My boss has directed me to start looking into producing a phone app for 
the library, or better yet finding a way to integrate with the existing 
campus-wide app.  Could I pick the list's brains?

1) Is there some tolerably decent cross-platform app language, or am I 
going to be learning 3 different languages for iOS, Android, and Windows 
phone?  I've dabbled in all kinds of things, but my bread-and-butter 
work has been PHP on a LAMP stack.  Apps aren't written in that, so new 
language time.

2) The library's selection of mobile devices consists of 2 iPads and a 
Galaxy tablet.  We don't have phones for testing.  My personal phone is 
a 12-year-old flip phone which doesn't run apps.  Can I get by with 
emulators?  What are some good ones?  The budget for the project is 
zero, so I don't think dedicated testing devices are in the cards unless 
I upgrade my own phone, which I probably ought to anyway.

3) What are some best practices for library app design?  We were 
thinking the key functionality would be personal account management 
(what have I got checked out, renew my stuff, etc), hours, lab 
availability, search the catalog, and ask a librarian.  Anything 
missing?  Too much stuff?

Will Martin

Web Services Librarian
Chester Fritz Library

P.S.  I sent this a couple days ago and wondered why it hadn't shown up 
-- only to realize I accidently sent it to [log in to unmask] rather than 
the actual list serv address.  Whoops, embarrassing!