Editorial: Library catalog needs phone access

Every student at UCLA with some form of a smartphone or something like an iPhone knows how convenient mobile-friendly Web pages can be. Be it Google’s mobile-friendly search engine or any news source such as CNN or Fox News, mobile-friendly formats are very convenient for students on campus. Indeed, these formats allow students to access information on their phones, such as phone numbers, movie times, or directions, without having to deal with a regular Web page loading on their phones.

It is with that in mind that this Editorial Board feels that the UCLA library system should adopt a similar mobile device-accessible catalog page that students can access. Already the library has adopted a format of the catalog that students can access through their Facebook pages, so it is not too far-fetched to think that a mobile-friendly version could benefit students greatly.

Often times, students find out in a class ““ and out of the reach of a computer ““ that they need to get a book from the library. Or they’re on campus and decide they want to get a book from the library but don’t have a computer to access the catalog. Having a catalog version that students could easily use on their phones and simply tells them where a book is located as well as its status would make checking out books easier for students and would thus encourage students to use the libraries more. In this day, it simply does not make sense to not make the most out of mobile technology.

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