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http://lis.sagepub.com/ Journal of Librarianship and Information Science http://lis.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/04/22/0961000614532677 The online version of this article can be found at: DOI: 10.1177/0961000614532677 published online 26 April 2014 Journal of Librarianship and Information Science Xianjin Zha, Jinchao Zhang and Yalan Yan Comparing digital libraries in the web and mobile contexts from the perspective of the digital divide Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com can be found at: Journal of Librarianship and Information Science Additional services and information for http://lis.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Email Alerts: http://lis.sagepub.com/subscriptions Subscriptions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Permissions: What is This? - Apr 26, 2014 OnlineFirst Version of Record >> at DALHOUSIE UNIV on July 5, 2014 lis.sagepub.com Downloaded from at DALHOUSIE UNIV on July 5, 2014 lis.sagepub.com Downloaded from

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Page 1: Comparing digital libraries in the web and mobile contexts from the perspective of the digital divide

http://lis.sagepub.com/Journal of Librarianship and Information Science

http://lis.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/04/22/0961000614532677The online version of this article can be found at:

 DOI: 10.1177/0961000614532677

published online 26 April 2014Journal of Librarianship and Information ScienceXianjin Zha, Jinchao Zhang and Yalan Yan

Comparing digital libraries in the web and mobile contexts from the perspective of the digital divide  

Published by:

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Journal of Librarianship and Information Science

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Introduction

Digital libraries are the logical extension and augmenta-tion of physical libraries in the modern information soci-ety, delivering information resources and associated services to users through various information and commu-nication technologies (ICT) (Frias-Martinez et al., 2007; Heradio et al., 2012). During the past three decades, digital libraries have gone from a curiosity to mainstream (Arms, 2012). With the advancement of ICT, the mobile Internet has achieved substantial progress, enabling users to access the Internet from mobile devices such as mobile phones (Humphreys et al., 2013). The number of mobile phone Internet users in China was about 464 million by the end of June, 2013, which is about 78.5% of the total Internet users in China (CNNIC, 2013). Consequently, various mobile applications like mobile services (Nysveen et al., 2005), mobile purchases (Zhou, 2013a), mobile gaming (Lee et al., 2010), mobile TV (Zhou, 2013c), and mobile digital

libraries (Seeholzer and Salem, 2011; Wang et al., 2012) have emerged. In this study, we use the term web digital libraries to specifically refer to the digital library accessed by users through the use of computers and web broadband, and use the term mobile libraries to specifically refer to the digital library accessed by users through the use of mobile phones and wireless networks. Mobile applications are attracting more and more users especially younger ones even though in the mobile context, the screen is smaller and the functionality is limited compared with the PC-based web context.

Comparing digital libraries in the web and mobile contexts from the perspective of the digital divide

Xianjin ZhaWuhan University, China

Jinchao ZhangWuhan University, China

Yalan YanWuhan University of Science and Technology, China

AbstractBuilding on concepts of the digital divide, this study explores and compares users’ perceptions of web digital libraries and mobile digital libraries in terms of ease of use and usefulness. Data collected from 306 university library users were analyzed. Two figures were used to present the exact nature of users’ perceptions of ease of use and usefulness in terms of data distribution. These figures were supplemented by the paired samples t test which presents the exact mean difference between web digital libraries and mobile digital libraries in terms of ease of use and usefulness. The data distribution suggests that there are more users who think digital libraries are both easy to use and useful whereas mobile digital libraries are neither easy to use nor useful. The mean comparison of ease of use and usefulness shows that web digital libraries significantly exceed mobile digital libraries. These findings and implications are discussed.

