Around the World to Helsinki University of Technology: New Library Services for Mobile Users

Citation

Pasanen, I. (2002), "Around the World to Helsinki University of Technology: New Library Services for Mobile Users", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 19 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2002.23919eaf.004

Around the World to Helsinki University of Technology: New Library Services for Mobile Users

Around the World to Helsinki University of Technology: New Library Services for Mobile Users

Irma Pasanen

Introduction

Finland, up in the north-eastern corner of Europe, has in the past decade become world-famous because of Nokia, the mobile phone maker. The company's success is evident within its country of origin where more than three out of four people carry a mobile phone. These cellular phones are extremely popular among the younger generation. Typically for teenagers their mobile phone represents a highly personal piece of property, where a calendar, a list of contacts, a watch, a calculator as well as "memorabilia" (saved important – and often romantic – text messages) are all integrated into one handy device.

In general, libraries in Finland are noted for their active role in building up the information society. Traditionally, the academic libraries are open to all, and especially, public libraries have been active in offering everyone the possibility to use the Internet and the networked resources. These activities by the Helsinki City Public Library were recognised in 2000 by the first Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Access to Learning Award. The library was among the first public libraries in the world to offer Internet access to the public. It used the award to establish the "Information Gas Station," a portable unit providing immediate information by phone, fax, or text messages.

Text messages (SMS – Short Message Service) are in fact the most popular service on the global system for mobile communication (GSM)[1] mobile phone networks. Every GSM phone supports sending and receiving text messages – originally developed for the maintenance communication purposes for the operators – and their huge success among the ordinary users was not foreseen. In 2000, in Finland alone, close to one billion SMS messages were delivered. Furthermore, their number is estimated to grow, even though new technologies are emerging. Compared to the costs of mobile phone conversations sending SMS is also rather inexpensive. In Finland, one sent message costs approximately 15 cents, and it may also be worthwhile to mention that it is always the one making the call or sending the message who pays the costs (Ministry of Transport and Communcations, 2001.)

SMS special features include their limited length: a SMS message may be up to 160 characters. Also, a SMS message is always transmitted through a SMS Center (SMSC) and a notification of delivery (or if not delivered) to the sender is automatic. Messages can be sent simultaneously with other traffic in the signalling paths, which means peak hours do not pose an obstacle for smooth communication.

Helsinki University of Technology (HUT) is the leading institute of technology in Finland and it offers 14 degree programmes in engineering, technology and architecture. These programmes all lead to a Master's degree. Currently the enrollment comprises some 12,000 undergraduate and some 2,500 postgraduate students. From the library's point of view these students represent a very highly IT skilled clientele with a keen interest in technology. As a kick-off for the new millennium the HUT library surveyed the attitudes and expectations of the current clientele towards the library services in spring 2000. The questionnaire revealed, among other things, that more than 95 percent of the clientele carries a mobile phone (see Figure 1) and that the clientele would like to receive library information via their mobile phones (Pasanen-Tuomainen, 2000).

The first project for the library in the new millennium was, however, the conversion from the VTLS library system to the Endeavor Voyager system. This major project involved all Finnish University libraries as well as the library of the Parliament and the Repository Library.

New library services for mobile users

The project to develop new library services for mobile users started officially in September 2001 immediately once the third generation library system Voyager installation was complete, and by mid-November the first mobile services were launched. The rapid progress highlights the key concept: provision of new services with existing technology for widely accepted appliances (the forte of SMS!). This concept also supports the library's strategy to offer up-to-date library services in a timely manner. The technical solution for the service is provided by Portalify (www.portalify.com), a Finnish software company specialising in mobile software solutions and products. Its solution for libraries, Liblet, is in essence a software that translates SMS messages into Web-based queries and vice versa. Furthermore, Liblet is "library-system-independent" and therefore no changes in the actual library system itself are needed. At this point, HUT Library also made the decision to outsource the necessary application service (i.e. communication links and server maintenance) to Portalify.

At the moment the HUT Library application of mobile services includes the following services:

• •

  Reminder notices for materials that will be due within a few days.

• •

  Renewal of borrowed materials. Can also be sent as an answer to the reminder notice.

• •

  Notice slips for reservations.

• •

  List of loan activity by individual users.

• •

  Availability of individual items.

• •

  General query to the librarian.

• •

  Paying of fees.

• •

  Alert service (TOC from Science Online to which the campus has a site licence).

The service requires registration. A message containing the library ticket number and surname is sent to the application service provider (ASP)[2] service short code assigned for the Liblet service. The system verifies the information from the library system, confirms the registration and stores the user information together with the mobile phone number. Afterwards the identification is based on the mobile phone number and no separate id-information needs to be sent when using the service. A new registration from another number erases the previous registration (this is because people often change subscriptions from one mobile phone operator to another). Currently the system supports subscriptions from the three major operators in the country (total market share >98 percent) and negotiations with smaller operators are pending.

Figure 1.The mobile phone penetration at the Helsinki University of Technology Library in spring 2000

Figure 2. An outline of the Liblet architecture. A text message reminding the user of an approaching due date. A reply message to sender with the text ''HUTRENEW'' will renew the item. After renewal the system sends a confirmation back to the user with the new due date information

Liblet allows the user to query and renew his/her own loans in the Voyager library system. Reminder notices and reservation notice slips are generated by Liblet from Voyager during the night and sent to users the next morning. A typical reminder message is illustrated in Figure 2 and simply replying to this message with the text "renew" does the renewal. The alert service – a weekly table of contents from Science Online – represents Liblet's possibilities to convert almost any named Web-page content into a SMS message. When an agent tracks down changes on the Web-pages it signals Liblet, which in turn alerts the readers via a SMS wherever they are.

The number of registrations has increased in a linear manner since the launch; new registrations are received daily and at the time of writing (at the beginning of March) the library had hundreds of registered mobile users.

Plans for the near future include applications with more advanced technologies supported by Liblet such as wireless application protocol (WAP)[3] and general packet radio service (GPRS)[4]. A proper information retrieval query in the library system cannot be squeezed into the 160 characters of SMS!

Also other Finnish libraries are interested in the Liblet service: Oulu City Public Library, Helsinki School of Economics and the Library of the Parliament introduced their services via SMS just in February 2002. Another interesting application by Portalify also from the library perspective is Coinlet, which allows pay-per-view type of access to Web-based networked resources. And of course one pays with the mobile phone!

Notes

1. 1.

   A standard for digital mobile communications.

2. 2.

   Offers individuals or enterprises access over the Internet to applications and related services that would otherwise have to be located in their own personal or enterprise computers.

3. 3.

   This is a specification for wireless data communications using hand-held devices such as mobile phones and palmtop computers. Use of the WAP specification allows mobile devices to communicate with the Internet or an intranet, providing the users of these devices with mobile data communications capabilities such as Web browsing and e-mail.

4. 4.

   Enables high-speed wireless Internet and data communications.

Irma Pasanen (irma.pasanen@ hut.fi) is the Associate Director for Information Services at the Helsinki University of Technology Library.