Abstract

Mobile communication, through its various modes, has changed the way users today access information. The compelling demand of mobile devices lies in the fact that they enable flexibility for users and libraries to access up-to-date information in a ubiquitous way. In this light, the purpose of this article is to understand the mobile pervasiveness among different categories of students gender-wise and age-wise vis-á-vis the need to investigate use of mobile devices in accessing academic content. The study tries to understand the potential demand of mobile library services along with determining the need of mobile library services. The information gained from the study is intended to help libraries to realise the growing demand of mobile library services. The results show an increasing use of mobile devices in information access and an aspiration for use of library services available via mobile phones.

Since the emergence of mobile devices and predominantly smartphones, they have been widely adopted by the academia. Over the years, these devices have become the major source of information access, especially for university students, as is visible through the increasing prevalence of the practice of bring your own device (BYOD), by students bringing along their own laptops, tablets, smartphones or other mobile devices to the learning or work environment. According to Fling (2009), mobile phone technology has changed rapidly since the advent of the smartphone almost a decade ago. Nowlan (2013) argues that smartphones and other mobile devices are becoming the preferred way to access almost any type of information. Martin and Ertzberger (2013) asserted that the miniature devices have helped in providing anytime and anywhere access to information, processes, and communication. Further, while discussing the ubiquitous nature of mobile phones, Kukulska-Hulme and Traxler (2007) stated that these devices can be carried around with relative ease and used for communication and collaboration and for teaching and learning activities that are different from what is possible with other media. Bicen (2015) while researching on the features of different mobile devices found that many students prefer to use devices that can support different applications, such as smartphones or tablet computer instead of ordinary mobile devices. Correspondingly, Bicen and Kocakoyun (2013) highlighted that the most important reason for these preferences are the ease of use, variety of different applications, and the richness of functions. Chen, Kao and Sheu (2003) furthered it by adding some features, such as memory, storage, interactivity features, and high data transfer speed. However, for effective use of mobile devices, different applications should be downloaded and there will be benefits if these applications are used for educational purposes (Bicen and Kocakoyun 2013).

To remain relevant, it is incumbent on libraries to first understand the mobile needs of their patrons and then adapt themselves in the growing mobile environment according to those perceived needs. Johnson et al. (2011) in the NMC Horizon Report promulgate a survey at the Edinburgh University Library in November 2011 to gauge students’ interest in using mobile devices. The study revealed that the students want to be able to search the catalogue, view their library account, check PC availability in the library, book study rooms, and have access to a map or GPS for finding their way around the library building (Nowlan 2013). Mills (2009) highlights that 55 per cent of the students are in favour of accessing library services, especially the library catalogue, through their mobile devices.

Over the years, a variety of mobile web applications in libraries have been developed, including mobile library websites and MOPACs (Mobile OPACs), mobile collections, mobile library instruction, mobile databases, mobile library tours, mobile learning, library SMS notifications, mobile library circulation, QR (Quick Response) codes, access to services (such as reserving study rooms and checking out laptops and e-book readers), and SMS reference (Kroski 2008). If libraries wish to stay relevant to the demands of the users, they have to embrace mobile computing technology and leverage the same to reap the benefits of information access. In fact, they need to step forward and realize that there is an immediate need to ubiquitous information services.  Moreover, they are technically still in the stage of infancy and there is no sign in the near future that they can keep pace with the dynamic growth of mobile technology and provide services for the mobile users. It is clear that academic libraries can expect their patrons to be accessing their services via mobile devices in growing numbers and need to adapt to this reality (Liu & Briggs 2015).

Through mobile connectivity and its ubiquitous nature, libraries can move forward and embrace the growing capabilities of mobile technology. They can, therefore, promote and expand their existing services by offering mobile access to their websites and online public access catalogues. Although a few libraries have been successful in implementing mobile library services but, in the recent past, a tremendous amount of research has been conducted on how to collect, display, preserve, and lend material to users and provide access to information resources through mobile devices.

