Adoption of near field communication in S-Library application for information science

Abstract

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.

Introduction

Information science is concerned with the generation, collection, organization, interpretation, storage, retrieval, dissemination, transformation and use of information with particular emphasis on the applications of modern technologies in these areas (Hjùrland, 2000). There are three related concepts behind information science which are data, information and knowledge. Data is commonly described as the raw material for information, which is in turn regarded to be the raw material for knowledge. Information science is very relevant to libraries (Dhanalakshmi and Mamatha, 2009), and library science aims to concentrate on information searching/retrieval, classification and indexing, document selection collection and development, the design of information systems, the quality management of information services and teaching information/document/literature searching. Information science/library science is mostly carried out in "Library Schools", and one example of a task set which is performed by libraries includes circulation, which involves handling user accounts and also the issuing/returning and shelving of materials, the collection, development and ordering of materials, budget maintenance and technical services.

Nowadays, in many modern libraries, these activities are implemented by making use of current technology such as barcodes and radio frequency identification (RFID). However, there are a number of problems with barcode-based approaches, including dimensional accuracy and consistency, print clarity and print contrast ratio (Wray, 1988). In comparison, it has been found that RFID technology is better than barcode-based systems because this technology uses radio signals to exchange identifying data (Baysan and Akpinar, 2009), rather than relying on a printed code. This means that some of the advantages of RFID technology include saving time at the circulation counter, being a perfect tracker, having a simple charging/discharging process and being highly reliable (Yu, 2007; Madhusudhan, 2010; Bansode and Desale, 2009). However, RFID also has many issues, such as cost, access rate and privacy (Yu, 2007). It is therefore worth considering making use of alternative technology-based solutions.

This paper proposes the adoption of near field communication (NFC) technology through our newly developed application, S-Library. NFC is a wireless connectivity technology for the short-range exchange of information via a mobile device without physical contact (Pesonen and Horster, 2012; Grassie, 2007). NFC technologies are widely used in several domains and industries such as retail, health care and transportation. NFC has similarities with RFID but is secured, has a higher data transmission speed, is accurate and can establish a connection in less than a second. The development of S-Library with NFC technology is shown to have a high impact and satisfaction when tested with library users.

S-Library is a new NFC and android-based library management application that has been developed by the authors. The name stands for "Smart Library". In this context, "smart" means that library users are able to perform any relevant library transactions just using a mobile device with integrated NFC technology. This approach is arguably smarter and more advanced in comparison to existing approaches, which predominantly use RFID or barcode technology. This application is proposed for use in higher education institution libraries as an alternative to existing approaches. S-Library provides the user with all relevant library functionality such as borrowing, searching, returning and viewing transaction records in their mobile device, in the form of an easy to download and install app for compatible mobile devices. The implementation of S-Library will be fully discussed later in this paper. We also present an evaluation of our new application, using both technical evaluations and user acceptance testing (UAT). Seven major components in S-Library are tested and evaluated by a group of 20 library users. All respondents were required to install S-Library onto their mobile device and use it fully. In the S-Library Evaluation, Results and Analysis section, their detailed responses are fully analysed.

Hardware technology review

This section discusses three different technologies used for automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) in information science. These are barcode, RFID and NFC.

Barcode technology and library management system review

Barcode technology is essentially for "data capture" (Evans, 1983). This technology allows data to be entered into a computer system and replaces keyboard entry of raw data for data collection (Eiler et al. , 1989). This technology is used to improve speed, accuracy and efficiency with regard to the performance of large and diverse functions. The development of computerized systems and the implementation of barcode technology in library systems enables librarians to easily record transactions for every book so that problems such as missing files or records will not occur.

