Aplicació per a les biblioteques del CRAI de la UB

Abstract

The project’s objective is to develop a mobile and tablet application for the libraries of Universitat de Barcelona (UB). A user-centered design (UCD) method was adopted to create an application that users find accessible and satisfactory. The first step was a study of the potential users, their needs and cahracteristics through interviews. After that, we designed an interface usable and accessible at the same time, taking into account the results of the previous users’ analysis. The application was built as the design was being developed. Finally, we undertook a usability test for the application. The test aimed to observe the behaviour and the ease with which real users use, navigate and understand the application. The functionalities and requirements of the application were agreed and supervised by the CRAI Projects Unit, while UB’s Unit of Corporate Image and Marketing also approved the interface. UB’s Area of Technologies was also present during the project and it helped to determine security requirements and the maintenance that the application will require. The application allows users to look for practical information about the libraries, such as the opening times or the address. Users are able to geolocate the closest libraries in a map and to ask questions to CRAI’s Ask Your Librarian service. The interface includes the additional functionalities such as searching the libraries’ catalogues, making book reservations or extending the borrowing period through the users’ own personal account. The project was made using Phonegap, which allowed us to make the application multiplatform. Phonegap is a mobile application development framework that uses JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS3 languages. Php and ajax languages were also used, especially to send an receive data between the server and the application.