Use of smartphone apps among library and information science students at South Valley University, Egypt
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-03-2015-0044 |
| Published date | 06 June 2016 |
| Pages | 371-404 |
| Date | 06 June 2016 |
| Author | Essam Mansour |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
Use of smartphone apps among
library and information science
students at South Valley
University, Egypt
Essam Mansour
The Department of Library and Information Science (DLIS),
The Faculty of Arts, South Valley University (SVU), Qena, Egypt
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the use patterns and ownership of smartphone
apps among students at the Department of Library and Information Science (DLIS) at the South Valley
University (SVU), Egypt. This study may help faculty members and students, as well as DLISs in
general and SVU’s DLIS, in particular, to understand the nature and purpose of such use.
Design/methodology/approach – This study used quantitative research methodology in the form
of a survey, which was undertaken from February to March 2015. The survey instrument was a
self-administrated questionnaire, with a response rate 82.7 per cent (441/533).
Findings – The ndings of this study showed that smartphone users (82.7 per cent) at SVU’s DLIS
tended to be junior females. Smartphone non-users (17.3 per cent) tended to be also young females but
primarily sophomores. The highest percentage of smartphone users had been using smartphones for
four to ve years, and the largest number of students was described to be advanced users who heard
rst about these mobile devices through friends and the Web. Most users had 21 to 25 apps. Social apps
were the most popular and included Facebook, e-mail and Twitter. For professional purposes, students
used smartphones more for communication purposes than learning purposes. Apps related to
educational purposes included Google Mobile, Facebook, e-mail, Twitter, YouTube and Wikipedia
Mobile. Students perceived most apps to be easy to use and useful to them. There were a number of uses
for socializing including messaging, following the news and playing games. Students had mainly
positive attitudes towards apps with a few negative concerns. Almost all students conrmed that they
trust most apps. Barriers related to the use of apps included training and lack of awareness. Further
research may be needed to specify the relationship between the students’ use of these apps and their
academic performance. The main tasks done on smartphone devices were mainly for socializing.
Students indicated that popular tasks and activities, such as sending and receiving messages, following
the news, making communications, making chat, making friends, nding specic information, nding
general information, making discussion groups, playing games, completing class assignments,
checking materials related to courses, doing business, seeking jobs, watching movies, listening to music
and accessing library services are important tasks accomplished by them through the use of these
devices. The current study indicated very positive attitudes towards the use of these apps. Student at
least agree with the statement that smartphone apps allow for easy dissemination of information,
provide too much information, increase the speed of nding information, help communication,
convenient, secure, build condent and reduce paper use. However, a large number of students also at
least agree with the statement that these apps are time consuming, intimidating, addictive, violate
privacy, require high language and technical skills, harmful and frustrating. Almost all students
conrmed that they are at least trustful in some apps, such as WhatsApp, e-mail, YouTube, Facebook,
Flickr, Twitter and Viber. A large number of smartphone users surveyed in this study have been
described to make excessive usage of social apps, such as communication apps, messaging/texting apps
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
Use of
smartphone
apps
371
Received 16 March 2015
Accepted 8 May 2015
TheElectronic Library
Vol.34 No. 3, 2016
pp.371-404
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/EL-03-2015-0044
and social networking sites, which were at the forefront of use. Additionally, a large number of them
adopted these devices, especially for communication purposes. The most used apps were Facebook,
e-mail, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube and Viber. For professional purposes, students used
smartphones more for communication purposes than learning purposes. However, some of the students
were using some of apps related to educational purposes, such as Google mobile, Facebook, e-mail,
Twitter, YouTube and Wikipedia mobile but not on a regular basis. Students perceived the use of e-mail
app, Google mobile, Facebook app WhatsApp, Kik, Twitter, YouTube, Google maps, Viber, Line,
Skype, Tango, Instagram, Flickr and Wikipedia mobile as at least fairly easy to them. Additionally, they
perceived the use of e-mail app Google mobile, WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Viber,
Instagram, Wikipedia mobile, Google maps, Kik, Skype, Line, Tango and Flickr as at least fairly useful
to them, especially for the purpose socialization more than learning.
Research limitations/implications – This study focuses only on undergraduate library and
information science students belonging to SVU’s DLIS, Egypt. Any ndings and conclusions resulting
from this study are limited in scope to only SVU’s DLIS’s undergraduate students. The study does not
contain a signicantly large sample of a population from across Egypt to draw meaningful widespread
conclusions indicative of such a larger population.