The computerized system for libraries is known as a library management system (LMS). This system is integrated with barcode technology and is divided into seven modules. These are authorization and authentication, member maintenance, book maintenance, publisher maintenance, employee maintenance, book transaction and report generation. The checking of user membership occurs in the authorization and authentication module. Librarians can maintain member profiles and records in the member maintenance module (admin access only). Other transactions such as add new book, edit book information, generate barcode and search book can be accessed by all users in the book maintenance module. In the publisher maintenance module, publishers can register, edit information and search. In addition, an admin can add new employees, edit employees and search employees in the employee maintenance module. The core implementation of barcode technology is in the book transaction module, where users can borrow, return and search for books. The last LMS module is the report module, which provides transaction reports, the top 10 book report (and other statistics of interest) and the activity log file. Barcode technology provides a convenient barcode scanner/reader to users who eliminate the manual process.

A scanner is used to decode the information in a barcode where the spot of light is passed over the bars and spaces via a scanning device, and a barcode symbol is translated into an electrical signal by a light detector inside the scanner. This signal is represented in terms of a set of binary codes, and the scanner can typically collect data at a rate of approximately four to six characters per second (Wray, 1988). This collection can also be very quick with little human error as data is collected, translated and stored automatically.

In the LMS, the two main transactions are borrowing and returning. In borrowing transactions; the librarian first scans the user's card and then the barcode id of the book, which is followed by the transaction being automatically updated in the LMS. In book returning transactions, the librarian needs to scan the barcode id of the book and confirm the transaction. If the borrowing detail is correct, then the returning module can be completed as long as there is no fine to be issued. Barcode technology replaces manual methods of data entry and ensures a high accuracy of data entry in comparison to data entry using a keyboard (the range of error rate is between 0.42 per cent and 0.48 per cent, 1 error in every 108 to 230 characters) (Eiler et al. , 1989). However, the main issue with barcode technology is the quality of barcode symbols (Wray, 1988). This issue is critical and has a major impact on the effectiveness of automated data collection systems. Another issue is if there is insufficient storage in barcodes (Yu, 2007).

Radio frequency identification technology review

RFID technology is the integration between RFID tags and an RFID reader linked to a computer system (Zhu et al. , 2012). This technology can also be defined in terms of devices and technology that use radio signals to exchange identifying data (Baysan and Akpinar, 2009). The function of the RFID tag is to collect real time data before it is transmitted via radio waves (Greenaway, 2006).

There are two types of tag, small chip and antenna. The chip is used to store the information, while the antenna is responsible for receiving and transmitting information. RFID tags can be divided into two categories, active and passive tags (Table I). Active RFID tags contain their own power source (i.e. a battery) to power the chip and to broadcast the signal back to the RFID reader. In passive RFID tags, the power is supplied by the signal transmitted by the antenna. In terms of cost, passive tags are cheaper than active tags. RFID technology is widely used in different industries such as inventory management, manufacturing and healthcare. This paper focuses on the implementation of RFID technology in libraries.

An RFID tag is made into a thin, flexible and smooth form, which is compatible with the information system to record the user's loan history, improve the efficiency of inventory and strengthen circulation and safety management (Yu, 2008). RFID technology has three main features, radio-frequency technology, fast tracking and security. First, RFID technology combines radio-frequency and microchip technologies. The information contained in its microchips is affixed to library materials, and it can be read using radio frequency technology. It is not affected by item orientation, alignment or distance from the item. This technology replaces electro-mechanical and radio frequency. In the implementation of RFID technology in the library, an RFID tag is tagged onto each book, and the reading material of the library and complete book information are entered into the software installed on a server or workstation. Second, an RFID-based system provides functionality for tracking materials throughout the library, including easy and fast charge and discharge, inventory management and handling of materials (Sumi and Jatinder, 2007), enabling easy and convenient library management (Mahajan et al. , 2010) and speeding up the self-check in/out processes (Dhanalakshmi and Mamatha, 2009). Third, there is a security feature where the RFID tag can be turned on/off without an additional security component attached to the item being tracked. This has been successfully implemented in a number of libraries such as the City University of Hong Kong's Library, a number of Californian and more generally, USA libraries, Shih-Hsin University Library, the Indian Law Institute and the National Social Science Documentation Centre (Satoglu et al. , 2013; Madhusudhan, 2010; Yu, 2008). This technology has the potential to increase the quality of service and improve the efficiency of operations (Madhusudhan, 2010) and is able to minimize the theft of documents and functions as an access control system.