KeywordsChina, digital divide, digital libraries, mobile libraries, ease of use, usefulness

Corresponding author:Yalan Yan, School of Management, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430081, China.Email: [email protected]

532677 LIS0010.1177/0961000614532677Journal of Librarianship and Information ScienceZha et al.research-article2014

Article

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There are many challenges in digital library construc-tion and management (Skaggs et al., 2006). The digital divide as a challenge initially referred to the inequality of access to computers and the Internet (Kim and Hwang, 2012), namely, the gap between advantaged computer (Internet) users and disadvantaged non-users (Pearce and Rice, 2013). However, the digital divide is not only an issue of access, but a sociological phenomenon which reflects broader social, economic, cultural, and learning inequalities (Cho et al., 2003). For the utilization of digi-tal resources, Wei et al. (2011) propose that the inequality of access, capability and outcome constitutes three levels of digital divide. Specifically, the digital access divide is the first-level digital divide, referring to the inequality of access to digital resources. The digital capability divide is the second-level digital divide, referring to the inequality of capability of exploiting digital resources. The digital outcome divide is the third-level digital divide, referring to the inequality of outcomes (e.g. learning, productivity, or benefits) to exploit digital resources in given contexts. In China, digital libraries have achieved quick develop-ment since the Ministry of Education (MOE) initiated the China Academic Library and Information System (CALIS) in 1998. As a result, Chinese university library users can conveniently and easily access remote digital libraries through the valid IP address or valid username and password. We thus suggest that the first-level digital access divide has been greatly reduced in Chinese univer-sity libraries. This study explores and compares web digi-tal libraries and mobile libraries from the perspective of the second-level and third-level digital divide, which pre-sents a new view for digital library research and practice alike in China.

Previous studies have investigated ease of use and use-fulness of both web digital libraries (e.g. Jeong, 2011; Nov and Ye, 2009; Park et al., 2009; Thong et al., 2002; Vaidyanathan et al., 2005) and mobile libraries (e.g. Aharony, 2013, 2014; Goh, 2011). In the current study, the construct ease of use refers to users’ perceptions of the amount of effort involved in using mobile libraries or web digital libraries (Venkatesh et al., 2003; Zha et al., 2013), while usefulness refers to users’ perceptions of the degree to which using mobile libraries or web digital libraries would enhance performance (Venkatesh et al., 2003; Zha et al., 2013). The authors propose that, to some extent, the degree to which library users perceive mobile libraries or web digital libraries are easy to use can reflect the second-level capability divide while the degree to which library users perceive mobile libraries or web digital libraries are useful can reflect the third-level outcome divide. This study explores and compares library users’ perceptions of web digital libraries and mobile libraries in terms of ease of use and usefulness in the hopes that a better understand-ing can be achieved so as to help reduce the second-level and third-level digital divide of digital libraries.

Following the introduction, the authors review the research background regarding web digital libraries and mobile libraries; describe the research methodology and data collection. Then, the results of the study and the dis-cussion of these results are presented.

Web digital libraries and mobile libraries

Web digital libraries

Digital libraries on the Web have achieved substantial pro-gress. On the one hand, more than 50% of the budget was committed to purchase online electronic resources in many academic libraries (Noh, 2012). On the other hand, a shift from traditional to digital library service models has taken place to meet the dynamic needs of users (Kwanya et al., 2011). The major benefits of digital libraries include no physical boundary, round the clock availability, multiple access points to services and collection, user-friendly interfaces (Kwanya et al., 2011). In China, CALIS leads the construction of university digital libraries. As a nation-wide information resources sharing project among Chinese academic libraries, CALIS provides online document and information services to information users through the Chinese Education and Research Network (CERNET).1 It includes seven regional information centers to provide personalized services for end users. Wuhan University (WHU) Library is the central China regional center of CALIS, strengthening the construction of networking and digitization of its collections in recent years.2 WHU Library consists of five subject libraries: arts, science, engineering, information science, and medicine.3

All academic libraries and other social information ser-vice organizations in China can apply to join CALIS which now has more than 1000 member libraries (Yao, 2012). CALIS provides various services for its member libraries, such as online cataloging, imported resource consortia acquisitions, interlibrary loan (ILL) and document deliv-ery (DD), dissertation database building (Luo et al., 2010). Through cooperative purchase of foreign database, CALIS has imported many foreign online databases including abstract databases such as Science Citation Index (SCI), Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), Engineering Village (EI), Cambridge Science Abstracts (CSA) and full-text databases such as ProQuest Digital Dissertation (PQDD) and published by Elsevier, Sage, Willy, Emerald, Springer and IEEE.

