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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.

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.

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 efficiency, 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.

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.

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 findings showed that the overall explanatory power (R2) of this model was 55 per cent and, thus, that the findings of this work have practical significance.

This research conducts bibliometric analyses and network mapping on smart libraries worldwide. It examines publication profiles, identifies the most cited publications and preferred sources and considers the cooperation of the authors, organizations and countries worldwide. The research also highlights keyword trends and clusters and finds new developments and emerging trends from the co-cited references network.

A total of 264 records with 1,200 citations were extracted from the Web of Science database from 2003 to 2021. The trends in the smart library were analyzed and visualized using BibExcel, VOSviewer, Biblioshiny and CiteSpace.

The People’s Republic of China had the most publications (119), the most citations (374), the highest H-index (12) and the highest total link strength (TLS = 25). Wuhan University had the highest H-index (6). Chiu, Dickson K. W. (H-index = 4, TLS = 22) and Lo, Patrick (H-index = 4, TLS = 21) from the University of Hong Kong had the highest H-indices and were the most cooperative authors. Library Hi Tech was the most preferred journal. “Mobile library” was the most frequently used keyword. “Mobile context” was the largest cluster on the research front.

This study helps librarians, scientists and funders understand smart library trends.

There are several studies and solid background research on smart libraries. However, to the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to conduct bibliometric analyses and network mapping on smart libraries around the globe.