The RFID-based library information system consists of six main subsystems: new user record, tagging, check-in/out, anti-theft detection, inventory control and administration (Satoglu et al. , 2013), as listed below. Figure 1 shows the architecture of RFID-based libraries:

New user : The library user is required to carry an identification card with RFID technology. This subsystem is for new registration and enables staff to print out new ultra high frequency tags. A computer, an RFID reader with antenna and an RFID printer are placed at the information desk.

Tagging : All the books and media cases in the library collection are tagged with RFID labels.

Check-in/out : This subsystem enables staff at service desks to perform the check-in and check-out processes. A reader with fixed antenna is also placed at the service desk for this operation.

Anti-theft detection : One of the major challenges for libraries is theft detection. Theft detection pedestals are installed at the entrance/exit gates of the library. Any item that has not been checked out is detected as it passes through the pedestal. This subsystem can also detect people who enter the library without a membership card.

Inventory control : This subsystem enables staff to perform quick stock verification. A handheld reader is able to scan hundreds of books/CDs lying on shelves without the need for even a single item being moved. This device also helps with sorting shelves and searching for specific items.

Administration : This subsystem enables the library manager to maintain check-in/check-out records, stock verification and tagging process information. It also provides business intelligence reports to the manager.

Near field communication technology review

NFC is a wireless connectivity technology for the short-range exchange of information via a mobile device without physical touch (Pesonen and Horster, 2012; Grassie, 2007). It can also be defined as short-range wireless communication using RFID technology (Akshay Uttama Nambi et al. , 2012). This technology can be used to transfer data over distances of up to 10 cm. Speed of data transmission for NFC is up to 424 kb/s and the operational frequency is 13.56 MHz. NFC is inexpensive, as it requires no license fees and is compatible with all other contactless standards including Bluetooth. One of the advantages of NFC is that the connection can be initialised in less than a second, in comparison to Bluetooth, which can take several seconds for data transmission. NFC is also compatible with mobile devices, which means no additional configuration is needed to connect to mobile devices with NFC tags. The mobile device acts as a reader and is also used to send and receive data. NFC can be categorized into three types of behaviour, card emulation mode, read/write mode and peer-to-peer mode (Park et al. , 2012).

Emulation mode is used for data reading. For example, the information from a tag is read by NFC payment terminals. This read/write mode involves an NFC tag with a reader that is characterized by bidirectional capability. This bidirectional capability can also be used in peer-to-peer mode to exchange information between devices. However, some major problems with this mode include a slow mass transfer of information and the difficulty in following different wireless network environments, although taking advantage of baud rate can compensate for this problem (Coskun et al. , 2012). NFC has two communication modes, active and passive (Nasution et al. , 2012). Active mode includes communication between readers, and one example of passive mode is communication between the reader and a tag. Figures 2 and 3 show the diagrams of active and passive mode, respectively.

NFC technology offers a new communication approach which can be described as the "touching paradigm". Smart objects can be divided into three types, NFC tags, NFC readers and NFC mobiles. Communication is established between users, NFC mobiles and smart objects to receive data or alternatively to provide mobile services such as opening web pages and making web service connections (Coskun et al. , 2012).

NFC technology can be considered to be an innovative service, as it increases the processing capability of mobile phones and has internet access capability. NFC technology simplifies the transaction process, provides easy content delivery and enables information sharing. This technology can also provide more service opportunities for various stake holders such as for tourism (Egger, 2013; Pesonen and Horster, 2012), in the classroom (Shen et al. , 2014), healthcare (Prinz et al. , 2012; Benelli and Pozzebon, 2010; Jara et al. , 2012), mobile operators (payment/ticketing) (Tan et al. , 2014; Harnisch and Uitz, 2013), banks, public transportation (Salonen, 2012) and merchants, with faster transactions, less cash handling and new operator services.

S-Library, a NFC-enabled library transaction management application

In this paper, we demonstrate a successfully developed and tested new application, known as S-Library, which implements NFC technology using NFC tags and integrates this with a mobile phone. S-Library is integrated with an online Web-based LMS, which helps librarians to manage records and manage all borrowing and return transactions. Through our newly developed S-Library application, library users can use mobile devices to perform scanning, borrowing, returning, searching and viewing transaction records. All transactions are automatically transmitted and update the appropriate LMS databases.