Digital libraries have changed the way individuals interact with information (Kani-Zabihi et al., 2006). University library users can conveniently and easily access remote and web-based products purchased by the library such as electronic journals (Stewart, 2000). Electronic resources have incorporated value-added features to dra-matically transform the functionality of print resources

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with the result that users can easily perceive more utility in electronic resources (Eason et al., 2000). Consequently, there are more university library users who used electronic resources more frequently compared with print resources (Zha et al., 2012). Furthermore, compared with traditional library services which ‘involve interaction between the user and the librarian’, over the past two decades, ‘library services are shifting to the Web environment’ (Chen and Chou, 2011: 238). Digital libraries have introduced many new services, such as access to digital collections; web portals; personalized services; online document delivery; online library instruction; electronic publishing; online reference (Kiran and Diljit, 2012).

Mobile Internet and mobile libraries

The mobile Internet allows users to access the Internet through handheld mobile devices such as mobile phones or personal digital assistants and they are attracting more and more users (Lee et al., 2007). The combination of various mobile Internet applications and the instant acces-sibility of high-speed Internet on mobile devices through 3G has dramatically changed the way users interact with the Internet (Gupta et al., 2013), suggesting a shifting from the web context to the mobile context (Li, 2013). Many prior studies have focused on the mobile Internet and its applications. Yang et al. (2012) examine the impact of use context on mobile Internet adoption, suggesting that the effect of utilitarian values on intention to use the mobile Internet is fully mediated by use context, and the effect of hedonic values on intention to use the mobile Internet is partially mediated by use context. Zhou (2013b) examines user adoption of location-based services (LBS) which is an increasingly popular mobile Internet applica-tion with the aim of presenting the optimal information and services to users based on their location. The results indicate that contextual offering and privacy concern have indirect impact on LBS usage intention while trust, flow and perceived risk have direct impact on LBS usage inten-tion. Nysveen et al. (2005) examine consumers’ intention to use mobile services which included text messaging ser-vices, contact services, payment services and gaming ser-vices. The results indicate that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, attitude, nor-mative pressure and perceived control have significant effects on consumers’ intention to use mobile services. Other studies take as their focus mobile Internet usage (Cheong and Park, 2005; Kim et al., 2007; Wang and Wang, 2010; Zhou, 2011), mobile gaming (Lee et al., 2010; Zhou, 2013d), mobile learning and teaching (Goh et al., 2012; Theng et al., 2007), and mobile short messag-ing services (Turel et al., 2007).

Various advanced ICT feature, including mobile Internet, catalyze digital library research and practice (Zhang, 2010). Seeholzer and Salem (2011) explore students’ expectations

for an academic library’s mobile Web site. The results indi-cate that students express more interest in using their mobile devices to access library resources and services than expected. Wang et al. (2012) examine the performance eval-uation of two mobile web services in libraries, i.e. the due-day reminder service and renewal-request service. The results show that the average number of overdue occur-rences, average amount of overdue fines per transaction, and average overdue rate have been improved by the usage of the two services. Meanwhile, 71.3% of the respondents and 87.5% of the respondents are strongly satisfied with the due-day reminder service and the renewal-request service respectively. Li (2013) identifies 39 Chinese university libraries supported by the MOE’s Project 985 and evaluates their status as mobile library service providers through a secondary data analysis based on the library website of each university. The results indicate that there are only 14 univer-sity libraries which list mobile library service on the library’s website and the current Chinese university mobile library service mode basically includes short message service and wireless application protocol service.

In December 2012, WHU Library initiated a mobile library which users can access through mobile devices and wireless networks. Currently, the ubiquitous mobile ser-vices provided by WHU library include basic ones such as collection inquiry, reservation and renewal, due-day reminder, document retrieval and download, subscription services, book comments, personal bookmarks, e-book reading, document delivery, etc.4

Although the mobile Internet can be generally defined as accessing the Internet via various mobile devices, this study adopts a narrow definition regarding mobile librar-ies. Specifically, mobile libraries refer to digital libraries accessed by users through the use of mobile phones.

Method and data collection

This study explores and compares the exact nature of users’ perceptions of digital libraries in the web and mobile contexts in terms of the second-level and third-level digital divide, focusing on four aspects (constructs): ease of use of web digital libraries (EUDL), ease of use of mobile libraries (EUML), usefulness of web digital libraries (UDL), and usefulness of mobile libraries (UML).

