Concept for Law Library Web App

The current Law Library web site, which is under the Law School’s umbrella, has quite a bit of information. For the last few months, I have wanted to create a simple app that would allow students to complete a certain tasks quickly on their digital devices without going through the entire site.

I spoke to the librarians who are also my colleagues to find out what the students want to do with library services in the mobile setting. They provided me valuable information on the things that students often do such as searching for law-related books, getting access to the databases, finding out the library hours and asking the staff questions.

Last Sunday, I attended the Computer in Library workshop on “Building a Simple Mobile-optimized Web App/Site Using the jQuery Mobile Framework” and I was inspired to develop a simple web for the Law Library. Although I am building the app based on the contents of the Law Library, this is not a work-relate project. I just want to build the app to learn jQuery Mobile and not having to jump through hoops or the approval process.

The primary functionality would be to provide a set of basic information for the users. The search engine with be connected to Mason’s inPrimo, which “searches hundreds of millions of scholarly items simultaneously, including Mason’s library catalog and digital collections.” The “Ask a Library” would used a chat app, in which I am just presenting the prototype for this project. The most creative feature in this app would be the ability to locate a book in the Law Library. Once a user entered a book into the search field, it would pop up a photo and the exact location of the book. It would be very useful to include in the app.