S-Library hardware requirements

An NFC device is required to read and write data from and to NFC tags. In S-Library, we use a mobile phone device, a Samsung Galaxy Note III, as a reader. This was chosen because NFC technology is already embedded in this mobile device (Galaxy Note 3 User Manual, 2013). Figure 4 shows the communication between the mobile device, NFC tag and LMS. The NFC function in the mobile device runs automatically once the NFC function is enabled.

The communication protocol between these components is:

Enable the NFC function in the mobile device.

Touch the mobile device to the NFC tag.

Establish Internet connection to mobile device.

Match the data from the NFC tag and LMS database.

The communication between these three components is important to ensure that all transactions in S-Library are successfully executed.

S-Library software design and development

Two NFC-enabled applications are required, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) and a Standard Edition (SE) application. The GUI allows the user to interact with the mobile device and the SE application provides a secure and trusted environment (Coskun et al. , 2012). In the development of S-Library, the Android Software Development Kit (SDK) is used with Eclipse. The Android SDK is suitable for Android-based mobile devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Note III. One requirement of S-Library is NFC functionality. Other NFC-enabled mobile devices can also install and use S-Library.

The S-Library application is integrated with the LMS. This integration is important to ensure that all transactions such as borrow, return and search are automatically transferred into the LMS database. To integrate S-Library and LMS, Java was used to develop a platform for NFC Application Programming Interfaces. S-library needs to be installed on the mobile device, and the mobile device requires an Internet connection to connect to the LMS. User authentication and the concept of data transmissions from the mobile device to the LMS are shown in Algorithm 1. In Algorithm 1, after successful authentication, data is read from the NFC tag (i.e. giving the BookList information) by touching the mobile device to the tag. The data are then transmitted by the mobile device over the network, which retrieves the full data sets from the Book and Publisher tables. After the searching process is completed, the relevant data are received by the mobile device and displayed to the user.

Figure 5 shows the entity relationship (ER) diagram for the overall S-Library system. The ER diagram consists of a collection of basic objects called entities and the relationships between these objects (Sumathi, 2013). The ER model provides a high-level model for conceptual database design, which acts as an intermediate stage prior to the development of a more advanced conceptual level. Some additional examples of transactions are also provided below.Algorithm 1: Data transmission between S-Library, NFC tag and LMS Input : StudentID, Password, NFC BookID, LMS BookID Output : Data set of search (A) Steps 1. Accepts StudentID and Password 2. Validate StudentID and Password 2.1. IF StudentID and Password not match, go to Step 1 2.2. IF StudentID and Password match, proceed to Step 3 3. Read BookID from NFC tags 4. Read BookID from LMS 5. Match (BookID from NFC tag, BookID from LMS) 5.1. IF BookID from NFC is match with BookID from LMS, go to Step 5.3 5.2. IF not match, exit. 5.3. Retrieve Book Title, Book Description, Book Availability and Location 5.4. A = {Book Title, Book Description, Book Availability, Location} 6. Display dataset A

Transaction Example 1.

Based on Booklist, after the mobile device reads the NFC tag, this query is sent to LMS and the subsequent output is displayed to the user through the GUI:

SELECT * FROM Book, BookList, Publisher WHERE BookList.BookID = Book.BookID AND Book.PublisherID = Publisher.ID.

Transaction Example 2.

In this example, we assume that the user performs a borrowing transaction. The user touches the mobile device to the book NFC tag. Here, we assume that the book id is "3". The mobile device will send this data to LMS through the network.

Step 1: SELECT * FROM BookList WHERE id = "3"

IF booklist.status = = "0"; go to Step 2 ELSE exit;

Step 2: INSERT INTO Borrow VALUES (" 2014-05-03", "2014-05-06", "A001");

INSERT INTO Borrow1 VALUES ("1", "3", "1");

Step 3: UPDATE BookList Status = "1" WHERE Id = "3";

After these queries are executed, all data in the LMS database will be updated. The user will receive the confirmation of the transaction through the mobile device. This demonstrates the ease of use of S-Library.

