New iPhone App Lets Kids Access School Library Databases

This article originally appeared in SLJ's Extra Helping. Sign up now!

-- School Library Journal, 5/19/2010 2:05:00 PM

Add this to the growing list of popular iPhone apps for kids—AccessMyLibrary School Edition, which makes remote searches of media center databases just a click away.

The latest app from Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, comes on the heels of last year’s launch of an iPhone application that helps users find their local libraries.

This latest K-12 version asks students to enter a password, then search for their local school library. Once in, they can pull up the vast array of Gale online resources within a 10-mile radius that were purchased by their media specialist.

Whether researching for homework or personal use, there’s a wealth of information on science, history, literature, the environment, and biographies right at kids’ fingertips—and it’s completely free. All kids need to do is select a topic, and credible information from current magazines, journals, encyclopedias, and more is available for unlimited use 24/7. A student’s one-time login provides access until the end of the current school year.

“With this new AccessMyLibrary iPhone application, the school library is available anytime remotely, helping to make library resources even more easily accessible,” says John Barnes, Gale’s executive vice president of strategic marketing and business development. “This application is making research accessible to students in the way they prefer to learn, taking advantage of the latest technology. Students are able to access their school’s Gale databases in order to finish homework, work on a project or do research.”

The AccessMyLibrary School Edition app is downloaded at the iTunes store