Nonetheless, certain significant questions, listed as follows, continue to remain unanswered:

• Do students’ access online library resources through their mobile devices?


• What are the general uses of mobile devices?


• Which online resources/ services do students search and access on their mobile devices? In order to answer such questions, a survey was conducted in 2017 in different academic institutions in Delhi, India. The study also endeavoured to find out frequency of use of Social Networking Sites (SNS) vs. library resources.  As suggested by Lippincott (2010), it is important to provide the mobile library services only after the user assessment. Correspondingly, as stated by Kerr & Pennington (2018), it is vital for libraries to mobilize core services. They should consult with the user population prior to and throughout the development process to ensure the users’ satisfaction with the implementation.

Therefore, it was important to ask the users about their perceptions regarding mobile library services.

There are numerous studies that show how many libraries are leveraging mobile library initiatives to provide information to their patrons on mobile devices. The use of mobile devices for acquiring information is something that libraries cannot easily ignore because they have become an integral  part of student experience. There is always a demand of information services to be retrieved in convenient ways by the patrons. During the time when the information is multitudinously increasing with sophisticated gadgets in the market, libraries face a huge challenge to deliver information to the users. The adoption of mobile technology alters the traditional relationship between the users and the libraries and introduces novel challenges to reader privacy (Vollmer 2010). In enhancing the quality of services and to connect with the patrons, many university libraries are in the race to make best use of mobile technologies. Wang, Ke & Lu (2011) found that ‘When using mobile technology, especially SMS services from librarians, the due day reminder and renewal request service was the favourite service for the majority of respondents’. Many surveys show the willingness of students to adopt such ubiquitous facilities.

Libraries can better serve their users by embracing the growing capabilities of mobile technology (Kroski 2008). “They can promote their existing services by offering mobile access to their websites and OPACs (Vollmer, 2010). These changes provide opportunity to rethink library services and their patrons’ access to content (Bomhold 2015).  “The 2011 MNC Horizon Report by Johnson et al. (2011) asserted that mobile device technology will be widely adopted within the time frame of one year or less” (Liu & Briggs 2015).

The most meticulous publication by Kroski (2008) ‘on the move with the mobile web’ is one of one of the most thorough study on incorporating mobile applications in library services. It is one of the best, highlighting the mobile library initiatives and their implementation in accessing information services.

Cummings, Merrill & Borrelli (2010), Nowlan (2013),  and Vasudavan and Ravi (2013) found that ‘The majority of people owning a smartphone or other mobile device (e.g. PDAs) would search libraries’ OPACs through their mobile devices mainly for learning materials, new titles and reservation lists’. To provide the quantitative and qualitative data on students use of mobile devices and to consider the benefit of academic mobile library services among students, Paterson and Low (2011) surveyed 1,716 participants, the findings show that there is a dramatic growth of smartphone ownership among students. In order to explore the utilization of mobile phone services in the educational environment, the nature of mobile phone use among university students, and to investigate the perception of university students on mobile phone usage in library and information services, Kaim, Darus and Hussin (2006) found that the respondents’ perceptions on the application of wireless hand services in the context of library and information services were very positive. Majority of the respondents indicated their willingness to become the users of such services if offered.

Bomhold (2015) conducted a study in order to determine the use of applications (apps) on smartphones. The study shows that still a small percentage of most frequently used apps (10.4 per cent), search engines, online encyclopedias, and libraries are used by undergraduate students. Furthermore, a significant number (76 per cent) of undergraduate students also report that they use apps to find academic information. Andre Becker, Bonadie-Joseph & Cain (2013) found that students at Hunter College relied more on mobile phones to meet their educational needs than on the available laptops and desktop computers. It is evident that the use of mobile technology among students in universities across different countries has increased. Therefore, libraries need to embrace change and offer their services in a mobile environment.

Barnhart and Pierce (2011) have argued exhaustively how reference services can work in a mobile pervasive environment. In their work, they examined the ‘penetration of mobile devices by students, and explored how mobile devices could be leveraged to harvest better ubiquitous information services’.  Shen (2010) has thoroughly discussed the perceptions of ‘students towards mobile devices with special attention to e-books’. The author maintained that students are more interested to access information suitable to their purpose through mobile devices.

