Introduction

The Live Lab concept is one of the strands of the mobile strategy at the University of Glasgow Library. During the course of 2010 the Library's Mobile Technologies Group (MTG) developed the strategy in response to evidence from Google Analytics of steadily increasing traffic from mobile devices to the Library website. The academic literature also indicated that as ownership of smartphones and tablets increased there was a growing expectation from library users that services and resources should be capable of being delivered to mobile devices.

The mobile strategy

In planning the strategy the intent was to design a framework for the investigation, development and support of mobile service delivery. The strategy established a comprehensive set of goals across a wide range of services and includes an annual work plan for the implementation phases. Each planning cycle covers an academic session. There are ten areas of strategic priority. These include an annual mobile survey of Library users; the development of a mobile website incorporating search, user account and access to e-resources functionality; digital media skills for Library staff and users; and the Live Lab.

Project management of each of the implementation phases is a central component of the strategic process and is critical to ensuring that targets and deadlines are met. The MTG is responsible for the coordination of the entire project and for determining specific priorities for each phase. A full review is carried out at the end of each phase and this, together with a review of current academic literature and the results from the annual mobile survey, is used to set targets for the next stage of the planning cycle.

Working groups, convened by a member of the MTG, are established to take forward each area of strategic activity. The groups are given specific remits and deadlines for delivery and are tasked with reporting progress to the MTG at its regular monthly meetings. Responsibility for developing the mobile website and the Live Lab elements of the strategy remains with the main group.

Several strategic targets relate directly to service delivery. This can include planning for completely new services, or the enhancement of a service introduced during an earlier phase.