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As many organizations and institutions in recent years are trying to update their hardware and software platforms toward using mobile technology, libraries and information centers as trustees and leaders of information management and information science need to be futurists in this area. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the status of using mobile-based services in the world’s top university libraries.

In this direct observation and quantitative research survey, the authors reviewed the status of using mobile-based services in the libraries of the world’s top universities.

The results showed that 84 percent of the libraries of the top 50 universities in the world have made their websites mobile-friendly and provide mobile-based services; however, only 30 percent of them have designed mobile library application. The findings of this study revealed that mobile phone services such as “Search catalog,” “Hour of library,” “Contact,” “Ask the librarian” and “News” in more than 50 percent of the libraries with mobile-based services has been used. While some services like “Services for disabled,” “Library card,” “Library Strategic Plan” and “Financial services” are less important to deliver on the mobile platform.

The results of the current research are only limited to this environment. Furthermore limited access to all features of some mobile library applications is another limitation of this work. Also, failure to download some of the university apps from the usual App store due to the nationality of the researchers is other limitations of the study. The authors try to find more details of these apps with connecting to the librarians of this statistic society.

The research results indicated that the majority of libraries in the world’s top universities have moved toward designing and using mobile platform in their websites. This survey suggests that the academic libraries of developing countries in order to follow this trend are supposed to plug in most used services based on experience of academic libraries of top universities.

The research results indicated that the majority of libraries in the world’s top universities have moved toward designing and using mobile platform in their websites. This survey suggests that the Iranian academic libraries affiliated with the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology and the Ministry of Health and Medical Education are also trying to follow this trend in order to meet the users’ information needs.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the state of mobile library services available for students’ information needs at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. In addition, this study will determine the extent to which mobile services has helped the Mona libraries to have greater reach to students.

Surveys and content analysis were used to collect data. A comparative content analysis was used to highlight the strides made in mobile library services in universities across the world vis-à-vis the current reality in the Caribbean, specifically Jamaica.

The findings identified that there is a proliferation of mobile and internet users among university and college students and they are heavily using their devices for the furtherance of their educational attainment. Additionally, the findings indicated that libraries in the academic realm can benefit greatly from allowing their content to be accessible through these mobile devices, as it would also help with greater usage. Furthermore, this service is guaranteed greater support the distance programmes offered by these universities.

This study will focus on assessing the state of mobile library services offered at the University of the West Indies, Mona Jamaica. This study will also determine the extent to which mobile services can help libraries to have greater reach to students and provide best practices for academic libraries implementing mobile service offerings to clients. This study will not attest to the financial feasibility of academic institutions to start such a programme.

The research excavated that the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, along with other academic libraries in the Caribbean are all not fully offering mobile library services to all their users. In addition, with the rise of technology and the proliferation of cell phones and other mobile devices, students (distance and onsite) expect a service that allows them greater access to the offerings of the university and their libraries.

This is the premier investigation of its kind into how the University of the West Indies Mona Campus has responded to the mobile library environment. The value of this research is in helping academic and university libraries in the Jamaica to identify the importance of leveraging the benefits of the dynamic technological era, allowing greater and wider reach through mobile library services proliferation and access to services. In addition, this study showed that academic libraries need to enhance services in a bid to provide greater support the teaching component of the university or college they serve.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the students’ opinion of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, regarding the use and success of mobile technology in the library environment for providing better services by library and their expectations from the library through mobile technology.

A survey was conducted through a well-structured and precise questionnaire circulated personally among 200 students studying in Jawaharlal Nehru University for the academic session 2012-2013.

The majority of students are in favor of using mobile technology for better services, and it is expected by the students that services should be provided to them by libraries through mobile technology. Furthermore, the study also explores the students’ opinion on improved services using mobile technology.

The geographical area of study was confined to the students of the JNU, New Delhi, purely regarding their opinion on use and success of mobile technology by the library. The research results are limited to this environment only.

The paper highlights the students’ opinion of JNU regarding the use of mobile technology by the library for better services, and further it also explores the expectations of students from the library through this technology.

The purpose of this paper is to determine how students at the University of Regina would like to interact with the library on their mobile devices and how to best construct a mobile site to suit the university community's needs.

A survey was designed to gather feedback from the university community on their use of mobile devices and how they would want to use the library's resources and services via their mobile device. This survey also attempts to better understand how academic libraries can provide effective mobile services. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to several Canadian academic libraries. Its purpose was to discover what other institutions were doing with mobile technologies.

The survey found that 95.4 percent of students that responded to the survey had a smartphone and 75 percent of them used their mobile phone to access the web. The survey indicated that the library catalogue was the most popular resource chosen to become mobile enabled. The questionnaire distributed to other Canadian academic libraries showed that some libraries were designing and building web apps, while others were creating native apps.

With the increase of mobile technology availability and the demand for accessible mobile content, it is imperative that libraries examine how they can provide services to their patrons within this medium in order to continue to provide valuable services. Mobile technologies are constantly changing, so continuous assessment in this area is of importance.

