Libraries in Internet of Things (IoT) era
| Date | 19 September 2018 |
| Pages | 79-93 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-11-2017-0233 |
| Published date | 19 September 2018 |
| Author | Xueling Liang,Yong Chen |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information user studies,Metadata,Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
Libraries in Internet of Things
(IoT) era
Xueling Liang
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, and
Yong Chen
Texas A&M International University, Laredo, Texas, USA
Abstract
Purpose –Internet of Things (IoT) has been widely adopted in the commercial sector. Although IoT enables
traditional libraries to convert into digital ones, the implementation of the IoT in libraries is slow. The purpose
of this paper is to report on the current state of research on applications of IoT in libraries, describe challenges
that IoT applications face in libraries and discus directions of adopting IoT in libraries in the future.
Design/methodology/approach –To conduct this research, the literature of IoT and its application in
libraries were reviewed by examining existing literature in Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE) Xplore.
Findings –The literature review finds that radio-frequency identification has been adopted by digital
libraries. The slow implementation of IoT is caused by security and privacy issues, lack of standards and the
lack of financial, technological and organizational resources. This study provides a prospective for the
application of IoT in libraries; the technologies of IoT have the potential in betterment of library services.
Research limitations/implications –The limitation of this study is that only IEEE Xplore is included.
Other database should be explored in future research.
Originality/value –The application of IoT in libraries is an emerging issue; a systematic and extensive
review of recent research on applications of IoT in libraries is unavailable. This paper presents an overview of
IoT in libraries, findings and potential research opportunities.
Keywords Digital libraries, Internet of Things,RFID, Library management, Smart libraries, IoT application
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The fundamental role of libraries is to disclose and to disseminate information, serving as
the mediation of access to information (Wójcik, 2016). With the advance of technologies,
libraries are relying more on information and communication technologies (ICT) and the
internet to fulfill their role, because the internet is changing the way people obtain
information (Thanuskodi, 2012). As a result, libraries must keep pace with the development
of ICT to expand and improve their range and quality of services (Stejskal and Hajek, 2015).
As the extension of traditional libraries, digital libraries provide electronic collections,
information services and powerful searching functions (Lai et al., 2014). They can not only
make one library’s resources accessible to world-wide users, but also incorporate the
resources from other libraries (Chang et al., 2009; Chen et al., 2012).
Currently, libraries are facing huge challenges in managing large number of book
records, searching a book quickly, issuing books and managing late arrivals (Tarique and
Priya Rani, 2017). In addition, the reading materials, including text document, image,
audio, video and software, are getting more fragmented (Fortino et al., 2014). For libraries,
the integration of the internet has led to the utilization of new tools and methods for
providing users information (Abdoulaye and Majid, 2000), such as digital resources,
mobile service, notification service and ubiquitous service on the basis of traditional
service (Fortino et al., 2014). Accordingly, digital libraries are required to have the abilities
of collecting, managing, preserving resources and providing specialized services to users.
In addition, digital libraries are required to have the ability of integrating access to
various information sources fast deployment and low maintenance cost in a rapidly
evolving environment (Christophides et al., 2000). Therefore, integration of distributed
Received 17 November 2017
Revised 30 July 2018
Accepted 6 August 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
Libraries in
IoT era
LibraryHi Tech
Vol.38 No. 1, 2020
pp.79-93
©EmeraldPublishingLimited
0737-8831
DOI10.1108/LHT-11-2017-0233
79
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