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Introduction
Academic libraries are evolving in their services to serve users and the values they create for research impact. Since the revolution caused by social media, functionally and Web use has changed the perceptions, approaches and accessibility among library users, enhancing library services and leveraging their potential to obtain the desirable benefits of access, dissemination and impact in a networked online environment, which is critical for libraries in service provision and outreach (Connaway, 2015; Qutab et al., 2014; Shafawi and Hassan, 2018). Academic libraries facilitate information literacy, learning outcomes and scholarly communication – increasingly through social networking sites (SNSs) as reference uses (Fields, 2010; Steiner, 2009). As a result, they have gained worldwide attention to communicate, share information, and in bringing a closer relationship between libraries and users. As hubs of information, reference and research, academic library sites are embracing new web-based technologies – where discoverability of resources is critical through content, functionalities and site structures (Cohen and Still, 1999). The changing web has necessitated this transition for libraries with substantive implications to embracing Library 2.0 principles and the adoption of Web 2.0 tools (Maness, 2006; Wordofa, 2014). Moving on from monolithic sites, academic libraries have embedded weblogs, folksonomies, wikis, podcasts and vodcast services to promote interactive, learning-centric tools in flexible and adaptable systems (Coombs, 2007). As online communities grew, social media enhanced the perception, usefulness and values in online library services (Spiteri, 2009). Web 1.0 connected information, but Web 2.0 connects, represents meaning, and brings all these items closer together to build the user experience by adding layers of meaning on top of the existing web with social, scholarly and semantic extensions (Balaji et al., 2018; Bolinder, 2008).
A new generation of Web 2.0 applications calls for a diversity of use and web-based services are moving towards resilience, inclusion and adaptability. This is to provide accessible digital resources for all – to be intelligent, interconnected and personalised in a humanised service environment (Kelly et al., 2009; Zhang, 2013). Web 2.0 is about the architecture of participation, where users contribute to reuse content and involves collective intelligence for libraries to infuse a sense of belonging, empowerment and self-service in a democratic way (Barsky and Purdon, 2006). Cloud computing and mobile devices took...