Raise your hand if you wish your library could stay top of mind for students, even after they exit your doors.
It is likely that students want to connect to library resources at the drop of a hat — whether they are sitting in the middle of a lecture, in a project discussion with classmates, or whenever their inspiration to take part in research strikes. This is where a library app can be significant. The EBSCO Mobile app offers a solution to the library administrator and any EBSCOhost (eHost) or EBSCO Discovery Service user through its intuitive features and cross-device functionality. Here are four ways to leverage the EBSCO Mobile library app when researching outside of the library.
1. Search on the Go. And save.
Designed for efficiency, EBSCO Mobile features mobile-friendly displays for searching, scanning results and saving “liked” articles. If a user is logged into their ehost or EBSCO Discovery Service account, they will be able to leverage cross-device synchronization between the app and desktop. After the user has logged in for the first time, they don’t need to log in on subsequent sessions. This kind of functionality was a key insight provided by users testing EBSCO Mobile, as research is often nonlinear and not conducted in a single session. An effective library mobile app allows users to trace the steps of their non-linear research process, enabling progress to be made anytime, anywhere, with seamless integration between devices.
2. Social Sharing
At one point or another, most students suffer from “mid-project regret syndrome”, which often arises when a student is deep in research for a project or paper, feeling frustrated and wondering if the topic they selected is good enough. At this point, students will turn to classmates and friends for confirmation or help. This free promotional video helps students understand how a library app can help them. EBSCO Mobile enables students to share articles using a mobile device's sharing menu. Articles or search results can be shared through a user’s email, text message, or even airdrop. This allows for more collaboration between students and can help a student reach the research finish line faster.
A library app expands the reach of the library by making research quickly available via an easy-to-use interface to users wherever they might be.
A library app expands the reach of the library by making research quickly available via an easy-to-use interface to users wherever they might be.
3. Expand Knowledge Dynamically
Much like the recommendation functionality in popular streaming services, recommendations to similar content for research can help steer a student’s research into a direction they never considered and create an “aha” moment. EBSCO Mobile offers a “discover recent subjects” feature, generated dynamically based on previous user activity.
4. Read or Listen
Whether your library user is multitasking or needs a different approach to match their accessibility preference, the “read” or “listen to” option for articles and e-books within the app allows users to digest information in the best method.
Free and available to all EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) and eHost users, EBSCO Mobile gives users universal access to the library’s content, surfacing search results across the library’s EBSCO subscriptions. The app expands the reach of the library by making research quickly available via an easy-to-use interface to users wherever they might be.