S-Library development, individual software processes

S-Library is divided into five major processes, scan, search, borrow, return and transaction history. These processes are represented in formal specification language. A formal specification language is able to mathematically specify system behaviour rigorously (Babamir and Borhani, 2012). The aim of using mathematical notations is to rigorously describe the properties that an information system must have, without unduly constraining the way in which these properties are achieved. Z is used here and is a formal specification language to specify and model systems. The key component of Z is the ability to decompose a specification into small modules called schemas. Modularity helps to gain a better understanding of complex specifications.

Java Code (JC) 1 until JC 5 are coded in S-Library to ensure that the mobile device can communicate with NFC.

Scanning.

This function allows users to access book information by touching the mobile device to the NFC tag on the book. Information such as title, synopsis, etc., will automatically be displayed on the screen of the mobile device, as shown in Algorithm 2 and JC 1.Algorithm 2: Design of the scanning process 1_{. on} Shelves, books: [Pi] Book 2. borrower: [Pi] Person_id 3. book_list : Book [clubs] Keyword 4. Lent_to : Book [clubs] Person_id 5. Due_submission : Book [clubs] dateJava code 1: Code implementation of the scanning process public JSONObject scanBook(ParamForm paramForm) { List < NameValuePair > params = new ArrayList < NameValuePair > (); params.add(new BasicNameValuePair("bookId", paramForm.getBookId()+"")); params.add(new BasicNameValuePair("method", "scanbook")); JSONObject json = jsonParser.getJSONFromUrl(ConstantsService.URL , params); return json; }

Searching.

Users can search for any book by entering keywords such as book title, author name and year. This application will display the results, as shown in Algorithm 3 and JC 2.Algorithm 3: Design of the searching process 1. _on Loan [Upsilon] _on Shelves = books 2. Book_find ! = {b: books | b [varepsilon] dom (book_list ) [function of] book_list (b) = kw?}Java code 2: Code implementation of the searching process public JSONObject getSearchResult(String searchText,String type) { List < NameValuePair > params = new ArrayList < NameValuePair > (); params.add(new BasicNameValuePair("searchText", searchText)); params.add(new BasicNameValuePair("type", type)); params.add(new BasicNameValuePair("method", "search")); JSONObject json = jsonParser.getJSONFromUrl(ConstantsService.URL , params); return json; }

Borrowing.

Users can borrow a book by using this application. The user needs to touch the mobile device onto the NFC tagged book, and the transaction will be automatically stored in the LMS database, as shown in Algorithm 4 and JC 3.Algorithm 4: Design of the borrowing process 1. b?: Book 2. id?: Person_id 3. b? [varepsilon] books [function of] id? [varepsilon] borrower [function of] b? (TM) Lent_to [function of] b? [varepsilon] _on Shelves 4. [for all] id: Person · #(Lent_to [tau] {id}) < or = maxLoan 5. Lent_to ' = Lent_to [Upsilon] {b? ÷ id?} 6. _on Shelves ' = _on Shelves \ {b? ÷ id?}Java code 3: Code implementation of the borrowing process public JSONObject borrowBook(ParamForm paramForm) { List < NameValuePair > params = new ArrayList < NameValuePair > (); params.add(new BasicNameValuePair("bookId", paramForm.getBookId()+"")); params.add(new BasicNameValuePair("studentId", paramForm.getStudentId())); params.add(new BasicNameValuePair("method", "borrow")); JSONObject json = jsonParser.getJSONFromUrl(ConstantsService.URL , params); return json; }

Returning.

