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Journal of Electronic ResourcesLibrarianshipPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wacq20

A Review of “The Best 100 Free Apps forLibraries”Nancy Nyland aa Montgomery College , Germantown , MDPublished online: 11 Mar 2014.

To cite this article: Nancy Nyland (2014) A Review of “The Best 100 Free Apps for Libraries”, Journalof Electronic Resources Librarianship, 26:1, 83-85, DOI: 10.1080/1941126X.2014.880024

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1941126X.2014.880024

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as essential reading for librarians, archivists, and museum professionals who are thinkingabout or currently engaged in digital collection assessment.

Jane MonsonUniversity of Northern ColoradoGreeley, CO

Tabatha Farney and Nina McHale. 2013. Maximizing Google Analytics: Six High ImpactPractices. Chicago, IL: ALA TechSource. LITA Technology Report, 48(4), 44 pp. ISBN:9780838958926. List price $43.00.

The authors, Farney and McHale, draw on their vast practical experience as website devel-opers in libraries and the private sector to bring us a LITA Technology Report, which seeksto serve two purposes: explain how to get the most from Google Analytics and describehow to create a full website analytic strategy.

To fulfill the first purpose, six of the chapters address Google Analytics’ advancedfunctions and how the collected data can help interpret patron interactions with a library’swebsite. Topics presented include the following: how to implement Google Analytics onmultiple platforms, across subdomains and subdirectories; customizing filtering; tracking;and goal setting features of the application. The book concludes with a chapter on reviewingand sharing the data collected with colleagues and other stakeholders.

Even though the tracking code and the layout of the dashboard has changed, renderingthe code snippets obsolete, the reader will find the brief introduction to web analyticstrategy valuable. Topics explored cover selecting criteria for website analytic applications,suggesting what to track on a website, setting goals, and reporting the collected data toappropriate stakeholders.

For me, the one tangible take-away for shaping a web analytic plan is the “WebsiteInventory Activity” framework. Unfortunately, this framework is not discussed in-depth inthe text, but it is provided as an appendixt with little accompanying description.

Books, reports, and articles that provide detailed information about current technolo-gies are at risk of becoming quickly obsolete. This report’s two purposes, whether intendedor not, however, will allow it to have a rather longer shelf life. For those seeking an overviewof implementing Google Analytics or web analytics in general, this report is a good startingpoint.

T. J. LusherNorthern Illinois UniversityDeKalb, IL

Jim Hahn. 2013. The Best 100 Free Apps for Libraries. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press,213 pp. ISBN: 978-0-8108-85820. List price: $45.00.

It is a huge task to keep up with the daily stream of new apps, whether offered free or at a cost,for Apple or for Android. In September 2013, the App Store inventory reached one million,

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up from 500,000 available only 18 months earlier (www.apple.com/iphone-5s/app-store),when Jim Hahn wrote this book. Although the title sounds as if it is about apps intendedspecifically “for libraries,” it is really an introduction to help the new user become familiarwith a selected 0.001% of available apps.

The criteria for selection of these 100 apps, other than their being free, are not stated.They are divided into four areas:

• Utility apps, which provide quick views of information;• Augmented reality apps, which use graphics to overlay information;• Productivity apps, which “look like a mobile browser window” and are “task-oriented”

(p. 79); and• Social apps, which are social networking tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and

Twitter.

The difference between utility and productivity apps is unclear. Utility apps includeQR Reader for iPhone, a QR code reader and creator. There is no comparison of QR Readerwith other QR code creators, and no explanation of why QR Reader was chosen over othersimilar apps. Although free is nice, there may be apps available at a very low price, suchas $.99 or $1.99, that offer additional useful features. It is worthwhile to compare free andvery low cost apps, because a small payment may gain the purchase of a significantly moreuseful app.

Augmented reality apps include RedLaser, a barcode-scanning app. RedLaser scansthe barcodes of items in stores, but it can also “scan the barcode of any book usingthe phone’s camera to learn what libraries nearby have this book in their collection.”(p. 72) In fact, the most useful parts of this book are explanations such as these of howa general-use app can be employed for a specific library use, identified in each entry as a“Use case.”