All constructs and the corresponding measure items were adapted from previous literature given the considera-tion of content validity (Straub et al., 2004). Specifically, they were adapted from the work by Venkatesh et al. (2003), and Zha et al. (2013) to better suit the context of the current study.

After the instrument was developed, 20 graduate stu-dents in Wuhan University were selected for the pilot sur-vey. Based on their feedback and comments, the authors adjusted the wording of some items to improve readability and clarity. The complete constructs, definitions and items

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can be seen in the Appendix. Each of the items was meas-ured with a seven-point disagree-agree Likert scale rang-ing from 1 which represents ‘strongly disagree’ to 7 which represents ‘strongly agree’. Then, the authors undertook a large-scale survey.

The large-scale survey data collection was conducted in Wuhan University located in central China. In the survey questionnaire, the authors first described how the univer-sity library provides its users with various digital resources and services and listed a range of digital resources includ-ing some Chinese databases such as China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP Chinese Science and Technology Periodicals, CSSCI; some English abstract databases such as SCI, SSCI and full-text databases such as published by Elsevier, Wiley, Sage, IEEE, Springer and Emerald. Then, the authors stated that web digital libraries refer to the library’s digital resources and services accessed by users through the use of computers while mobile librar-ies refer to the library’s digital resources and services accessed by users through the use of mobile phones. In addition, the authors listed some mobile services provide by WHU Library like collection inquiry, reservation and renewal, short message reminder, personal bookmarks, book comments, subscription services, document retrieval and download, document delivery.

This study targeted digital library users of this univer-sity who are also users of the mobile Internet. Users were invited to participate in the survey and data collection was undertaken on a voluntary basis through an online survey website or printed paper questionnaires according to respondents’ preferences. This process lasted from 5 June, 2013 to 25 July, 2013. After scrutinizing all the question-naires and dropping those with many missing values, we finally obtained 306 valid responses. 150 responses were from the online survey and 156 responses were from the paper survey. The average response rate was approxi-mately 50%. The demographic characteristics of the first 10% of the respondents did not significantly differ from those of the last 10% of the respondents. Thus, response bias was not a concern in this study. Table 1 documents the demographic information of the 306 respondents.

Data analysis

This study investigates the following research questions: What is the exact nature of data distribution of web digital libraries and mobile libraries in terms of the second-level and third-level digital divide? Do users perceive any dif-ferences between the web and mobile context? What is the exact mean difference of the second-level and third-level digital divide between the web and mobile context?

Measurement model

Prior to data analysis, the authors first assessed the meas-urement model in terms of reliability, convergent validity

and discriminant validity. As shown in Table 2, all values of composite reliability (CR) are higher than 0.9 and all values of Cronbach’s Alpha are higher than 0.8, which exceed the threshold value of 0.7, suggesting high reliabil-ity and convergent validity (Straub et al., 2004). In addi-tion, all factor loadings are larger than 0.5 and significant at the 0.001 level, which further confirms the adequate convergent validity (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988).

In order to assess the discriminant validity, the square root of AVE (average variance extracted) of each construct and the correlations between constructs were compared. From Table 3, it can be seen that the square root of each construct’s AVE is bigger than its correlations with other constructs, suggesting higher discriminant validity (Straub et al., 2004).

Due to the reliability and validity of the measurement model, the authors thus believe it is appropriate to conduct further data analysis. Specifically, the discriminant valid-ity suggests each of these four constructs in this study is a separate variable and it is meaningful to compare the second-level and third-level digital divide in terms of data distri-bution and mean value between the web and mobile context. The reliability and convergent validity of the four constructs make it reasonable to conduct data analysis at the construct level as described below.

Comparing ease of use of web digital libraries and mobile libraries

We suggest ease of use can to some extent reflect the second-level digital capability divide. Users who per-ceive a higher degree of ease of use are more likely to have capabilities in using mobile libraries or web digital libraries. Ease of use has been extensively accepted as a key factor to determine users’ usage behavior. Previous studies have explored ease of use of digital libraries and mobile libraries. For example, Thong et al. (2002)

Table 1. Demographic information of respondents.

