An empirical study on the factors influencing mobile library usage in IoT era
| Pages | 605-621 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-01-2018-0008 |
| Published date | 19 November 2018 |
| Date | 19 November 2018 |
| Author | Xiwei Wang,Jiaxing Li,Mengqing Yang,Yong Chen,Xiaobo Xu |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information user studies,Metadata,Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
An empirical study on the factors
influencing mobile library usage
in IoT era
Xiwei Wang
Department of Management, Jilin University, Changchun, China
Jiaxing Li and Mengqing Yang
Jilin University, Changchun, China
Yong Chen
Texas A&M International University, Laredo, Texas, USA, and
Xiaobo Xu
American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to construct an information ecology factor-TAM model to explore
how information, people, and information environment impact mobile library users’behavioral intention.
Design/methodology/approach –An empirical study based on an information ecology factor-TAM model.
Findings –The results of model test indicate that information, people, and information environment affect
users’behavioral intention to use mobile library in the information ecology environment. This paper provides
a new theoretical perspective to understand users’behavior of mobile library. It also provides practical
guidelines to promote the usage of mobile library.
Originality/value –Internet of Things makes digital library one important channel for people to obtain
information. Mobile internet makes it possible to access a variety of information anytime and anywhere.
With the rapid grow of the number of mobile internet users, the usage of mobile library does not grow
correspondingly. This paper explores the reasons.
Keywords Internet of Things (IoT), Information ecology, TAM, Behavioural intention, Mobile library
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The internet has changed the way people obtain information (Thanuskodi, 2012). Because
readingmaterials, including textdocument, image, audio,video and software, are gettingmore
fragmented (Fortino et al., 2014), libraries h ave been integrating the internet and utilizing new
tools and methods to provide users information (Abdoulaye and Majid, 2000), such as digital
resources,mobile service, notification service andubiquitous service on the basis of traditional
service (Fortinoet al., 2014) .P eople who used to visit libraries for specific information are now
able to find the same information online (Li, 2013). Accordingly, traditional libraries are
transforminginto digital ones, aimingto have the abilities of collecting,managing, preserving,
resources; integrating access to various information sources; and providing specialized
services to users fast and at low maintenance cost (Christophides et al., 2000).
Built on radio frequency identification (RFID), near field communication, and sensor
networks, the Internet of Things (IoT) connects heterogeneous and massively decentralized
devices, including domestic appliances, actuators, sensors, and wireless communications
platforms, to the internet and facilitates their communication to accomplish some objective
(Castellani et al., 2011; Cirani et al., 2015; Fazackerley et al., 2015; Finogeev and Finogeev,
2017; Li et al., 2013, 2015, 2018; Sivieri et al., 2012; Whitmore et al., 2015). Library Hi Tech
Vol. 36 No. 4, 2018
pp. 605-621
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/LHT-01-2018-0008
Received 22 November 2017
Revised 27 March 2018
Accepted 9 April 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
This research is supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under
Project (71203074) and the 985 Project of Jilin University.
605
Mobile library
usage in
IoT era
According to Xu et al. (2014), IoT has four layers, namely sensing layer, networking
layer, service layer, and interface layer. Based on the Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone and
BeagleBone Black, IoT solutions offer cost effective, versatile and uncomplicated platforms
for rapid application development (Kruger and Hancke, 2014).
Mobile devices can be used to access a variety of information anytime and anywhere.
With the fast development of wireless network and mobile devices in recent years, mobile
information service has been gradually integrated into human life. As a result, mobile
internet applications has become a channel for people to access information. Smart phones
and mobile technologies are changing the ways that we consume, distribute, and create
information (Little, 2011). As Choy (2010) points out, students are increasingly rely on
smartphones to access online services. Mobile internet offers them great flexibility and
convenience in accessing rich digital resources and allows them to learn independent
of time and location (Liu et al., 2010). As such, a large number of libraries have
combined their services with mobile technology, resulting in the creation of mobile library
(Huang et al., 2015).
According to Gan and Song (2015), mobile library is the delivery of library services
through wireless access using mobile devices to allow such activities as mobile searching
and mobile reading. The service modes of mobile library include short message service,
wireless application protocol and application for mobile terminals (APP) (Wei and Yang,
2017). Mobile library gives learners the convenience access to digital resources and library
services (Gan et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2009). On the other hand, mobile library is seen by
libraries as a positive way to improve their image and to meet the needs of a younger
generation of library users who are increasingly interacting with services via mobile devices
(Alfaresi and Hone, 2015).
An ever-increasing number of people worldwide access the internet through their mobile
devices daily (Aharony, 2014). According to a report released by the China Internet Network
Information Center, the number of mobileinternet users in China had reached 695 million by
December 2016,accounting for 95.1 per cent of Chineseinternet users (China InternetNetwork
Information Center, 2017). However, the number of mobile library users is relatively low
compared with the numbers of uses of othermobile application (Gan et al., 2017). In addition,
Zhao et al. (2015) notethat although mobile libraryapplications have developed veryfast and
smoothly in Chinaand many users have downloaded and tried to put theminto use, few users
use them continu ally.
Recent literatures have applied the technology acceptance model (TAM), the theory of
unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, and the theory of planned behavior to
explore the reasons (e.g. Gan and Song, 2015; Gan et al., 2017; Joo et al., 2014; Liu et al., 2010).
These studies mainly concern the acceptance intention and willingness to access library
resources (Vassilakaki, 2014). This paper, however, argues that people is the core of the
information ecosystem and that the information ecology theory can provide a new
theoretical framework as well as a conceptual model for the adoption of mobile library from
the perspective of user experience. The information ecology theory explains the harmonious
development of people, information, and information ecology. It has been applied to explain
individuals’behavior in information architecture and organization. By combining the theory
of information ecology and the TAM model, this paper aims to answer two questions:
how do information, people, and information environment impact mobile library users’
behavioral intention? Is there a new way to develop mobile library?
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. The second section presents the
literature review of mobile library and information ecology. The third section discusses
the research model and proposes hypotheses. The methodology is explained in the fourth
section. The fifth section discusses data analytical results. The last section presents
implications and conclusion.
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