Content area
Purpose
- The purpose of this paper is to first review the implementation of automatic identification and data capture) technologies in library/information science, focusing on barcode technology, radio frequency identification (RFID) and near field communication (NFC). This paper then presents S-Library, a new android-based application, to enable users to perform a wide range of information science-related transactions, such as borrowing, searching, returning and viewing transaction records.
Design/methodology/approach
- This paper presents the design process and the database and software components. For analysis, the authors used application testing, and also usability testing, with a questionnaire distributed to 343 users.
Findings
- The implementation of NFC technology means that S-Library has a number of technical advantages over other approaches. It was also shown with user acceptance testing that there was a high degree of user satisfaction with S-Library.
Research limitations/implications
- Although the findings combine technical assessment and usability testing and are extremely positive, further user evaluation could be performed. In addition, S-Library does not currently read existing RFID tags, which would improve the application further.
Practical implications
- The system proposed here shows that S-Library is a feasible approach taken to improve the library transaction experience and that it can replace and improve upon older technologies.
Originality/value
- This paper provides a first successful demonstration of a functioning and tested android and NFC-based library transaction system and shows that this approach generates a high degree of user reliability.
Details
Radio frequency identification;
Librarians;
Library collections;
Books;
Library science;
Information science;
Raw materials;
Scanners;
Library management;
Library users;
Borrowing;
Employees;
Information systems;
Inventory;
Accuracy;
Library materials;
Data entry;
Keyboards;
Bar codes;
Antennas;
Data collection;
Libraries;
Databases;
Reliability;
Science and technology;
Transactions;
Information technology;
Adoption of innovations;
Tests;
Telecommunications;
Application;
Identification;
Radio;
Communication;
Satisfaction