Smart libraries: an emerging and innovative technological habitat of 21st century

Published date07 October 2019
Pages764-783
Date07 October 2019
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/EL-02-2019-0052
AuthorSumeer Gul,Shohar Bano
Subject MatterInformation & knowledge management
Smart libraries: an emerging
and innovative technological
habitat of 21st century
Sumeer Gul
Department of Library and Information Science,
University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India, and
Shohar Bano
University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India
Abstract
Purpose The purposeof this paper is to discuss the emerging and innovative technologieswhich integrate
together to form smart libraries. Smart libraries are the new generation libraries, which work with the
amalgamationof smart technologies, smart users and smart services.
Design/methodology/approach An extensive review of literatureon smart librarieswas carried to
ascertain the emerging technologies in the smart library domain. Clarivate Analytics Web of Science and
Sciverse Scopus were exploredinitially to ascertain the extent of literature published on SmartLibraries and
their varied aspects. Literature was searched against various keywords like smart libraries, smart
technologies, Internet of Things (IoT), Electronic resource management (ERM), Data mining, Articial
intelligence (AI), Ambient intelligence, Blockchain Technology and AugmentedReality. Later on, the works
citing the literatureon Smart Libraries were also explored to visualize a broad spectrum of emergingconcepts
about this growingtrend in libraries.
Findings The study conrms that smart libraries are becoming smarter with the emerging smart
technologies, which enhances their working capabilities and satises the users associated with them.
Implementing the smart technologiesin the libraries has bridged the gap between the services offered by the
librariesand the rapidly changing and competing needs of the humans.
Practical implications The paper highlights the emerging smart technologies in smart libraries and
how they inuencethe efciency of libraries in terms of users, services andtechnological integration.
Originality/value The paper tries to highlight the currenttechnologies in the smart library set-ups for
the efcientworking of library set-ups.
Keywords Augmented reality, Data mining, Smart technologies, Smart libraries,
Blockchain technology, Internet of things IOT, Ambient intelligence, Articial intelligence AI,
Electronic resource management ERM
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Libraries are the service institutions, knowledge hubs that are the backbone of a society,
provide information access and nurtureits cultural well-being. According to the fth law of
library science as stated by Ranganathan (1931) which justies that library is a growing
organismsignicance is given to the trinityof libraries- the user, services and the
resources. This law articulatesthe dynamism in the growth and explosion in the services of
libraries encompassing its users, resources and validates its existence in the twenty-rst
century digital world that is the smart people,smart libraries and smart services. We live in
the universe of signicant technological drift, which moves us speedily towards the next
EL
37,5
764
Received27 February 2019
Revised15 May 2019
Accepted1 June 2019
TheElectronic Library
Vol.37 No. 5, 2019
pp. 764-783
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/EL-02-2019-0052
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
generation of hi-techlibraries. These changes affect the core of culturesand societies and the
most momentous of them are the smart libraries.At present times, electronic libraries act as
an enhancement in the traditional form of libraries but changes in the environment of the
traditional librariesare evidently visible from (Baryshev et al.,2015). With the application of
World Wide Web (Web) to the electroniclibraries and particularly the Web 2.0 which works
on the interactive technology and enable user participation in the content generation and
service creation and coexistence of traditional and multimedia materials provide various
ways for consumers to interact with technology as well interpersonally (Baryshev et al.,
2018). The internetturns out to be a necessary medium, which becamecomplementary to the
services rendered to the users in the traditional and electronic libraries (Baryshev et al.,
2015). According to Schatzand Chen (1999),
Many believe that we are approaching the start of the Net Millennium, a time when the Net forms
the basic infrastructure of everyday life. For this transformation to actually occur, however, the
functionality of the Net must be boosted beyond providing mere access to one that supports truly
eective searches. Collections of all kinds must be indexed eectively, from small communities to
large disciplines, from formal to informal communications, from text to image and video
repositories, and eventually across languages and cultures. The Net needs fundamentally new
technology to support this new search and indexing functionality.
The twenty-rst century is witnessing much technological and wireless networking
innovation and the internet is the historic of them all (Javier and Marco, 2011). Web and
digital libraries are enjoying a symbiotic relation making information dissemination an
easier and hassle-free and taking the form of smart libraries. However, on a practical level,
libraries constantly change with user needs, the changing technological environment and
the extensive growth of data (Cao et al.,2018) which in turn while creating smart users and
smart services evolve smart libraries to keep pace with the camouaging nature of the
information accessand dissemination.
2. What are smart libraries?
Smartness is all about attractiveness.The concept of smartness is also applicable to libraries
who have users as the main elements of attractiveness for them. The term smart library
was coined by Aittola et al. (2003) (Zimmerman and Chang, 2018). According to Cao et al.
(2018),it is unclear what constitutes a smart library and how it differs from other types of
the library. In lucid language, a smart libraryis a library with a purpose to provide better
and advanced services to the users. The working denitionof a smart library is the library,
which renders its special services making use of electronic and communication technology.
Zimmerman and Chang (2018)share their view about a smart library in the following way:
The smart library is the integration of books and related data, as well as digital and space
resources, based on the realization of comprehensive informationization of the library. Use of
large data intelligent analysis platform, the library management and services are intelligent and
personalized, and the reader needs are oriented to improve their experience. Achieve this; the
construction of a smart library requires the realization of true full data exchange and the
availability of a full-scale data-sharing center.
Therefore, a smart library actuallyaims at the smartness of all the elements and activities of
the library from library housekeeping operations to the user services and even behind the
curtain activities of the library. Actually, the smart library is a new move towards the
multidimensional management and use of information. Cao et al. (2018) present a three-
dimensional model, which dene a smart library in the context of three important
dimensions: the technological dimension, the service dimension, and the user-oriented
Smart libraries
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