The rise of apps and mobile devices has opened the door to small, dedicated software programs that are focused on singular tasks. From the author's perspective as head of digital access and web service manager at Montana State University, these apps offered an opportunity to build a focused digital service aimed at allowing someone to enter a…

Librarians are familiar with the single-line form, the consolidated index, which represents a very large portion of a library's print and online collection. Their end users are familiar with the idea of a single search across a comprehensive index that produces a large, relevancy-ranked results list. Even though most patrons would not recognize…

The technology of the 21st century has had no shortage of challenges for libraries, but it has also brought opportunities. Operating systems, databases, and application environments that can use cheap off-the-shelf hardware to scale and handle hundreds of millions of transactions were not developed for libraries. However, libraries have taken…

At their core, XML feeds are content-delivery vehicles. This fact has not always been highlighted in library conversations surrounding RSS and ATOM. The authors have looked to extend the conversation by offering a proof of concept application using RSS as a means to deliver all types of library data: PDFs, docs, images, video--to people where and…