Library Mobile Website Extra Credit

Before today, I had never accessed the library’s mobile website nor was I aware that the library offered a mobile website.  The phone I am currently using, and the one that I accessed this mobile website from, is the Apple iPhone 3G.  The first thing I noticed when accessing this website was that it took only a few seconds to load, which was very appealing, as some websites can take absolutely forever to finish loading.  The website comes up with eight different squares that a person is able to click on, each including a caption of what information that button contains.  I really liked this layout of the homepage because the user does not have to search around the website for a long time trying to find something if they are unfamiliar with it, but rather just has to look at the options that it gives a person to find specific information.  It contains almost any information that a person would want about the library, and more, including floor maps, and even directions and parking.  On this website, the user is able to look for articles, eResources, and even search the library catalog for books, videos, music, journals and more, just like on the regular library website.  One of the options that I found to be very helpful was the “computer availability” option because it tells a person how many PCs are available and how many are in use.  This is a great tool because a person would be able to view this information before walking all the way to the library, so if there were not very many computers available and they really needed to use one, they could go to another building instead.  Another great option is available under the help button, where someone is able to text the library and receive an answer to their question, since texting is the way in which so many people communicate today.  Since there are not very many study rooms, I think it would be very beneficial if the library had signup sheets for the study rooms and then on the mobile device had an option for where you could sign up for a time on your phone.  Overall, there was not anything that I did not like about this website, as I found it to be very useful and I was able to access everything that I would pretty much need to.