EBSCO Mobile
Posted by: Sara Rofofsky Marcus
I have to admit that I am loving EBSCO’s Mobile interface. Not only does it work great on my iTouch, but when the server is going slow it makes the search so much faster. While I can’t print from this interface, I’ve found myself researching without waiting for a computer, e-mailing the article if I like it to myself for later printing, and saving tons of time. Patrons who have smartphones will only benefit as well. While they cannot print, they can do their searches to find articles they like while waiting on line for a desktop computer.
This also helps the ‘hip’ student at our college, who can be busily researching away, while it looks like he’s simply using an app on his smartphone. What better way to hide one’s scholarly nature?
A question arises with this, as with any mobile communication, what happens when someone starts doing this at the dinner table? How will librarians fare when a mobile device is shoved in their face with the article on the small screen? A piece of paper is fine for shoving, it’s light and can’t break, but what about an electronic device that could quite possibly be someone’s lifeline?
