Use Cases
- Undergraduate Student
- Graduate Student
- Primary Source Researcher
- Faculty
- Academic Medical Staff
- K-12 Educator
- Librarian
- Archivist
These use cases are composites of interviewees and survey respondents. They are certainly not representative of all people in these occupations, or even all people interviewed or surveyed. They simply represent some of the habits and traits that appeared (sometimes repeatedly) among different participants.
Undergraduate Student
Why they are using CDL services
To read digital materials as assigned by instructor and perform light research.
Background Information
- Owns a laptop but doesn’t always carry it to class.
- Casual library user
- Doesn’t go to the physical library often, but does use some library digital resources (often assigned by instructor)
Mobile Device Ownership
- Often own feature phones, but also likely to own an iPhone, iPod Touch, or other smartphone
- Might be on family wireless plan
Mobile Device Usage
- Uses device extensively for personal use, including text messaging and email
- Only does academic work on phone when necessary
- Doesn’t think library notifications are urgent enough for text messages
“I probably wouldn’t look for something new on the iPod Touch just because it’s kind of a pain. But if there was something that I knew was already there and was just looking for it. I might do that. Everything is usually a little more awkward, a little slower, a little bit harder. It’s just usually just not worth in unless it’s something that I absolutely need.”
Graduate Student
Why they are using CDL services
To read digital materials as assigned by instructor and to perform significant research tasks.
Background Information
- Uses a lot of digital journal resources
- May use other library services, like request
Mobile Device Ownership
- more likely than undergrad to own a mobile device with internet
- generally has laptop available and uses it for academic work and research
Mobile Device Usage
- generally prefers to use a laptop for real research and reading
- sends text messages but considers them generally for personal use
“[I would use mobile catalog search] if I’m up at Mott garden and could see if there’s a book that’s available or somewhere where I can’t use WiFi where Airbears won’t go so that I can have some alternate source of information access.”
Primary Source Researcher
Why they are using CDL services
To find and use primary source materials.
Background Information
- Needs to explore archives deeper than the materials that are available digitally, so uses physical archives frequently
- Uses finding aids to search, but also relies on experience to determine what might be available in a particular archive
- Knows archivists who can point toward materials better than just searching
- Needs really high quality images of materials in order to view details
Mobile Device Ownership
- Might be similar to graduate student ownership but we don’t have enough specific data to declare a finding
Mobile Device Usage
- Wouldn’t find it helpful to view digital materials on mobile device (not high enough quality)
- Would find it useful to have finding aid information while looking through physical archives (to compare what is available digitally)
- Reference materials would be useful to have on the go to refer to when searching physical archives
“Knowing what stuff in that box has been digitized and what hasn’t would be really helpful to know on the fly.”
Faculty
Why they are using CDL services
To prepare reading materials for instruction and to perform significant research tasks.
Background Information
- Mobile device is likely to be a personal device rather than owned by the employing university
Mobile Device Ownership
- likely to own a mobile device with internet
- likely to own both a laptop and a desktop computer
Mobile Device Usage
- generally prefers to use a laptop or desktop for real research and reading
- uses mobile device with internet more often than graduate or undergraduate students
“I use them for very different things. If I’ve got my laptop with me, I would rarely use this [iPhone]. I would this for very quick, like looking in the dictionary or something like that. Pretty much everything web-based I would use the laptop”.
Academic Medical Staff
Why they are using CDL services
To stay on top of recent medical advances, to find information about patients’ conditions, and to write research articles.
Background Information
- Uses lots of subscription journal materials
- Is likely to move between locations (campus, hospitals, etc), so need access to resources in a variety of places
- At UCSF, has lots of difficulties using wireless network
- Needs to keep track of a lot of citations in order to write research articles
Mobile Device Ownership
Not sure
Mobile Device Usage
- might use mobile devices to search articles (on or off campus) if could get the wireless or authentication to work
- does some emailing with patients and other clinicians, but has to be careful about storing confidential information on a portable device
“At the county hospital, I can’t really access all the library resources…that’s when I tend to use things like Google Scholarship”
K-12 Educator
Why they are using CDL services
To use digital resources in the classroom for classroom activities and answering student questions.
Background Information
- Need to have fast load time in the classroom
- Some schools have blocks on sites like Wikipedia and YouTube that phones using cellular internet can circumvent
- Needs access to information when wandering around the room
- Mobile devices are less expensive for the whole classroom than laptops
Mobile Device Ownership
- Some teachers use personal devices (often iPhones) in the classroom
- Some schools are buying fleets of iPod Touches or iPads for use in the classroom
Mobile Device Usage
- Uses iPhone (personal device) to answer an individual student’s questions while wandering around the classroom (such as looking up background information on something historical)
- Uses iPod Touches or iPads (owned by the school, enough for all of the students) to use digital materials to create presentations, mashups, reports, etc.
“When it’s something where I need to look something up quickly like the meaning of a word or background reference information, I’ll look it up on the iPhone. It’s just faster, if I’m around the side of the room or not near the computer.” “[Calisphere on iPad] would be a really great thing to have in the classroom because you don’t have to march down to the computer lab and try to get a day in there. You could say, “hey, we’re studying the great depression, let’s go look at a few pictures. And so it’s a more spontaneous kind of thing”
Librarian
Why they are using CDL services
To search for and access licensed resources and other digital content from mobile devices for personal and professional use.
Background Information
- Mobile device is likely to be a personal device rather than owned by the employing library.
- Is quite familiar with library services.
Mobile Device Ownership
- Likely to own a mobile device that accesses the internet, particularly an iPhone
Mobile Device Usage
- Uses device for email, getting directions, listening to music or watching videos, social networking, searching for information, text messaging, and reading content.
- Has tried to do some library-related tasks, such as searching the online catalog, viewing library hours or contact information, or searching library databases. But, has found using library resources from a mobile phone frustrating and tries to avoid using them when possible.
“I am glad to see CDL take this on. It is crucial for CDL to leverage its reputation to encourage vendors to make licensed library resources accessible on mobile devices. Furthermore, it is crucial to get systemwide UC library services (e.g. NGM/Melvyl, SFX/UC-elinks, Request/ILL, etc) to work seamlessly on mobile devices.”
Archivist
Why they are using CDL services
To respond to patron requests to help find and access special collections.
Background Information
- Mobile device is likely to be a personal device rather than owned by the employing archive
- Uses finding aids to access digital and physical archive materials
- Generally has access to desktop computer while working
Mobile Device Ownership
Do not have enough data to declare a finding
Mobile Device Usage
- Will not do a significant amount of work on mobile device
- Might take a quick picture of an item to send to a patron to give general idea (but this will not replace higher quality scans needed for real research)
- May need to respond to patrons with finding aids on their own devices