Globally, mobile technology is a significant factor influencing how libraries are changing the ways of delivering services to today’s users. This paper aims to explore academic librarians’ perceptions of the usefulness of mobile technology in delivering library services and the efforts required for its successful adoption.

The study was conducted within an interpretive paradigm. The research objectives were underpinned by the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology as a theoretical framework. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyses using NVIVO for thematic analysis.

Results show that, in general, academic librarians support the use of mobile technology to provide services such as access to eBooks and Journals, Online Public Access Catalogue, Bookmyne application, information literacy consultations and training. Library managers, fellow librarians and users were identified as encouraging the adoption of mobile technology to enhance library services. The paper further confirms that the successful adoption of mobile technology requires some effort. However, due to some of the challenges presented in the study, a majority of respondents felt that their libraries are not yet ready to fully embrace mobile technology the way it is envisioned in today’s world.

The study endeavours to address the divergence between students and academic librarians’ viewpoints regarding the application of mobile technology in the provision of library services.

This paper highlights numerous ways that academic librarians could adopt and embrace mobile technology, which can benefit both academic libraries and other institutions of higher learning. The knowledge presented in this paper could assist academic librarians in assessing their institutions’ vulnerabilities, challenges and strengths in using mobile technologies to provide library services.

This paper is a systematic review that aims to collect and review studies on library users’ smartphone use to access library services and resources. Another objective of the systematic review is to identify the challenges and benefits (reported in the reviewed literature) regarding using smartphones to access library resources and services.

The researchers searched the relevant literature from four databases: Scopus, Library and Information Science Technology Abstracts, Web of Science and Google Scholar. A total of 20 studies were selected, out of the 2,416 retrieved titles, for review in light of the PRISMA guidelines. This systematic review also used the quality assessment guidelines of Boynton and Greenhalgh (2004), to analyze the quality of the publications reviewed in the study.

The results highlighted that library users used smartphones to access a wide range of library services, including directions help, fresh arrivals, library news notifications, room and course reservations, library account management, circulation and the Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC). The libraries offered their users multiple mobile-supported services related to searching for resources and account management. The challenges, as well as the benefits associated with the use of smartphones for accessing and using library services, have also been reported. Most reviewed studies scored high (9–13 out of 13) in the quality assessment.

This research has some limitations. First, only the English-language research studies were included in the review. Therefore, it is possible that a significant study conducted in a language other than English was missed. Second, researchers performed a comprehensive search to collect the maximum number of relevant studies; there is a chance that an important study was missed during the search and retrieval process.

This research fills the research gap by advancing the literature on mobile device use for accessing library services and resources. The findings might help library professionals understand the current trends in accessing library services through smartphones. This also helps them plan the latest mobile-supported library services to meet the ever-changing demands of library users. Policymakers could also benefit from this research, as it could help them understand current trends in library services and facilitate them in making appropriate policies, funding allocations and implementing mobile services in libraries.

The researchers found that the use of mobile phones to access library services and resources impacts society in a discernible way. It provides a rich environment as users access a wide range of library services, including directions help, fresh arrivals, library news notifications, room and course reservations, library account management, circulation and the OPAC without any hindrances or hurdles.

This is the first review, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, that has systematically collected and reviewed the literature on the topic under study. This study also shares the theoretical and practical implications of the research and future research directions for researchers.

This study aims to investigate the factors that affect the intention to use public mobile libraries and enhance the quality of mobile library services to attract and retain users.

A questionnaire survey was conducted with 391 valid users in China. Based on the stimulus–response theory and user individual characteristics, a model was developed to examine the factors influencing the intention to use public mobile libraries. The model was tested using statistical software, such as SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 24.0.

The results indicate that technological factors, content factors, individual factors and psychological factors significantly influence the intention to use public mobile libraries. The impact of system quality and perceived ease of use in technological factors is relatively balanced. Among content factors, information quality is the most significant, while information literacy has a greater influence compared to subjective norms in individual factors. In psychological factors, perceived matching and perceived pleasure both positively influence usage intention, while perceived cost has a negative impact.

Firstly, this study only investigates users’ intention to use, but intention does not necessarily equate to actual usage behaviour (King and He,2006). Future research can introduce new variables to explore users’ adoption and continuous usage behaviours. Secondly, this study does not differentiate between different types of mobile library users. Future research can consider different user types, such as potential users and current users, to investigate the similarities and differences in their willingness to adopt mobile library services. Thirdly, this study is primarily cross-sectional. Future research can consider longitudinal studies to provide more in-depth insights into user behaviour.

This paper identifies external and internal stimulus factors and conducts a comprehensive investigation into the factors influencing the intention to use public mobile libraries, thus providing generalizable research findings. Unlike previous studies, this research introduces the information literacy variable, enriching the model of factors affecting users' intention to use mobile libraries and yielding more comprehensive conclusions. Consequently, the study aims to be grounded in the actual usage ideas and intentions of diverse user groups, constructing a model that highlights factors influencing the intention to use public mobile library services.

