I’ve written before about how the iPad is a paradigm shifter. It has changed where, how, for how long, and for what purposes I interact with computers.
A recent revelation came when I put two-and-two together and started precinct walking with it. Here’s the story: my wife is running for the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. To assist with walking precincts we obtained the file of voters for her district which I then put into a FileMaker Pro database and uploaded to a FileMaker Pro web server the campaign rents. I can then print out walk sheets that list all the voters on a street in a format that enables quick data capture about the voter’s response. These are designed to be used by the candidate and volunteers to mark as they walk and then the responses are entered in the database afterwards.
But then it hit me. I have a FileMaker Pro client on my iPad, which offers very much the same functionality that the full application has, but without the ability to edit the database. So then I began to walk with my iPad instead. What this offers is quick and easy access to all 55,000+ voters in this district and the ability to quickly find the voters on a particular street, sort them by house number, and even split the street into even or odd addresses to walk one side of the street or the other. But the real benefit is that I can enter the data as I walk, which completely eliminates the data entry step.
In a similar way, libraries are also realizing the new ways the iPad offers to be more effective away from your desk. A case in point is the DC Public Library, which has created a full-featured iPad client to check out items with their Sirsi integrated library system.
Just think about it. They could take a truck of popular books down to the local farmer’s market and with this iPad app check them out then and there. You could literally take your library anywhere, and make it available to any valid borrower anywhere. What’s not to like about that?
About Roy Tennant
I love the idea of bringing the library outside the library walls – Our OPAC have the possibility to do that – So the ladies in red from my library do that sometimes (with a blackberry connected via 3 G)and you can meet them around the city http://janholmquist.wordpress.com/2010/05/12/bringing-the-library-outside/
A simple web app, built on LAMP or your choice of stack, would also offer mobile access for any volunteer with a reasonable smartphone (or any 3g/4g tablet). No need for specific hardware.
This lady needs one! http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=36137
Using a laptop our reference librarian took “Reference on the the Road” to several wifi spots in our town during NLW. She demoed databases, registered borrowers, and answered Ref. Questions.
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