This special 78-page report looks closely at how academic and special libraries are using tablet computers. It helps librarians and information technology personnel to answer such questions as: what type of libraries are using tablets? What are they using them for? Which library departments are benefiting most from tablet use? Which brands of tablet are most popular? What are buying plans for the future? What stock of tablets do libraries have and how fast do they plan to expand this stock? How have tablets affected their ebook acquisition plans? What kind of apps do they use or develop for their tablets? Do they loan out tablets to patrons? On what terms? How long can patrons borrow them? Have they had losses due to theft? What is their overall budget for tablets and app development?

Survey of academic libraries, chiefly in the United States and Canada, on their use of classroom response systems (clickers); whiteboards, tablets, and other presentation aids; internet technologies such as instant messaging, blogs, wikis, podcasting, photo sharing, online simulations/tutorials, virtual classroom/reality software, virtual reference software, and course management systems; instructional budgets; instructional computer labs; and instructional furniture.

The 80-page study presents the results of a survey of 42 libraries with tablet lending programs or those just about to implement one. The report gives detailed data and commentary on how the programs were organized, financed and implemented and their impact on patrons and libraries. The report helps its readers to answer questions such as: how many tablets do libraries maintain for loan? Which brands do they prefer and which are they planning to purchase in the future? How much have they spent on their tablet lending programs and plan to spend? Do they load their tablets with apps? If so how do they choose them? How many tablets are lost to theft? Or to negligence or accidents? What is the fine for overdue tablets? What is the length of the lending period? What are the circulation figures for tablets? What has been the impact on other library resources, such as a pre-existing laptop lending program? Or on use of the library’s eBook collection? Which libraries do they view as models and what advice can they offer to peers? What services or training are offered to library patrons about how to use the tablets? Data in the report is broken out by library type (public library/public college/private college/special library), by size of library staff, and size of stock of tablet loaned and other variables.

This roundup of the latest discussions on the topic is a relevant prism through which readers can discover ways to improve reference and instructional services at all academic libraries.

The 160+ page study examines the purchasing plans of academic libraries for key computing infrastructure including plans for fixed workstations, personal computers, laptops, netbooks, tablets and other computing devices. The report helps to answer questions such as: how are libraries and their sometime patrons in college information technology departments allocating funds among different types of computing devices? How has the mobile computing revolution affected plans for fixed workstation purchasing? What percentage of students use their own computers in the library and what percentage of them use the library’s computers? What computer brands do libraries prefer? What are the official and real replacement cycles for computers? How many computers are reserved for staff use alone? To what extent are libraries concentrating computing resources in “information commons” or technology centers? What is the future or such centers? What are their budgets? How much are libraries allocating to computer and information literacy? How effective are these policies.

This succinct e-book speaks directly to librarians and educators working with young people, pointing the way towards intelligent, constructive use of tablets to attain educational goals.

The Survey of Academic Libraries, 2014-15 Edition looks closely at key benchmarks for academic libraries in areas such as spending for books and e-books, deployment and pay rates for student workers, use of tablet computers, cloud computing and other new technologies, database licensing practices, and much more. The study includes detailed data on overall budgets, capital budgets, salaries and materials spending, and much more of interest to academic librarians and their suppliers. Data in this 200+ page report is broken out by size and type of library for easy benchmarking.

This report looks closely at the purchasing plans of public libraries for personal computers, workstations, laptops and other computing devices. The study looks at quantities demanded, money spent, brand preferences, and deployment policies, among other issues.

The 100+ page study looks closely at the measures taken by academic, public, and special libraries to assure that mobile devices–iPads, iPhones, Android devices, Kindles and many others–can access the library website easily and fluently. The report looks at the development of new versions of websites specifically designed for mobile access, at use of various paid and open source services and product for mobile device access, and at general library policies designed to ease the experience of mobile device users. The report presents highly detailed data on the extent of library website traffic accounted for by mobile devices, the impact on library resource use of the deployment of mobile friendly information products from vendors, and much more. More than 60 libraries contributed comprehensive data and insights to the report, and data is broken out by size and type of library and other useful criteria

Mobile phones have become an integral part of society, as their convenience has helped democratize and revolutionize communication and the marketplace of ideas. Because of their ubiquity in higher education, undergraduate classrooms have begun to utilize smartphones and tablets as tools for learning. The Handbook of Research on Mobile Devices and Applications in Higher Education Settings explores and fosters new perspectives on the use of mobile applications in a classroom context. This timely publication will demonstrate the challenges that universities face when introducing new technologies to students and instructors, as well as the rewards of doing so in a thoughtful manner. This book is meant to present the latest research and become a source of inspiration for educators, administrators, researchers, app developers, and students of education and technology.