Bridges, Gascho Rempel & Griggs (2010), in their study, highlighted the ‘use of mobile devices in library services’. The authors discuss mobile phone use, library mobile website’ and mobile library catalogues, and they also described the process they used to develop their mobile library website. Further, they predicted that the future belongs to mobile libraries. 

Many university libraries have taken mobile initiatives and are leveraging the technology in libraries to maximize the services without making users leave their comfort zones. Some of these are for instance, the ‘University of Richmond Libraries’ mobile site enables visitors to search through the Voyager catalog, access live laptop and PC availability information, and submit e-mail, SMS, or IM reference questions. Ohio library-goers can search the OPLIN mobile website to lend the closest public library of the state’s 250 branch locations. The Washington state university libraries offer patrons ‘how-to’ help with library tools and resources through brief MP3 audio recordings that can be uploaded to iPods and other mobile devices (Kroski 2009). There are some libraries that use QR codes to link the library tours, downloading e-books by scanning the QR code of the book and information about the different sections of the library. The introduction of QR codes in libraries makes it possible to link the web to the physical world (Kovacs 2013). The Rockhurst University Library uses QR codes to promote its events and services, advertise the hours for the library, share how to find the Ask a Librarian chat service, and promote library exhibits. Other applications being considered include use of QR codes to link to an online survey, a song or video or to make library study room reservations (Lo, Coleman & Theiss 2013).

The impact of handheld computing devices, such as smartphones, warrants investigation as to its impact on libraries and the services they provide (Cummings, Merrill & Borrelli 2010). Many studies have been conducted on the use of mobile devices in information access and their impact on library services. Seeholzer and Salem (2011) highlighted that students expressed interest in accessing library services through mobile responsive web and performing common library transactions, such as issuing holds or renewing library resources with their mobile devices. Another study by Dresselhaus and Shrode (2012) reported that libraries may begin implementing mobile access to selected library databases and services. Similarly, other studies conducted by Wilson and McCarthy (2010) review ‘one library’s experiences of creating mobile services and illustrate how, by developing expertise in emerging technologies, libraries can foster partnerships with other groups on campus and play a leading role in providing relevant student’ centred services. Bridges, Gascho Rempel & Griggs (2010) provide an overview of the current state of worldwide mobile usage Canuel and Crichton (2011) assessed how Canadian academic libraries have responded to the rapidly evolving mobile environment and identified gaps in the services provided, while suggesting areas for future development. Nowlan (2013) tried 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 and Karim, Darus and Hussin (2006) explored the utilization of mobile phone services in the educational environment, explore the nature of mobile phone use among university students, and investigate the perception of university students on mobile phone usage in library and information services. The recent study by Feret (2018) proposed that librarians need constant training and interaction with the new technologies, including mobile devices.

The literature review presented shows that there is gradual increase in the use of mobile devices in library and information services. During the past decade, a considerable amount of work has been done on the mobile device use in library and information services.

The main objectives of the study are:

• to identify the mobile device ownership, use, and pervasiveness;


• to find out the frequency of use of mobile devices in accessing SNS vs. library resources, and


• to figure out the use of mobile devices in accessing library resources and services

A survey was conducted to determine the usage of mobile computing devices among gender, different course categories, and age groups. Further, the type of mobile devices used, frequency of use, general uses of mobile device, frequency of accessing SNS, and library resources/ e-resources was also enquired of the respondents to understand the pervasiveness of mobile devices in library environment. The idea gained from the study would further guide in leveraging mobile technologies in libraries for the robust flow of information in a ubiquitous manner.

A questionnaire was designed to explore the use of mobile devices in accessing information services and resources from the target audience. While many devices may be categorized as mobile (devices), the authors focussed on the four major mobile devices (Canuel & Crichton 2011), smartphones, miniature laptops, tablet and e-book reader, and PDA. The questionnaire consisted of four parts wherein the first part asked about the demographics; the second part about general uses of mobile devices; the third part queried accessing e-resources on mobile devices; and the fourth part highlighted the problems faced by the respondents while accessing library resources and services.