The returning process is similar to the borrowing process. The user can select the return menu and touch the mobile device onto the book, and the transaction will be automatically stored in the LMS database. See Algorithm 5 and JC 4.Algorithm 5: Design of the returning process 1. Date_return : date 2. return = {d: Date_return | d [varepsilon] dom (Lent_to ) [function of] d [varepsilon] dom (Due_submission )} 3. b? [varepsilon] Lent_to [function of] id? [varepsilon] borrower 4. Lent_to ' = Lent_to \ {b?} 5. _on Shelves ' = _on Shelves [Upsilon] {b?}Java code 4: Code implementation of the returning process public JSONObject returnBook(ParamForm paramForm) { List < NameValuePair > params = new ArrayList < NameValuePair > (); params.add(new BasicNameValuePair("bookId", paramForm.getBookId()+"")); params.add(new BasicNameValuePair("method", "return")); JSONObject json = jsonParser.getJSONFromUrl(ConstantsService.URL , params); return json; }

Transaction history.

The user can check the transaction history and also check the due date for submission for the current transaction. This function allows the user to view the list of books that have been borrowed and their status, as shown in Algorithm 6 and JC 5.Algorithm 6: Transaction history process 1. Transaction_history ! = {id: borrower | d [varepsilon] dom (Lent_to ) [function of] 2. d [varepsilon] dom (Due_submission ) [function of] Due_submission (id) = id?}Java code 5: Transaction process public JSONObject getTransactionDetailList(String transctionId) { List < NameValuePair > params = new ArrayList < NameValuePair > (); params.add(new BasicNameValuePair("id", transctionId)); params.add(new BasicNameValuePair("method", "trans2")); JSONObject json = jsonParser.getJSONFromUrl(ConstantsService.URL , params); return json; }

S-Library evaluation, results and analysis

S-Library has been successfully developed, and the user interface has been designed to help users utilise this application easily. Figures 6 and 7 show examples of the S-Library interface. The testing of S-Library is divided into two parts, mobile application testing and UAT. Table II shows the components that are tested in S-Library. Table III provides details of the S-Library testing.

To perform mobile application testing, there are a number of important components that must be evaluated to determine whether S-Library follows and fulfils the standard requirements for mobile application development. Seven commonly used criteria have been listed in Table II for evaluation of S-Library. Component 1.1 refers to the functionality of S-Library, focusing on how users interact with S-Library. In this context, interaction occurs when users touch/press any menu in S-Library to make any transactions. Component 1.2 refers to S-Library performance, with the most important measurement being the transaction completion time (in seconds). Performance is measured in terms of response time during interaction between users and the S-Library. For example, if a user performs a search transaction and S-Library takes ten seconds to display the results, ten seconds represent the performance of S-Library. The third evaluation component is network connectivity. Normally, the network connectivity depends on the mobile device. The mobile device with integrated NFC technology supports connectivity using Wi-Fi, 2G, 3G and 4G. This component is important to evaluate communication and data transmission between S-Library LMS.

Component 1.4 in Table II refers to security. However, in this case, S-Library does not have any security issues because the NFC technology is secure in comparison to barcode and RFID technology. Component 1.5 refers to compatibility. For example, S-Library is developed for the android platform. This application must therefore be able to install and run in any mobile device with android environment. However, S-Library is only recommended for mobile devices with both android and integrated NFC technology functionality. Component 1.6 focuses on usability. A positive user experience can help library users use S-Library more easily. Component 1.7 refers to the installation and un-installation of S-Library.

Five experts were assigned to evaluate the set of questionnaire during the months of April and Jun 2014. Five raters are sufficient for usability testing in probabilistic model (Lewis, 2006). List of potential raters is screened according the criteria including an advanced degree in computer science (software testing) along with at least two years of experience in the field. The first is to distribute the questionnaire to all raters to get the result and feedback. The comments from raters are as below:

The S-Library application possibly becomes a more good distractive measure for those with chronic conditions.

Almost all questions are reasonable.

Based on the comments from raters, the questionnaire is reconstructed and distributed to all target participants. The questionnaire was distributed to 500 participants. However, we only received result from 343 respondents. Our target participants are library users. In this research, our library users are students from Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu, Malaysia.

The study needed participants such as registered library users who are familiar with mobile application and use mobile device with integrated NFC technology. According to Krejcie and Morgan (1970), sample size to answer the set of questionnaire depends on the size of population. The number of student populations in Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Campus Gong Badak, Terengganu, Malaysia, is around 3,000 students.

