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

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the emerging and innovative technologies which integrate together to form smart libraries. Smart libraries are the new generation libraries, which work with the amalgamation of smart technologies, smart users and smart services.

Design/methodology/approach

An extensive review of literature on “smart libraries” was carried to ascertain the emerging technologies in the smart library domain. Clarivate Analytic’s Web of Science and Sciverse Scopus were explored initially to ascertain the extent of literature published on Smart Libraries 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, Artificial intelligence (AI), Ambient intelligence, Blockchain Technology and Augmented Reality. Later on, the works citing the literature on Smart Libraries were also explored to visualize a broad spectrum of emerging concepts about this growing trend in libraries.

Findings

The study confirms that smart libraries are becoming smarter with the emerging smart technologies, which enhances their working capabilities and satisfies the users associated with them. Implementing the smart technologies in the libraries has bridged the gap between the services offered by the libraries and the rapidly changing and competing needs of the humans.

Practical implications

The paper highlights the emerging smart technologies in smart libraries and how they influence the efficiency of libraries in terms of users, services and technological integration.

Originality/value

The paper tries to highlight the current technologies in the smart library set-ups for the efficient working of library set-ups.

Citation

Gul, S. and Bano, S. (2019), "Smart libraries: an emerging and innovative technological habitat of 21st century", The Electronic Library, Vol. 37 No. 5, pp. 764-783. https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-02-2019-0052