The total sample selected for the study was 1,000 respondents in ten academic institutions in Delhi. In each institution, 100 questionnaires were distributed among undergraduates, postgraduates, and research scholars, out of which 820 valid responses were collected back from studied institutions. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics to highlight the findings. Different statistical tests were applied and data was cross tabulated to explore potential relationships among different categories of data. The reliability of the questionnaire has been checked using Cronbach’s alpha test applied to test the internal reliability of scales in the context of understanding how mobile devices will enhance library services and how they will benefit the end users in institutions under study.

Along with age, gender is considered to have a major role in the ICT acceptance research. Gefen and Straub (1997) found that ‘men and women have different perceptions about ease of use and usefulness toward information systems, and thus have different system usage behaviour’.

The strength of male users who make use of mobile devices is almost double than female users. Of the total respondents, 537 (65.49 per cent) were male and 283 (34.51 per cent) were female. The present survey supports the trend that females lag behind men in the use of mobile technology and men tend to feel more at ease with technology.

Age has been one of the components affecting mobile adoption. Venkatesh et al. (2003) claims that ‘older people are less willing to adopt technology’. The number of survey respondents according to their age has shown that the group aged 20–25 (that is, 58.42 per cent) is the most represented one while the least representation is from the group aged above 30 years (that is, 1.22 per cent)”. The survey has shown that the largest number of respondents (45.24 per cent) are postgraduates and the least number of respondents were post doctorate (02) who made up only (0.24 per cent) as depicted in Table 1.

Among the mobile device users, majority of them own internet-enabled smartphones, with activities like SNS, entertainment, and some others for accessing information sources. In fact, mobile devices have become the most pervasive tool for accessing information. There has been a dramatic shift in mobile phone culture as smartphones continue to redefine traditional phone use (Shin 2012). Respondents were asked to report the type of device(s) they own. Later the responses were cross-tabled by gender and types of devices; the results of these are presented in Table 2.

One of the most significant findings of the study is that there is a considerable increase in the ownership of smartphones among students. Figure 1 shows that the largest number that is, 810 (98.8 per cent) respondents with 531(64.8 per cent) males and 279 (34 per cent) females own smartphones.

Here the results indicate that there is a considerable increase in the ownership of smartphones as compared to previous studies like Nowlan (2013), where only 21 per cent of the respondents own smartphones. The results also vindicate the assumption that ‘the ownership of smartphones would rise dramatically over a relatively short period of time’ (Paterson and Low 2011).

The second largest most common device is miniature laptop owned by 714 (87.1 per cent), followed by tablets which are owned by 179 (21.8 per cent) respondents. In addition to the five devices, 45 (5.5 per cent) of the respondents indicated that they own other devices which are not mentioned in the survey.

The most important aspect of the usefulness of the mobile device is regularity. Students around the world are frequent internet users and their substantial amount of daily time is spent on mobile devices. The findings in this survey are based on the daily use of mobile devices. The question investigates the frequency of use of mobile device(s) per day as depicted in Figure 2.

Figure 2 reveals that 144 (17.6 per cent) male respondents and 106 (12.9 per cent) female respondents use their mobile devices ‘more than 3 hours’ a day followed by 201 (24.5 per cent) male respondents and 85 (10.4 per cent) female respondents who use ‘2–3 hours’ in a day while 160 (19.5 per cent) male respondents and 74 (9 per cent) female respondents use ‘1 hour’ in a day. The minimum number of male and female respondents are 32 (3.9 per cent) and 18 (2.2 per cent), respectively, use ‘less than 30 minutes’.

Contrary to the above results, Andone et al. (2016) found that “phone usage differs based on the gender of the participant. Females spend more time on their phones than males; they spend on average per day. On an average, women spend more time in communication and social apps while men spend more time playing games’. The findings of the study are in line with the literature that suggests that ‘age and gender are the key factors that impact technology use and intention to use technology’ (Morris, Venkatesh & Ackerman 2005).

