The Handheld Librarian 2009: An Online Conference About Mobile Library Services

More people than ever are using mobile devices for a wide variety of purposes including communication, internet access, text messaging, research, and entertainment. It is important that libraries provide services on these devices as use increases.

Yale University Library hosted a local broadcast of the first ever Handheld Librarian Online Conference, on July 30, 2009. The program sponsored by the Alliance Library System, LearningTimes and Infoquest, featured a talk by Yale Science Librarian Joe Murphy, who along with other experts in the field, provided information on topics relating to the use of wireless and handheld devices in libraries. Due to the success of this initial broadcast, a second Handheld Librarian Online Conference is being planned for the February 2010 timeframe.

In anticipation of the handheld technology becoming part of business as usual in libraries, the Library will be hosting a series of lunch time re-broadcasts from the conference, featuring what we’ve determined to be the best and most applicable presentations. All sessions will be held in the Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall (128 Wall St) as brown-bag lunch presentations, from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. Moderators will be available to tee-up each session and conduct a facilitated discussion after each presentation. The dates of the lunch time series are as follows:

9/14: Keynote: Mobility and Singularity: People, Communication, Information, Information Objects, and Information Services in Motion

9/28: Sending out an SMS

10/12: Mobile Medical Information: View from the Medical Library

10/26: Everything We Know About Implementing a Kindle Loan Program

11/9: Altarama Infoquest, a Collaborative Text Messaging Reference Project

12/7: Twittering in Libraries

The sessions are free and open to the public. No advance registration is required. More information can be obtained at www.handheldlibrarian.org/ or www.facebook.com/yalehhlib.