A Library In Your Pocket

The Seattle Public Library system consists of 27 buildings, including the Central Library and 26 neighborhood branches.  All together, this fair system has a total floor area of approximately 600,000 square feet, or the equivalent of 10 and a half football fields (including the end zones).

The latest version of Apple’s iPhone is 4.5 inches x 2.4 inches and is less than half an inch thick.  You can hold it in your hand.  It slides easily into your pocket.  You could place eight million iPhones, side-by-side, on the total floor area of the library.

But we did not do that.  Quite the opposite! 

I am writing to announce that – miraculously – we have figured out a way to cram your entire library system (10 and 1/2 football fields worth of library system, mind you) into a device that you can hold in your hand, and carry around with you in your pocket. 

Yes, that’s right!  The Seattle Public Library now has a mobile app to work with whichever brand of smart phone you own: Blackberry, Android, iPhone, Symian, it works with them all.  Renew your items, search the catalog and place a hold, browse book lists, look for upcoming author readings, find your nearest branch, ask us a question – all from the convenient location of wherever you are right now!

Of course, the SPL Mobile app is completely free.  So go ahead, put your library in a pocket! 

Learn more here:

http://catalog.spl.org/videos/library_mobile_app.htm

http://catalog.spl.org/hipres/help/eng/horizon/mobilecat.asp

To download the app, visit the iTunes App Store or Android Market and search for SPL Mobile. You can also go to http://spl.boopsie.com or simply use this QR code:

~Kreg H., Central Library