Several of my colleagues have said I just have to blog about it.
The iPhone offers a small puzzle and an exciting opportunity. The puzzle is that it is too pretty for users to be satisfied with the classic AirPAC, which condenses the entire catalog to about 12 lines of text. The iPhone is capable of displaying any website in crisp, clear color, including the library’s full web catalog. However, those catalogs are not designed to show well on a relatively narrow vertical screen. The opportunity is this: now we can use standard web technologies to reach a broad segment of mobile users with a new interface to the catalog.
Right now we are building this new catalog. It is at the stage where you can really see and feel how it is going to work on the iPhone. After being automatically recognized as an iPhone user when you connect, you’ll be redirected to our new, special iPhone page. There, you can use most WebPAC features, such as searching, placing holds, and renewing books, all without having to pinch or zoom your iPhone browser. Your results will even come back in RightResult™ order! Sure, it still needs a dose of interface polishing, but I’m looking forward to seeing this in our AirPAC libraries soon. Plus, The way we are deploying this catalog view requires no change to the existing AirPAC. If the iPhone work is successful, we’ll look at expanding to other smart phones. We think that this new generation of phone browsers may finally entice patrons to use their phones for more than just a quick look up, and, like Amazon and Google, want to be ready to offer something special to the iPhone users when they search their library catalogs.
Photos
Surveys
Video
November 7th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Alan - great to hear that webpac development is moving forward. We’ve had airpac since we joined up wtih Innovative but, for one reason or another, never implemented it. Will the planned airpac interface enhancements be iPhone specific or will they spill over into regular airpac? (Or to put it another way, is it time for me to start up the airpac implementaion project again or should I just wait for the next release?
November 10th, 2008 at 11:30 am
I’m glad to hear this is inspiring some renewed interest in your AirPAC. Interestingly, you seem to have the classic version live:
http://libcat.scottsdaleaz.gov/airpac/
Maybe that one just needs a little bit of marketing. Which I have just done by including the link!
I’ll clarify how the new iPhone view of AirPAC works. The classic version will not be affected. This gives a baseline of features for users on mobile devices that support no scripting and do not do well with color and images. The iPhone view runs on a separate port, and incorporates many features of a modern WebPAC. It has a familiar search box and a browse display with the same bib images as your regular catalog.
I’m looking forward to showing you more as we complete development on the new AirPAC. Thanks for your comments!