The outcome of S-Library mobile application testing is shown in Table III. The outcome data are collected from 343 respondents. All respondents were required to install and run S-Library on their mobile device to evaluate the application. It should be noted that here, we are not discussing acceptance testing and satisfaction, but simply whether S-Library meets the mobile application criteria. Accordingly, the respondents were asked whether they agree that the criteria have been met. The results are shown in Table III.

Based on Table III, all respondents are agreed that S-Library met Criteria 1.1. The respondents tested all functionality and all transactions in S-Library, such as borrow, search and return to ensure functionality. S-Library with integrated NFC technology is fast in terms of data transmission compare to conventional RFID and barcode technology (Fernández et al. , 2013), and therefore all respondents agreed with Component 1.2. Data transmission for RFID technology is only 848 kb and barcode technology depends on quality of the barcode (Wray, 1988). All respondents also agreed that S-Library connections can be initialised in less than a second (see Component 1.3). In terms of Component 1.4, security, 90 per cent from 343 respondents agreed that S-Library has a high security level compared to barcode and RFID technology (Fernández et al. , 2013). Meanwhile, 90 per cent of respondents also agreed that S-Library is compatible with the android platform (referring to Component 1.5) and therefore can run and be used on almost any android platform without any problems. Criteria 1.6 that the user experience is positive was accepted by 90 per cent of 343 respondents. Finally, Component 1.7 shows that 80 per cent of the respondents agreed that S-Library is easy to install and un-install. Overall, the results of the mobile application testing show that although the results are not perfect, they are extremely positive results. The next aspect to be evaluated is UAT.

UAT measures whether S-Library is acceptable for potentially replacing current technology commonly used in information science. One key acceptance test is the relationship between the user and S-Library (Acceptance Criteria, 2012). Eight components have been selected for evaluation. Table IV provides the description of each these components. In Table IV, the scale refers to the level of user acceptance for S-Library. Table V shows the level of scale that the user was asked to specify during evaluation and what the numbers mean.

With regard to the components listed in Table V, three important factors are considered in Component 1.1. These factors are size, style and user friendliness. Size is an issue due to various potential screen sizes and available resolutions. In mobile devices, the control size is not static and is related to the available screen size. Style is considered especially with regard to font style (e.g. a red colour for error messages and green for success) and information display. User friendliness indicates that S-Library is easy to use, and users can explore and use the system without any difficulties. Meanwhile, Component 1.2 focuses on S-Library functionality. All functionality in S-Library such as scan book, search book, borrow book, return book and transaction record have been tested by respondents. For all components, the respondents provide feedback by selecting from a scale of 1-4, as shown in Table VI.

Component 1.3 focuses on non-functional criteria, i.e. the response time of the S-Library application menu. For example, if the user clicks to scan a book, the issue is the time taken for this function to return a result and/or feedback to the users. Component 1.4 focuses on load testing. S-Library has the aim of taking no more than five seconds for any execution of functionality. That is, any functions will provide feedback to users within five seconds. Component 1.5 focuses on all functionality in S-Library to check whether it can run smoothly without any errors or bugs. In this stage of the testing, users stress test all functions to ensure the result will always display the correct output and function correctly. Component 1.6 focuses on navigation between each page in S-Library, such as the back and forward buttons. Component 1.7 focuses on detailed functionality testing of all features in S-Library. Finally, Component 1.8 focuses on installation of S-Library application on mobile devices, where users have to download and install S-Library.

A questionnaire was prepared and distributed to 343 users/respondents to get feedback. The results of the evaluation criteria specified in Table V are shown in Figure 8. The questionnaire results are important to evaluate the percentage of user acceptance for using S-Library for library transactions. Figure 8 shows that Criteria 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6, 1.7 and 1.8 have an acceptability rating of near 80 per cent. Based on this result, almost all components in the questionnaire are considered acceptable by users. These components are GUI testing, GUI testing functionality, load testing, usability testing, depth testing and installation testing. In S-Library, these components are important to show that users can use the application easily and efficiently. The score must be 3 and 4 to indicate high user acceptance for these components. The highest percentage is Criteria 1.3 (non functional testing) with 92 per cent. This result indicates that all functionality in S-Library is working properly without any errors or bugs. Based on this result, the user acceptance is high because most of the respondents choose scale 4. However, Criteria 1.5 (Stress testing) has the lowest percentage, i.e75 per cent. Based on this percentage, S-Library can still be considered to be acceptable because our minimum percentage is 70 per cent, but this could be further improved.

