Mobile Research

A Pew Internet study published late last week (October 14)--Americans and their Gadgets--reported that "the digital world has expanded far beyond the desktop" and that consumers are now choosing devices that allow them to connect "anytime, anywhere."  While these findings are hardly surprising, they did inspire me to check some of our major databases to see which ones offered mobile interfaces for research on the go!  Generally, mobile sites are streamlined versions of their robust sites; most of the time, researchers use mobile databases to quickly search for a resource and then save it to read later, perhaps on a larger screen.  If you have questions about doing research on your mobile device, just ask!  Otherwise, check out the following databases (both free and VT-subscription) that you have access to via your mobile device:

• Addison (VT University Libraries catalog):  m.addison.vt.edu
• University Libraries website:  m.lib.vt.edu
• PubMed:  http://pubmedhh.nlm.nih.gov/
• MedlinePlus:  http://m.medlineplus.gov/
• IEEE Xplore:  http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/mobile/
• EBSCOhost*:  https://login.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu:2443/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,uid&profile=mobsmart&defaultdb=eh

More databases and publishers are developing mobile sites each year, so stay tuned for future updates relating to mobile research!

*Note that for subscription databases, like EBSCOhost, you'll still need to log in via Off Campus Sign In in order to access database content.