The session talked about the m-biblio project (http://mbiblio.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/) which is being undertaken at the University of Bristol. The project is investigating the use of mobile devices in capturing references and looking at how it might be possible to gather useful statistics for the Library, including data about library items that are often confined to branches such as periodicals, journals and reference books. The presentation will cover a number of topics, including technical issues and findings from a workshop held with students on the challenges they face in managing references.

1. m-biblio
Bibliographic management on mobile devices
#mbiblio
Mike Jones, Senior Technical Researcher
IT Services R&D
Using emerging learning and research technologies to enable excellence

2. Background
•Investigate the use of mobile devices as a tool to
collecting and managing bibliographic data
•Collaboration between the Library and IT Services at
the University of Bristol
•JISC-funded project in the m-library innovation
programme (1 November 2011 to 31 July 2012)
IT Services R&D / ILRT

3. 3
Devices have lots of sensors and
connectivity ...
Camera Accelerometer
GPS Compass Network Access
Near Field Communication
(on some recent Android devices)
... what can we use in capturing
bibliographic data and usage information?
Can we provide something useful?
IT Services R&D / ILRT

4. 4
Design a useful tool for students ...
IT Services R&D / ILRT

5. 4
Design a useful tool for students ...
IT Services R&D / ILRT

6. 5
... but also provides the Library with statistics
IT Services R&D / ILRT

7. 6
Student Survey and Workshop
•User experience expert ran a survey and workshop
•67 students responded to the survey
•10 students attended a 2 hour workshop. Mix of
subject areas (undergraduate, taught post graduate
and research postgraduate)
•Students not initially told about the aims of the
m-biblio project
IT Services R&D / ILRT

8. 7
Approximately how many references do you
put in your essays?
1-5
4% 5-10
18% 10-20
36% > 20
42%
IT Services R&D / ILRT

9. 8
What tends to be the approximate ratio of
books to journal articles in your reference
list?
6%
19% 25% Books / 75% Articles
36% 50% Books / 50% Journals
75 % Books / 25% Journal Articles
Pretty much all journal articles
Varies too much to say
19%
20%
IT Services R&D / ILRT

10. 9
How do you usually find your references?
4%
17% 23%
Online citation databases (e.g. Web of Knowledge)
Google Scholar
University library system
Reading lists provided by lecturers
Other
24%
31%
IT Services R&D / ILRT

11. 10
Where do you store your references?
7% 1%
17%
In word processor format (e.g. Word)
Using bibliographic software (e.g. EndNote)
In a hand-written notebook
I don’t store my references
58%
Other
16%
IT Services R&D / ILRT

12. 11
What’s your biggest frustration about
managing references?
Inputting the data into Endnote
“Citing the reference in the correct format”
“Copying the reference format easily from a paper”
“Different lecturers have different preferences for
style of referencing, so its difficult to know what
style to choose.”
“Having to put them all in the exact harvard
“Time-consuming” style of referencing”
IT Services R&D / ILRT

13. 12
If you could design a simple piece of
software to help you manage your
references better, what would it do?
“Compile them, format them to the desired style
and alphabetise”
“It would automatically put them in alphabetically
order and split them into the types of references
they are e.g. books, journals etc”
“Quick and easy to learn, will format in necessary style”
“Take the journals and books you’ve read and write
them in the correct format”
IT Services R&D / ILRT

14. 13
Response from Library Staff
“It is interesting that EndNote / EndNote Web
can deliver on most of the requirements given in
6. However, making the students aware of this
and encouraging them to make use of it is
another thing.”
Very sad to see that only 14% are using
Endnote, yet almost all of them want something
that has the capabilities of Endnote! Attendance
this year at Endnote Web sessions was very
low, so we are clearly not getting to all those
who need it.
IT Services R&D / ILRT

15. 14
Workshop - Pain Points
•Lack of uniformity - different lecturers in the same
department have different requirements
•Students used a range of methods for collecting
references - pen and paper to Endnote
•Software didn’t work as the students expected
IT Services R&D / ILRT

16. 15
Workshop - Ideas for using mobile devices
•Scan barcodes
•OCR text for references
•Format references to common
formats - customisable
•Manage reference lists
•Export references to text/PDF
and Word
•Share references via email, text
and store in the Cloud
IT Services R&D / ILRT

17. 16
To develop something useful ...
•It needs to help the students create accurate
references easily
•It needs to be simple and
intuitive to use
•It should fit within their
workflow - export to
Endnote or Word
IT Services R&D / ILRT

18. 17
Architecture
Aleph
Query
Web Service
Results COPAC
CrossRef
Statistics
IT Services R&D / ILRT

19. 18
Technologies
Server-side
•Java API for RESTful Web Services (JAX-RS)
•Simple API for XML (SAX)
•Marc4J
Client-side
•iOS 5.1(iPhone 3GS/4/4S, iPod Touch 2nd/3rd generation, iPad)
•Core Data (local database)
•ZBar bar code reader API
IT Services R&D / ILRT

20. 19
Near Field Communication
•NFC is a set of standards that allow devices to
establish radio communication when in close contact
•Standards cover protocols and data exchange formats
and are based upon RFID
•Bristol City Council are looking at initiatives to
promote the use of NFC in the city
•It would be great if we could read
Library RFID tags with a phone ...
IT Services R&D / ILRT

21. 20
NFC/RFID and the Library
•The Library piloted using RFID in the Chemistry
branch Library
•Plans to put RFID tags in stock across all branches
•However ... the tags used by our Library can’t be read
by NFC capable devices :-(
Project has requested that NFC and recent RFID
Library standards be considered by the Library
RFID project
IT Services R&D / ILRT

22. 21
Camera
•Use the camera to scan barcodes
•Use OCR to scan for Digital Object Identifiers
on a page
•You need a camera that
can auto focus:
(iPhone 3GS/4/4S and
3rd generation iPad)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coffeegeek/3198844118
IT Services R&D / ILRT

23. 22
Barcodes
•The Library uses Telepen for stock management - not
supported ‘out of the box’ by open source libraries
•Needed to write a decoder so Telepen was supported
IT Services R&D / ILRT

24. 23
Fallback input for barcodes
•For devices that don’t have a
camera
• Or a camera can’t read the
barcode (damaged, poor light
etc.)
IT Services R&D / ILRT

25. 24
Examples of data Issues
•Missing information - issue numbers, volume numbers,
page numbers
•Typos in data
•Titles and names all in upper case or lower case
•Author or editor?
We can help improve accuracy but some curation is
needed by the user of the app
IT Services R&D / ILRT

26. 25
Demo
IT Services R&D / ILRT

27. 26
Further Details
http://mbiblio.ilrt.bris.ac.uk
Developer:
Mike Jones (mike.a.jones@bristol.ac.uk)
@MrJ1971
Project Manager:
Dave Kilbey (D.Kilbey@bristol.ac.uk)
IT Services R&D / ILRT