iPhone application for the DC Public Library
By Paul Biba
Now this is just a great idea. The application allows you to search for library materials, see an item’s cover and read a summary, place a hold for pickup at the location of your choice, and find the hours, locations and phone numbers of DC public libraries. The application is available for free from the iPhone apps store.
This is what creative librarianship is all about, and is the ideal demonstration of how mobile technology can interact with the fixed base. What is needed now is a way for the user to not just place an item on hold, but for him to download the book directly from the library to his phone.
Thanks to the Walking Paper blog for the link.
Update by Chris Meadows: I used the contact form to email the program maintainers and ask whether it would be made available to other libraries. I received an affirmative response by email—that as soon as they had it to version 1.1 and had a chance to clean up the code, they would be releasing it under a GPL or CC license in the hope that other libraries might be able to use it. Excellent news all around!
January 22nd, 2009 at 7:32 pm
I wonder if this application could be ported over to fulfill the same function for other library systems. It would be awesome if the libraries were inclined to share the source with each other so that it could be adapted to serve and save a lot of work.
Edit: And as updated above, I have my answer!