PDAs and Handheld Devices

From Metro Collaborate

The PDA & Handheld Computing Special Interest Group (SIG) is composed of individuals from all types of libraries interested in personal digital assistants and other handheld electronic technologies (e.g. smart phone, tablet PCs). Through meetings, events and other shared-learning opportunities, members explore innovative ways libraries can use these technologies to enhance staff workflow, provide patron services, and support users.

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Next Meeting

Sorry for the PDA SIG's lengthy hiatus. Here's something fun to hold you over until the next meeting -- hopefully in early Fall).

In his Personal Tech column in last Thursday's (June 5) New York Times, David Pogue reviewed three useful, cool & FREE resources for cell phones.

• Google's 800-GOOG-411 works the same way as dialing 411. You can also have telephone and address info sent to you as a text message.

• Call 800-2CHACHA to get answers to almost any kind of question. (Although it's not clear to me what qualifications the "Cha Cha Guides" who answer the questions have.

• jott.com lets you phone a reminder to yourself. Your message is then transcribed into text and sent to yourself as an email message or text message. (Very useful for those brainstorms one gets while walking down the street...)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/technology/personaltech/05pogue.html

If you have any ideas for meeting topics/speakers, please let Nancy Glassman glassman@aecom.yu.edu or Elisabette Ferretti eferrett@nyit.edu know.

Previous Events

March 26, 2008

Topic: PDA / Smart Phone security: PDA security software, tools, policies, etc.

November 29, 2007

Topic: iPhones in the Library -- Apple's iPhone has been named "the invention of the year" by InformationWeek magazine. Is it really the handheld panacea it seems to be? We discussed the pros, the cons, and potential library applications for the iPhone and related devices. Linda Braun showed off her iPhone and shared her experiences.

June 12, 2007

Topic: Electronic New York Public Library - ebooks, audiobooks, music, and videos for portable devices. Speaker: David Callahan, Principal Librarian of the Humanities Department, The New York Public Library

March 21, 2007

Topic: Taking it on the Road: using your PDA to make presentations. Colleen Cuddy from NYU School of Medicine discussed Remote Display Control for PocketPC and Margi Presenter-to-Go.

December 6, 2006

Topic: Air Baruch, Baruch College's text messaging project Speakers: Arthur Downing, Baruch College, Chief Librarian

November 17, 2006

Topic: Choosing the PDA that's Right for You We will have a round-table discussion on selecting the PDA or smart phone that's right for you. Please share your experience, stories, frustrationsand questions about finding the right handheld device. Since this is our first meeting of the year, we'll also spend a little bit of time getting reorganized, finding out where people's interests lie, and exploring topics for future meetings.

June 14, 2006

Topic: Handheld Devices in the Library: Brooklyn College Library's Experience Speakers: Alex Rudshteyn, Associate Director, Academic IT and Library Systems and Vyacheslav Gurgov, Web Development Specialist, Brooklyn College Program Materials: Link to PowerPoint presentation

Friday, March 3, 2006

Topic: Marketing PDA Services

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Topic: Optimizing Web Pages for PDAs and Handheld Devices Speakers: Denise O'Shea from National Network of Libraries of Medicine talked about the PubMed interface for handhelds and Grace Lee from New York Law School discused how she uses iSilo and Plucker in her library.

Program Materials: Denise O'Shea's PowerPoint Handouts (in .pdf) Grace Lee's PowerPoint Presentation (in .ppt) Meeting Notes (in .pdf).

SIG Launch Meeting: September 14, 2005

Convenors

Nancy Glassman

Systems Librarian

D. Samuel Gottesman Library

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

1300 Morris Park Avenue

Bronx, NY 10461

Tel: 718-430-3108

Fax: 718-430-8795

EMail: glassman@aecom.yu.edu

Elisabete Ferretti

Director, Branch Services Manhattan Library

New York Institute of Technology

1855 Broadway

New York, N.Y. 10023

Tel.: 212-261-1525

Fax: 212-261-1681

EMail: eferrett@nyit.edu