From a social perspective, this study offers four implications for improving the utilization of public mobile libraries. Firstly, it is crucial to integrate digital resources, enhance information quality in public mobile libraries and improve platform usability. Secondly, adopting a user-oriented approach is essential to improve the service level of public mobile libraries and stimulate residents’ participation. Thirdly, efforts should be made to strengthen user information literacy and increase information utilization. Fourthly, top-level design improvements, effective promotion efforts and user behaviour guidance are essential for the success of public mobile libraries.

This study contributes to the improvement of public mobile library services and the advancement of modern public cultural services by identifying the key factors that drive the intention to use such services. The findings have practical implications for promoting high-quality development and enhancing the popularity of public mobile libraries.

This paper aims to investigate the service demand of existing users and potential users for mobile information services provided by university libraries in China. The primary objective is to explore the impact of user experience on user needs, which is conducted by a comparison between two user groups over their needs from three aspects – service function, service mode and information content.

Data were collected from 353 library users from ten Chinese universities via questionnaires. Based on the user needs model, three dimensions of user needs were established for mobile information services and 26 measurement items were generated through a review of the literature. Furthermore, based on frequency analysis, independent samples t-test and the calculation of need rate, the demand differences in mobile information services between existing and potential users were explored.

Significant differences existed in the needs for service functions and service modes of mobile information services between existing users and potential users. Existing users cared more about such characteristics as intelligence, personalization and the variety of mobile services. Potential users, in contrast, concerned themselves more with the usability of mobile services and similarity to traditional information services. These two user groups showed little difference in the needs for information content, as they both have strict requirements for specialty, richness in and quality of information resources in mobile network environments.

Previous research on user needs for mobile libraries services has been primarily conducted from the perspectives of existing users. This study, however, compared the needs of existing and potential users based on their previous experiences, which can help libraries to know better what their users need and improve the quality of mobile information services to meet those needs. This can also make existing users more willing to use the services and cultivate the usage habits of potential users at the same time.

Discusses alternative methods of providing a public library service to one‐house stop clients of south Lincolnshire’s mobile libraries. A literature review revealed a lack of up‐to‐date cost information for alternative methods of service provision. Four methods were selected for further investigation: books by mail; village shop libraries; extending the housebound service; and transporting clients to the library. Annual cost and cost per issue were calculated and compared to the cost of the mobile library. Staff and users were also surveyed for their opinions of the current service and the alternative methods proposed. The results of the costing exercises showed that transporting users to the library was the most cost effective method but this was not popular with the current users of the service. Services considering replacing the one‐house stop mobile service will also need to consider issues including social inclusion, best value and the public library standards.

The purpose of this study is to search for any evidence for university libraries that are accessible by mobile technology in Turkey as relevant models of the future; having regard to the fact that smartphones will very soon become the standard means by which the internet is accessed, and the rates of connection from mobile devices will supersede those which are computer-based.

In the study, both domestic and foreign literature surveys were undertaken to determine which mobile library services are offered in university libraries. Thirty random central libraries of both private and state universities were selected from across the seven regions of Turkey. To gather data, a 26-question electronic survey was generated and e-mailed to the library managers. The questions were based on findings regarding the mobile library services provided by university libraries around the world.

By examining the survey results, it was determined that Turkish university libraries utilise a comparable level of mobile technology and demonstrate a similar level of care with regard to the services they offer. There are mobile sites (separate sites or mobile sites as applications), mobile library catalogues, short messaging services, chat rooms, consultations via instant messaging tools, mobile device-lending services, and augmented reality and QR code applications.

In Turkey, the structures of university libraries operate under variable conditions because of the lack of established standards. This causes negative results for the delivery of library services. For this reason, university library standards should be set practicable as soonas reasonable, considering the social/economic and cultural structure of the country.

Owing to the transformative effect technology and the internet have had on services information and communication technologies, infrastructure has been added as a sixth element to the five traditional library items, namely, building budget personnel collection and users. Globalisation through the web has resulted in the individualisation of services and the slogan content is king has been changed to the customer experience is king. Fundamental library services are being adapted to allow mobile technology access, and this approach best reflects the new slogan. Therefore, the university library of the future may well be the one entirely based on mobile technology.

Mobile devices lead to new forms of engagement with student learning; so academic libraries are expected to be strong partners in the teaching and learning processes of their institution.

The hypothesis of this study is that a university library accessible by mobile technology will be the model of the future, and its purpose is to search for any evidence for which the university libraries in Turkey are prepared to meet this challenge. This study is also meaningful because there have not been any study of Turkish university libraries in terms of mobile library services to users. This paper is the first time that a comprehensive study has been made of current mobile technology-based services, and is also the first comparison of the applications in Turkish university libraries. Additionally, paper synthesises developments and provides suggestions for the future.