50 Great Mobile Apps for Librarians by Richard Le and Tom Duffy

 50 Great Mobile Apps for Librarians by Richard Le and Tom Duffy

Quick list of apps derived from the presentation by Sarah Houghton, Director of the San Rafael Public Library.

iOS apps

1. Wolfram Alpha – excellent for information and comparative data
2. Reference USA (for iPad only)
3. Farlex – pretty cool dictionary with audio pronunciation
4. DuckDuckGo (browser that doesn’t track your history, no filter, awesome)
5. Article Search – searches Google Scholar, JSTOR, etc.
6. Job Search
7. iReader
8. Epicurious – recipes and shopping lists
9. Cam-Dictionary – translates text on the fly from one language to another, also with audio pronunciation

10. Shazam – love this app for identifying music
11. RedLaser – owned by eBay, lets you scan a barcode and find the item online quickly with both places to buy it or check it out from the library (for reals, the library is listed—nice!)
12. TurboScan – $1.99
13. OverDrive – recommends it for audio books especially
14. Kindle – great user interface (yep)
15. Moo, Baa, La la la! – kids book with good animation
16. PopOut! Peter – can click the word and hear it spoken, or read it yourself.  Highlights the words as they’re read.
17. iTunes U – university level education for free. Yays!
18. Khan Academy – video tutoring that lets you browse by subject, app comes for the iPad too
19. Mango languages – ESL classes & other language classes
20. Biblion
21. GoodReads – just like the  website, in other words awesome
22. AppAdvice – recommended apps
23. Apps Gone Free – a list of apps that used to cost money but are free now
24. Library Books – hook it up to your library, works with a lot of library systems, shows you your loan history, checked out items, etc.
25. Nimbulist – simple note-taking app

Android apps
26. Merrian-Webster – does offer audio pronunciations
27. Dictionary.com – shows popular and local trending searches, includes a thesaurus and spelling suggestion
28. Urban Dictionary – 6.5 million definitions
29. White & Yellow Pages
30. YP – also gives you local deals and events
31. AccessMyLibrary – Gale databases
32. Loclaicious – searching nearby business and points of interest with maps to the place
33. Merck PTE HD – periodic table of the elements
34. CamScanner – Turns your smart phone’s camera into a fax machine, copier, and scanner.  You can share what you scan.
35. Google Goggles – Search for stuff by taking a photo, works for artwork, barcodes, products, popular images, etc.  Also will translate text in French, Italian, and Spanish.  Also works really well on headshots of people—don’t know who someone is? Take their photo and Google Goggle stalk the crap out of them
36. Google Translate – translates text between 64 languages.  Can translate by speaking in 17 languages.
37. AllRecipes – can mix and match by what ingredients you have and limit by cooking time, has nutritional info as well
38. BigOven – Searches 250,000 recipes, and gives you ideas to use up leftovers
39. Holy Bible – Comprehensive database of all of the popular translations and versions, includes an audio version as well
40. TripAdvisor – quick city guide for travelers, works offline (yays!)
41. Congress – facts about lawmakers and bills, see how your local representatives vote
42. Recalls.gov – product recalls, can scan product barcodes or search by name
43. FirstAid – from the American Red Cross with step by step instructions and training videos
44. WebMD – quick medical and health information, find local doctors and hospitals
45. Fooducate – can scan the barcode and see what ingredients are in it, highlighting both the good and the bad and giving you healthier alternatives
46. ShopSavvy – scan and find the best online and local prices.  Can use it for another way too—scan books and create reading lists you can email to yourself or your patrons.
47. Bloomberg – finance news and data, stock tracking, etc.
48. Relief Central – world facts about 266 countries including disaster guides, Medline citations, etc.
49. World Factbook – CIA World Factbook mobile style
50. SportsTab – assess scores, news, and team info
Richard and Tom also did an en masse Bump session at the end with any interested attendees – with one smart phone fist bump transferring all the apps from their session in one go to each person.  AWESOME IDEA.