Mobile app shop Boopsie has announced the Boopsie Star Program, which will help library vendors increase the visibility of their own mobile apps by making them available through library-branded Boopsie mobile portals.
Boopsie apps already offer one-click access to vendors including Overdrive, Mango Languages, Tutor.com, Credo Reference, EBSCO, Gale/Cengage Learning, Recorded Books, and Library H3lp.
In a recent interview with LJ, Boopsie CEO Greg Carpenter said that the company aims to simplify app download and use by designing apps that highlight a library’s own brand. So, when patrons search for their library in iTunes or an Android App store, they’ll find their library’s app, rather than a collection of vendor apps to which their library may or may not have access. Integrating that branded app with vendors who provide other services further simplifies the mobile experience for patrons, allowing them to access ebooks and other resources without navigating away from the library’s app.
“The direct integration of the library to their epub content is a big benefit,” he said. “So, if you’ve got EBSCO and Mango Language and Overdrive, for example, we can put links within the native app that launch their app as well. So the library can promote a single app download that’s branded for the library. Then, we figure out whether the [third party vendor] app is installed on a phone or not. If it’s not, we can install it and launch it directly. Just having that single integration point is a big key.”
In a press announcement this week, Carpenter said that Boopsie will be “aggressively” seeking additional Star Partners to add to its existing roster.
Vendors can become Star Partners by supporting a custom URL scheme handler for Apple iOS, Android, or Blackberry operating systems, enabling their apps to communicate with the Boopsie app.
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