Assessing mobile application components in providing library services
| Published date | 04 February 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-10-2018-0204 |
| Pages | 49-66 |
| Date | 04 February 2019 |
| Author | Ali Mansouri,Nooshin Soleymani Asl |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
Assessing mobile application
components in providing
library services
Ali Mansouri
Department of Information Science, University of Isfahan, Isfahan,
Islamic Republic of Iran, and
Nooshin Soleymani Asl
University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Islamic Republic of Iran
Abstract
Purpose –This study aims to investigate the essential components needed to develop a practicalmobile
applicationfor providing library services to its users.
Design/methodology/approach –The study was conducted in a descriptive-survey format. The
statisticalpopulation constituted the libraries worldwideusing mobile applications to provide library services
to the users of academic and public libraries. The data were collected through the content-analysis method,
World Wide Web and checklists.
Findings –It was found that services such as search, ask a librarian, database, renew, circulation and
library hours werefrequently used at academic libraries, while the services of search,search through barcode
scanners and database were mostly common at public libraries. According to the users of academic and
public libraries, circulationand renew, search, ask a librarian and library hours were considered as the most
essentialservices to be included in library mobile applications.
Practical implications –Most libraries usually use mobile apps subjectively. Thus, it is important to
identify the mostimportant components of their usage and present them in a suitable pattern.The findings of
this study identified the most important components in the design and development of mobile apps and
proposedthe right model for their integration into libraries.
Originality/value –The practical mobile applicationproposed here for library services is applicable to all
types of librariesand provides an appropriate pattern for mobile applicationdesigners.
Keyword Library services
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In recent years, because of theversatile nature of technology and its widespread use among
different people for information sharing and communication, tasks in many areas are being
accomplished morequickly and the amount of energy needed has been reduced.Libraries, as
instances of social institutions and organizations, have been greatly influenced by
technologies. By using certain technologies, such as information and communication
technologies (ICT), in different areas,as well as a lessening of the need for a user’s physical
presence to receive services,some libraries have distanced themselves from their traditional
role in providing only print resources. In effect, libraries have been using a variety of
technologies to provide more user-friendly services at lower costs, to increase access to
library resources and to provide integratedservices (Kumar, 2015).
Among different affordances of digital technologies, smartphones as the cutting-edge
technologies have certainfeatures and capabilities, such as user-friendliness,quick access to
Assessing
mobile
application
components
49
Received13 October 2018
Revised3 January 2019
8 January2019
Accepted24 January 2019
TheElectronic Library
Vol.37 No. 1, 2019
pp. 49-66
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/EL-10-2018-0204
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
the internet, flexibility in providing various services and features and dozens of other
qualities that can greatly help libraries in providing efficient and timely services to users.
Through smartphones,it has become possible for libraries to provide a variety of servicesas
diverse as mobile online public access catalogue (OPAC), mobile library instruction, virtual
reference services, location finding, document delivery services, circulation and renewals,
databases, library hours, library maps and employee introduction. Libraries provide these
services throughsmartphones using mobile Web and applications.
Today, most academic and publiclibraries provide services through mobile applications,
along with their traditional services.The results of previous studies indicate the satisfaction
of users with this type of library service as they consider these services and the associated
technologies necessaryand helpful (Wang et al., 2012).
A review of previous research in this area shows that the components provided in the
form of library services by mobile applications vary, though the most frequently applied
services are not specified. By identifying the essential and frequently applied service
components, it is possible to identify priorities in designing library services for mobile
applications in an appropriate manner. Another issue raised in this context is the lack of a
proposed pattern for library services in mobile applications. Indeed, the existence of a
prototype pattern may provide the basis necessary for applying mobile phones in library
services, as well as help library application designers to design appropriate and efficient
mobile applications. Moreover, the development of any mobile pattern leads to the user
being better able to identify and relate to these types of technologies in providing services.
Accordingly, the present study was conducted with the objective of proposing a prototype
pattern to design mobile applicationsfor library services.
To obtain the research objectives, the following three research questions were
formulated:
RQ1. What constitutes the most frequently applied component in library mobile
applications?
RQ2. What constitutes the most essential component applied in library mobile
applications accordingto user views?
RQ3. What constitutes the proposed prototype pattern of mobile application design in
providing each libraryservice?
Background and literature review
Various studies have been conducted in the area of mobile use in libraries worldwide.
However, they are mainly case studies on the use of mobile phones in particular library
settings (Andre Becker et al.,2013;Talati and Bhatt, 2016;Kim et al.,2014;Moorefield-Lang,
2015;Mullins, 2017). The first possible applications of mobile technology for libraries were
the mobile OPACs and mobile collections and mobile library instruction, as well as
databases (Kroski, 2008). However, since 2007, with the advent of smartphone technology,
research has increasingly focusedon identifying relevant features and using mobile phones
in various ways, including library services (Coombs, 2008;Michael and Darianian, 2008;
Shuiqing, 2008;Zhang and Jia, 2008). One of these topics is the use of mobile Web for
libraries: the Library Mobile Initiatives and Mobile Experience for Libraries Initiative
(Canuel and Crichton, 2015;Kroski, 2008;Zhang et al.,2016). Other issues, such as mobile
phone popularity and its capabilities,the provision of library catalogs using the mobile Web
and the requirements that librarians should make for the use of mobile phones, are also of
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