Practical implications – This study provides valuable insight into the use pattern of smartphones
among a very important client group. It may serve as useful input to researchers who are interested in
the study of mobile internet technologies (MITs), particularly in the education society.
Originality/value – Being the rst study of its kind about university students in Egypt, it is
considered a pioneering and a unique study among studies conducted in the eld of ICTs and MITs,
especially with this category of information users.
Keywords Smartphones, Education, Egypt, College students, Library and information science,
Mobile internet technologies, Qena, South valley university
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Smartphones are one of the most common devices accessed and used by people
worldwide. They have become one of the main tools to get quick access to information.
A “smartphone is one [of] the most ubiquitous, dynamic and sophisticated trends in
communication” (Alfawareh and Jusoh, 2014, p. 321). According to the Radicati Group
(2014), a technology market research rm, the number of worldwide mobile users,
including both business and consumers, reached 5.6 billion users in 2014, and by the end
of 2018, this number is expected to reach over 6.2 billion. “Roughly 84 per cent of the
world’s population will be using mobile technology by year-end 2018” (Radicati Group,
2014,p.2).
The value of smartphones is apparent in all aspects of life, particularly in politics and
education. This value was clearly expressed, particularly in Egypt, in what is called
“The Arab Spring”, where such devices were described as being the most important
ways of communication among protestors inside and outside Egypt. In this regard,
Duffy (2011) conrmed that “The smart phone helped cover the Arab Spring in a way
that traditional journalism simply couldn’t” (p. 53). In education, sharing the opinion
with Chen and Denovelles (2013), the popularity of mobile internet technologies (MITs),
such as smartphones, tablets and e-book readers, is noticeably increasing among college
students. A signicant number of universities are now using mobile technologies and
have created mobile-optimized versions of their websites or have built stand-alone apps
that can be downloaded from mobile app stores (Rellinger, 2011). Such devices and tools
are playing a signicant role in the academic life of college students. They help connect
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students to each other and to their instructors. Applications (apps) which run on these
devices/tools let students consume, discover and create content (Dahlstrom, 2012).
Despite the widespread use of smartphones, little is known about the ownership of such
devices and their use by the population in general and university students in particular
(Mazloomy et al., 2009). Investigating the use of smartphones among students at the
university level is very important because they tend to be the rst group to use new
technology (Emanuel, 2013). The current study investigates the ownership and use of
such mobile devices among students enrolled in one of Egypt’s library and information
science schools.
Purpose and signicance of the study
The main purpose of this study is to investigate the use patterns and ownership of
smartphone apps among students in library and information science (LIS) at the South
Valley University (SVU), Egypt. Previous studies, such as Chiu et al. (2015), revealed
that there is limited research about the use of MITs by LIS students. The current
research, therefore, may help faculty members and students, as well as the discipline in
general and SVU’s Department of Library and Information Science (DLIS) in particular,
to understand the nature and purpose of such use. This study may serve as useful input
to researchers who are interested in the study of MITs, particularly in the education
discipline.
Statement of the problem
A large number of previous studies showed that smartphones have been mostly used for
communication and entertainment (Viticci, 2012). MITs, especially smartphones, have
been studied on a large scale, but research about the potential use of these devices
among university students, especially at the undergraduate level, has still not gained
much attention by researchers, especially in Arab countries, where Egypt is located.
More research, therefore, is needed to be conducted on this topic among such users to
recognize how and why they use these types of devices.
The objectives of the study
The eight objectives of this study are to:
(1) describe the demographic characteristics of smartphone users and non-users at
SVU’s DLIS;
(2) describe the features of smartphone apps used by students at SVU’s DLIS;
(3) determine the ease and usefulness of using apps by smartphone users at SVU’s
DLIS;
(4) determine which types of apps smartphone users at SVU’s DLIS use most;
(5) determine which apps smartphone users at SVU’s DLIS use for education and
library-related activities;
(6) determine tasks done on apps by smartphone users at SVU’s DLIS;
(7) determine the positive and negative aspects of using apps by smartphone users
at SVU’s DLIS; and
(8) identify constraints encountered by smartphone users and non-users at SVU’s
DLIS.
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smartphone
apps
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