BibliosBCN – The New Mobile App From the Libraries Of Barcelona

The city of Barcelona was designated Mobile World Capital for the period 2012 to 2018. This not only involves the holding of the annual Mobile World Congress in the city, but also the fact that Barcelona aims to take advantage of this opportunity to become a world reference in this technology.

In this sense Barcelona is carrying out numerous projects so as to become a connected city, and for this reason it is using the mobile technologies to respond to the needs of the citizens to improve their welfare and quality of life.

Within this approach, and taking into account the growth of the use of mobile devices (during the period from May to August 2013, 9.9% of the accesses to the websites of Libraries of Barcelona were done from mobiles, and 3.5% from tablets), the Libraries of Barcelona, the network of public libraries of the city launched, on 30th April 2013, BibliosBCN, its first mobile app.

Through this application for mobiles, available in iOS and Android, the users can access information about the activities being carried out in the Libraries of Barcelona, can know which library is the most nearby, how to get there, consult the map of all the libraries of the city, the opening times and basic information.

All this information can be shared by SMS, email and social networks.

With regard to the activities, the application presents a list of highlights, but the users can also configure their own personal selection of their favourite events.  With the option of the calendar, moreover, they can consult all the activities taking place on a specific day in any library of the city.  It is essential for knowing the complete offer of activities of the Libraries of Barcelona.

From the moment it began working and until the end of August, the application had 2,921 downloads, an average of 24 downloads a day.  Of these, 47.7% were from iOS devices, and 52.3% from Androids.

Some experts have rated the app with an average mark of 7.6, above all rating the contents, the functionality, the design and the usability.  This situates it in the 13th position in a selection of the best apps for Barcelona, a list made up of around 50 apps.

Biblioteques de Barcelona

www.bcn.cat/biblios

www.facebook.com/BibliotequesBCN

twitter.com/BibliotequesBCN

www.youtube.com/user/bibliotequesbcn

www.bibarnabloc.cat