Sonoma County Library launched its Mobile App one year ago on February 9, 2016, to make its free library services available on smartphones and tablets.  The app has had over 6,000 downloads.  The major uses of the Mobile App have been to access the library catalog, manage library accounts, find library locations and hours and access emedia and databases.

The app works on all major smart phones, including iPhone, Android, and Windows and is freely available from the iTunes App Store, Google Play Store, and the Windows Phone Store.  In Sonoma County, the Mobile App had 2,912 iPhone downloads, 1,938 Android downloads and 1,048 iPad downloads.

Searching the catalog of library materials with the mobile app is especially easy. Just type the first few letters of two or three words and search results will begin to appear. For example, if you’re looking up Mark Twain in the catalog, just type “ma twa.”  Customers used the catalog on over 519,000 Mobile App visits.

Sonoma County Library cardholders used the Mobile App on over 210,000 visits to manage their account right from their mobile device.  No need to wait until you are at home or at a branch.  Access and manage your account whenever and wherever you are with the Sonoma County Library Mobile App.

The third most used Mobile App feature was the library locator – used on 13,580 visits.  Customers checked library hours, located the branch closest to their current location and got directions to the branch on their phone.

Other well-used features included access to emedia, databases and the event calendar.  In addition, the Mobile App offers BookLook™ which lets you scan an ISBN barcode to see if the library owns the title. This is an amazing feature! If you see a book that you’re interested in, you can just scan the ISBN, see if the library owns it and—if we do—place a hold on it right from your phone.

We hope you’ll spread the word about Sonoma County Library’s Mobile App to everyone you know with a mobile device. It's easy and it's free.

For more information, see sonomalibrary.org/mobile.