Modern mobile devices are not confined to only making calls. They have myriad functions and a variety of features that were simply not possible a decade ago. Users can access Internet, anytime and anywhere, send or receive messages, check email, listen to music, locate destinations, and even video chat on the go. In addition, students can access SNS from their mobiles. Figure 3 illustrates the general uses of mobile devices.

Figure 3 reveals that among the general uses of mobile devices in the select institutions, the most commonly reported use of mobile device is, for 'browsing Internet' with 82 (10 per cent) of the total population) respondents. The second most common use reported is 'for communication', followed by 'text messaging including Whatsapp' indicated by 735 (89.6 per cent) respondents. The lowest reported common use is 'watch videos/TV programmes' reported by only 494 (60.24 per cent) respondents.

SNS have infiltrated people's daily life with amazing rapidity to become an important social platform for computer-mediated communication (Lin & Lu 2011). The most important aspect of their wide adoption is the regular updation of their features. Contrary to this, access to library resources via mobile devices is not so frequent and therefore, the one reason could be that library resources in all the institutions have not been mobilized as yet.

Figure 4 shows a comparison of the frequency of access between SNS and library resources. Of the total, 820 respondents 403 (49.1 per cent) reported using SNS many times a day while only 36 (4.4 per cent) access library resources multiple times a day. In the other categories, majority of the respondents reported accessing library resources 'few times a week', 'once a week', and 'occasionally'.

Herein the respondents were given some important library e-resources to indicate their access to mobile device(s). Figure 5 presents the responses received from the respondents with regard to their access of library e-resources on mobile devices.

Although most of the services/resources were considered useful, but due to unavailability of their mobile versions, few respondents indicated accessing these resources on their mobile device(s). Of the respondents surveyed, 585 (71.3 per cent) predominantly, the highest number of respondents indicated accessing e-books 585 (71.3 per cent) and e-journals 505 (61.6 per cent), followed by library websites 493 (60.1 per cent). The least accessed service is WebOPAC reported by 330 (40.2 per cent).

In this question, respondents identified a wide range of potential services that they usually search and the perceived services they want to be offered by the library. Even though libraries do not give responsive access to such services but still users continue to search such services through their mobile devices.

Figure 6 shows that the highest number of respondents 603 (73.5 per cent) indicated that they search 'download e-book/audio content' followed by 448 (546 per cent) who indicated that they search to 'discover new/recommended titles'. Around 443(54 per cent) indicated that they put 'on hold/renew library material'.  A meagre percentage of respondents (39.1 per cent) reported that they searched 'Ask a librarian' service on their mobile devices.

Mobile devices are pervasive and their penetration is evident in academia since the last few years. The demographic trends in mobile device penetration in Indian academia are worth considering. The study indicated that a significant number of users are accessing mobile devices 2–3 hours a day and a large segment of the students use smartphone for accessing information for their needs. Students are mobile and have expectations about the availability of university services while they are on the go (Song & Lee 2012). Analysis of the questions show that most of the users are accessing SNS more frequently instead of accessing library resources; the reason being that almost all the libraries have not mobilized their library services. It is also surprising to see that a considerable number of users are searching electronic resources on their mobile devices but they do not have access to library e-resources. The results of this study have provided the valuable input on what the users want on their mobile devices.

To sum up, the study reveals that mobile communication technology is increasing and students’ use of mobile devices, particularly smartphones, is increasing at an alarming pace. The frequent use of mobile devices in browsing internet, communication, and text messaging is an encouraging sign to implement mobile library initiatives, lest there will be chaos in the system. Furthermore, libraries should take the lead in providing mobile access to e-resources, particularly e-books and e-journals, as suggested by the users.

The challenge for libraries and policymakers would be to enhance information services in the mobile age by mobilizing information services and resources using the mobile responsive web and implement new initiatives for the fast delivery of information. In addition, the need of the hour is to realize the growing demands of information on the go in the mobilized world.

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