Building an Open Source Staff-Facing Tablet App for Library Assessment

• Jason Casden, NCSU Libraries, jason_casden@ncsu.edu
• Joyce Chapman, NCSU Libraries, joyce_chapman@ncsu.edu

Code4Lib 2011, Thursday 10 February, 09:15 - 09:35

This talk will present a library assessment and software development perspective on the creation and utility of an open source tablet-based tool for collecting and analyzing data about the use of library physical spaces. Building on recent experience developing web-based and native-iPhone library apps, we will discuss complicating implementation-related issues such as platform dependence, intermittent network coverage (data caching), and centralized data synchronization with multiple collectors. HTML5 and co-evolving technologies (specifically, Web SQL client-side storage) can be utilized to balance the various advantages of web-based apps with the performance of native apps, but implementation choices can directly impact both the types of data that can be collected and the cost of adoption of an open source release. Finally, we will use an early prototype of this tool to demonstrate some new assessment possibilities.