Productivity apps include several that might be more traditionally associated withlibraries, such as Kindle E-Books Reader, Nook by Barnes & Noble, and Mendeley, acitations manager. An e-book reader app may make our users think of libraries, but, as theauthor points out, “Within the library domain there is one resource that our patrons cannotget enough of—computing” (p. 113). Computing apps like YouSendIt and Google Drive,which allow users to edit and store files in the cloud, supplement the computing resourcesprovided by libraries.

FaceTime is not a downloaded app, but one that comes with the device. The authornotes: “Since this is an app that comes already loaded with your shiny new product, youmight be wondering why I am including it here in a book on mobile apps” (p. 100). Thecriteria for covering only FaceTime, and not other apps loaded on devices, is not clear.The SciVerse ScienceDirect app is the only one provided by a library database vendor.There are many similar apps that have been created by catalog software companies anddatabase vendors and, again, it is unclear why this product and vendor were selected overothers.

Hahn purports that this book is “a sort of annotated bibliography for apps” (p. vii), butif readers had the name of an app in which they were interested, they would have to browsethrough four sections to see whether that app is included. The apps appear to be organizedalphabetically within the sections, until iTunes U appears at the end of the ProductivityApps section after YouTube, instead of alphabetically between iSSRN and Kayak. Becausenew apps appear daily, it is more useful to follow reviews in MacWorld or other currentmagazines.

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This book is intended for beginners, but users would need a familiarity with thedesktop version of many of these services to find the mobile version useful. The authorstates that the book is intended for librarians who “do not necessarily own a smartphone”and “do not envision purchasing a smartphone” (p. vii), but the best way to understandthese apps is through hands-on use. Finally, it is unlikely that library staff will acquirean understanding of an app, to a level where they can explain it to library users, only byreading about it.

Nancy NylandMontgomery CollegeGermantown, MD

Sally Chambers (Ed.). 2013. Catalogue 2.0: The Future of the Library Catalogue. Chicago,IL: Neal-Schuman. 212 pp. ISBN: 9781555709433. List price: $80.75.

Recognizing that the nature of the library catalog, as well as cataloging itself, has changedsignificantly in the last 25 years, editor Sally Chambers has assembled eight thoughtfulpapers in this collection that address the current situation as well as the future evolutionof the library catalog system. Each paper considers a different aspect of the contemporarylibrary catalog and provides insight into what the future will hold.

In the first chapter, Anne Christensen provides a brief overview of user studies inonline catalogs, and she considers methods that have been used to involve users in onlinecatalog development. She points out that users are less interested in the 2.0 features ofonline catalogs; rather, they are more interested in features that help them search moreefficiently and conveniently. In Chapter 2, Till Kinstler provides a critique of Booleansearching, claiming that it is time for library catalogs to move beyond the use of Booleansearching and move toward the use of search engine technology that provides a sophisticatedrelevance ranking option.

Marshall Breeding provides an overview of next-generation library catalog inter-faces in Chapter 3. Next-generation interfaces are often visually more appealing, providerelevant results, and include options for faceted navigation and social features. They arealso comprehensive in scope and provide additional end-user services. Breeding providesdescriptions of two dozen next-generation products and projects, including many that areopen source.

Lukas Koster and Driek Heesakkers discuss mobile applications (i.e., apps) thatprovide access to the library catalog. Addressing primarily handheld mobile devices, ratherthan netbooks or tablets, they provide an overview of both web and native apps’ advantagesand disadvantages, and describe mobile catalog functions. They conclude with a case studyof the University of Amsterdam’s mobile catalog service and an overview of mobile catalogimplementations at several other libraries.

In Chapter 5, Rosemie Callewaert discusses the application of Functional Require-ments for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) to a public library online catalog interface inBelgium. She uses numerous screenshots and illustrations to demonstrate how FRBR prin-ciples can be applied to a catalog to improve access for users. Next, Emmanuelle Bermes’thoughtful paper describes how the use of linked data can make catalogs more interoperable.

Karen Calhoun reflects on the changing nature of academic library collections andsuggests that academic libraries reconsider how they support scholarship and research

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