Earlier this week, Safari Books Online launched a mobile interface to their product at http://m.safaribooksonline.com. The University of Calgary has an institutional subscription to Safari Books Online via ProQuest, and I naively assumed after we threw this new URL into our ezproxy configuration I'd be able to access the new site via my iPhone.
Nope. When I get to the site I'm asked for a login and password. I contacted ProQuest Technical Support and was told "The Mobile version of Safari Online is not available with an institutional account. I can send this on to the Product Manager as an enhancement but would not be able to give a time frame for when or even if it would be implemented." Sigh.
So I've also sent a request to platformfeedback@proquest.com and to safarimobile@safaribooksonline.com. This is something I'd like to use to promote the innovation that's going on in the library world to our techie users. In fact I'm already on the agenda to present about this to our campus Information Technology Advisory Group (see naively assumed above). Don't you think ProQuest would like to be able to advertise they're the first to offer a major database specifically formatted for the mobile platform? Or maybe they're not – are you aware of any others?
C'mon ProQuest, take the lead on this one! (my presentation is scheduled for April 17th – can you let me know before then please?)
Comments
8 Responses to “Is ProQuest missing the boat with mobile SafariBooksOnline?”
That sucks. I was just talking about this with some people here. Thanks for the heads up.
I agree. I just tried using it today too, and no luck whatsoever.
Brigham Young Library Tests Kindle as ILL Alternative
I just ran across the same issue with the Seattle Public Library. Did ProQuest ever get back to you?
I’m afraid they never did Yogi.
Safari is researching a mobile version for their library users, and we’re excited to see next steps as they consider every option.
Maybe they considered, but unfortunately Safari never came up with a solution on this one… frustrating!
Wow, almost 4 years later and I still can’t use the iPad app to access our institutional account, but we CAN now access http://m.proquest.safaribooksonline.com using our institutional account (IP-checked, so you’ll want to ensure you’ve got it in ezproxy as well….)
This is not really new, as documented at http://help.safaribooksonline.com/view?id=1227, but I wanted to ensure this post was updated…