As society continues to become more and more mobile the Rochester Hills Public Library has had to adapt its service model to keep pace with the mobile trend. “We realized it was time to convert our website to a more mobile friendly layout,” said library director Christine Lind Hage. “We are constantly updating our website, but to make it mobile friendly was a huge job.” 
Karen Knox, IT Manager at the library found a solution Oakland University. “The mobile RHPL website was created by a team of students from Oakland University. André Hébert, Christine Janello, and Jason Nixon worked with RHPL during the fall 2010 semester to design the mobile website for their Senior Design Project,” said Knox. All three graduated in December with degrees in Information Technology. “The Library really appreciates their work and, and Assistant Professor Nilesh Patel, and Professor and Department Chair Ishwar Sethi for their partnership in this project.”More information on the Senior Design Projects at OU can be found on Department of Computer Science & Engineering website at www.cse.secs.oakland.edu.
The new format should automatically display the Rochester Hills Public Library mobile web site when you go to www.rhpl.org on your mobile device, but if it does not, you can access site directly at www.rhpl.org/m and see the new mobile-friendly design!
You can access many of the commonly needed areas of the RHPL site in an easy-to-navigate design from your mobile device. Check out the library events calendar, see what new items are available, find the Bookmobile’s location, and contact the library directly from your mobile device.
In addition, features to search the catalog and check your library account tie into some new software that was made accessible from the library’s catalog vendor, Polaris. This is one of the many new features added with the latest software upgrade which was completed in December. This new mobile catalog makes it easier to find out about items in the library’s collection, place holds, and check your library account.
The Rochester Hills Public Library is located at 500 Olde Towne Road in downtown Rochester. The library is open Monday – Thursday, 9 a.m. – 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m., and Sundays (during the school year) from 1 p.m. – 6 p.m.
About Tom and Ann Gendich