This result indicates that overall, S-Library is accepted by users. Further, S-Library was found to be a viable alternative to traditional systems for book borrowing library transactions. Nowadays, mobile devices are not only used for communication purposes but also used as a tool for other functions such as library transactions. The introduction of a mobile application with NFC technology for library transactions provides an alternative tool to increase user satisfaction and also library productivity.

The main advantage of S-Library with adoption of NFC technology in comparison to the other approaches reviewed in this paper is data transmission (see Component 1.4 in Table V). Data transmission for NFC technology can be up to 848 kb/s, which therefore means that the response time for S-Library, taking advantage of this high data rate. This is an improvement on RFID technology, where the data transmission rate is 484 kb/s, and barcode technology, where the data transmission rate is inconsistent and depends entirely on the quality of individual barcodes, with poor barcode quality being a serious issue. The second key advantage of S-Library with NFC is the set-up time of less than 0.1 ms. A set-up for RFID is also less than 0.1 ms but the barcode equivalent is more than 0.1 ms, meaning that this represents an improvement over the traditional approach. A third advantage of NFC in comparison to other technologies is usability (referring to Component 1.6 in Table V). Usability in NFC technology is human centric, intuitive and fast. Meanwhile, RFID technology and barcode technology are item centric (Fernández et al. , 2013). S-Library, based on the touch-based paradigm, is a viable alternative tool for library users to overcome some of the weaknesses of RFID, such as reader collision, tag collision, the lack of a common RFID standard and vulnerable security and also some of the weaknesses of barcode technology, such as quality of barcodes, clarity issues, print contrast ratio and low security level.

Other advantages of S-Library have also been identified. These include fast book borrowing transactions, time saving, the connection able to be initialised in less than a second, no configuration required to connect to mobile devices, high user friendly ratings, and high security. However, some limitations of S-Library exist. First is compatibility, which is that S-Library only presently supports the android platform. Second is distance coverage, which is that this application can only support a range between 1-10 cm. Third is the NFC function requirement. This application only supports android mobile devices with integrated NFC technology. Finally, there is the risk of the application crashing. There is considered to be a very low probability of this, possibly due to future malicious software that could attack this application.

Conclusions and future work arising

A review of current hardware technology in information science, particularly in libraries, such as barcode and RFID technology, has been presented in this paper. Based on our conclusions, S-Library has been developed as an alternative application for use in information science. This application enables users to perform a number of library-based transactions, such as borrowing, returning, viewing their lending history and searching. The analysis of the user satisfaction found high impact and satisfaction rates with this application, indicating that S-Library is reliable and was found to be acceptable by library users.

There are a number of proposed future developments for S-Library to further improve our new application. This includes the provision of an application to support all platforms such as android and IOS and provide a security gate with suitable technology to avoid any illegal transactions. In addition to this, one key future development is to create a suitable algorithm to enable the mobile device with an integrated NFC reader to read RFID tags. This is vital because many existing library books have an RFID tag already integrated and so would be a cost-effective improvement.

Figure 1. Architecture of RFID technology in libraries

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Figure 2. NFC active mode

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Figure 3. NFC passive mode

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Figure 4. Connections between mobile device, database and tags, using NFC

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Figure 5. S-Library ER diagram

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Figure 6. Searching result

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Figure 7. Transaction history

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Figure 8. Radar chart for UAT

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Table I. Active and passive tag

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Table II. The components of mobile application testing

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Table III. Outcomes of S-Library testing

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Table IV. Description of UAT components

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Table V. Description of scale

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Corresponding author

Mohd Kamir Yusof can be contacted at: [email protected]

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Further reading

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