Development and evaluation of the mobile library service system success model. A case study of Taiwan
| Date | 02 November 2015 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-06-2014-0094 |
| Published date | 02 November 2015 |
| Pages | 1174-1192 |
| Author | Yueh-Min Huang,Ying-Hong Pu,Tzung-Shi Chen,Po-Sheng Chiu |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
Development and evaluation of
the mobile library service
system success model
A case study of Taiwan
Yueh-Min Huang and Ying-Hong Pu
Department of Engineering Science, National Cheng Kung University,
Tainan, Taiwan
Tzung-Shi Chen
Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering,
National University of Tainan, Tainan, Taiwan, and
Po-Sheng Chiu
Department of Engineering Science, National Cheng Kung University,
Tainan, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to develop and analyse the usage status, level of satisfaction
and success model of a mobile library service system in Taiwan. The research results could serve as a
reference for the development, evaluation and improvement of libraries’ mobile services.
Design/methodology/approach – This study designed a mobile library service system and used the
informational system success model to evaluate its use status and level of satisfaction and, thus, to
develop a success model for a mobile library service system.
Findings – Results showed that students’ level of satisfaction with the mobile library service system had a
positive correlation with the usage status indicated that the system could help them to improve their work
efciency, such as by reducing time spent searching for books and cost of obtaining electronic resources. The
students also expressed a willingness to continue using the mobile library service system.
Practical implications – In general, the students thought that the mobile library service system
could reduce the time needed to search for book-related information, but that the service quality should
be improved. Therefore, this study suggests that the education and training of system service personnel
should be enhanced and that easy-to-use functions be provided to promote the users’ level of satisfaction
and willingness to use the system.
Originality/value – This study developed a mobile library service system and invited students studying
in the National University of Tainan, in southern Taiwan, to be the subjects in an experiment, with a goal to
evaluate the success of a model mobile library. The ndings showed that the overall explanatory power (R
2
)
of this model was 55 per cent and, thus, that the ndings of this work have practical signicance.
Keywords Information system success model, Library information system,
Mobile library service system
Paper type Research paper
This work is supported by Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, under grant
103-2511-S-006-002-MY3, 103-2511-S-006-007-MY3, and 100-2511-S-006-014-MY3.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
EL
33,6
1174
Received 19 June 2014
Revised 15 August 2014
Accepted 21 November 2014
TheElectronic Library
Vol.33 No. 6, 2015
pp.1174-1192
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/EL-06-2014-0094
Introduction
With the popularization of wireless networks and mobile devices, more people are now
using mobile devices to go online. Wang et al. (2012) pointed out that the maturity of
third generation mobile services has provided an explosive growth in numbers of mobile
Internet users. In addition, more students and teachers now use tablet PCs or
smartphones to read e-books or e-journals. As a result, e-resources and digital libraries
are becoming increasingly important channels for obtaining information. A large
number of libraries have consequently introduced mobile communication technologies
into their library services, enabling users to search for information from anywhere and
at any time. This indicates that mobile libraries may soon become learners’ main
resources when seeking to acquire knowledge. This study used the Android operating
system to develop a mobile library service system, using the library of the National
University of Tainan, in southern Taiwan, as its information source. The aim of this
system was to allow students and professors to easily search for books and information,
and to provide users with more convenient and practical information services.
In the past, digital libraries emphasized providing a large number of e-books and
e-resources to their users. However, with the development of mobile services and the
subsequent increase in the user population, this is an inadequate aim. A successful
information system needs to take other elements into consideration, such as system
quality, willingness to use it, user satisfaction and so forth.
An effective tool that is widely used to evaluate the success or failure of an
information system is the information system success model (ISSM), developed by
DeLone and McLean in 1992 and updated in 2003. In the past, many scholars had
adopted ISSM in various elds to evaluate the success elements of different information
systems (Rai et al., 2002). For example, Wang and Wang (2009) combined ISSM and the
technology acceptance model (TAM) to discuss instructors’ levels of acceptance and
satisfaction with web-based learning systems. Wang and Chiu (2011) used ISSM to
discuss which elements contributed to the success or failure of an e-learning 2.0 system,
while Balaban et al. (2013) adopted it to evaluate the success model of an e-portfolio
system.
The above-mentioned references show that DeLone and McLean’s (2003) ISSM has
been widely used to validate the quality of information systems, and to see how quality
can directly or indirectly inuence the degree to which an information system is used
and the level of user satisfaction. Results indicate that for most users, the quality of a
mobile library system would be the key factor with regard to their continued use of it.
Therefore, to increase the usage rate of a mobile library, this study analysed the usage,
user satisfaction and success model of a mobile library service system.
This study used the revised ISSM of DeLone and McLean (2003) as the main research
framework, while the research subjects were undergraduate and graduate students who
used the focal mobile library service system of the National University of Tainan, in
southern Taiwan. This study examined which elements contribute to the success factors
of the system. The main purposes of this study were as follows:
• to develop and evaluate the success model of a mobile library service system;
• to understand users’ use status and satisfaction with the mobile library service
system; and
1175
Mobile library
service system
success model
To continue reading
Request your trial