Category Item Frequency Percent (%)

Gender Male 181 59.15 Female 125 40.85Age <18 1 0.33 18–25 214 69.93 26–35 49 16.01 36–45 24 7.84 46–55 15 4.90 >55 3 0.98Position Undergraduate 175 57.19 Masters student 36 11.76 Doctoral student 34 11.11 Faculty 61 19.93Field Natural Sciences 128 41.83 Social Sciences 134 43.79 Arts and Humanities 34 11.11 Others 10 3.27

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reported that interface characteristics (terminology clar-ity, screen design and navigation clarity), individual dif-ferences (computer self-efficacy, computer experience and domain knowledge) and organizational context (rel-evance and system accessibility) positively affect per-ceived ease of use of digital libraries. In Nov and Ye’s (2008, 2009) studies, resistance to change is found to be a significant antecedent of perceived ease of use of digi-tal libraries. Liu and Luo (2011) indicated that 52.0% of undergraduate students select ‘digital libraries are diffi-cult to use’ as a major non-use factor. Kim (2011) sug-gested that doctoral students and faculty members are more likely to perceive the ease of use of university library websites than inexperienced users such as under-graduate students, thus not seeking help as much as nov-ice users. Aharony (2013) reported that perceived ease of use and usefulness predict librarians’ behavioral inten-tion to use mobile services in the library.

For the construct ease of use of web digital libraries in this study, respondents were asked to rate the following statements:

EUDL1. Learning to operate my university web digital library is easy for me.

EUDL2. It is easy for me to become skillful at using my university web digital library.EUDL3. My interaction with my university web digital library is clear and understandable.EUDL4. I find my university web digital library easy to use.

A seven-point strongly disagree-agree Likert scale was used to measure all of these four items. First, according to the choice of the 306 respondents, the authors counted 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 respectively for each item. Then due to the adequate reliability and convergent validity of the con-struct, the corresponding number of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 for these four items was summed respectively to represent the subtotal for this construct. In this fashion, the total number of this construct amounts to 1224 (306×4).

Likewise, with regard to the construct ease of use of mobile libraries, respondents were asked to rate the similar four items as listed in the Appendix. Due to the adequate reliability and convergent validity of this construct, the calculation of the subtotal of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 for this construct is the same as the construct ease of use of web digital libraries above. Figure 1 presents the comparison between ease of use of web digital libraries and mobile libraries.

From Figure 1, it can be seen that 16.18% (198/1224) of the respondents think that web digital libraries are not easy to use while 60.87% (754/1224) think that web digital libraries are easy to use. Meanwhile, 22.22% (272/1224) chose 4, which reflects the neutral attitude. For ease of use of mobile libraries, 22.96% (281/1224) of the respondents think that mobile libraries are not easy to use while 52.45% (642/1224) think that mobile libraries are easy to use. Meanwhile, 24.59% (301/1224) chose 4, which reflects the neutral attitude.

Table 2. Overview of measurement model.

Construct Item Outer loadings t-value CR Cronbach’s Alpha AVE

Ease of use of web digital libraries (EUDL) EUDL1 0.880 53.067 0.924 0.891 0.753 EUDL2 0.887 50.649 EUDL3 0.838 25.341 EUDL4 0.864 45.048 Usefulness of web digital libraries (UDL) UDL1 0.924 66.757 0.963 0.949 0.867 UDL2 0.943 94.044 UDL3 0.942 97.471 UDL4 0.916 66.974 Ease of use of mobile libraries (EUML) EUML1 0.926 84.582 0.955 0.937 0.841 EUML2 0.915 60.413 EUML3 0.924 74.566 EUML4 0.903 67.656 Usefulness of mobile libraries (UML) UML1 0.944 104.277 0.968 0.956 0.883

UML2 0.944 78.952UML3 0.948 109.695UML4 0.924 61.702

Table 3. Correlations between constructs.

Construct EUDL UDL EUML UML

EUDL 0.868 UDL 0.598 0.931 EUML 0.585 0.324 0.917 UML 0.414 0.501 0.634 0.940

Note: Diagonal elements are the square roots of the AVE of each construct.

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Comparing usefulness of web digital libraries and mobile libraries

We suggest usefulness can to some extent reflect the third-level digital outcome divide. Users who perceive a higher degree of usefulness are more likely to accomplish tasks more quickly and effectively, with the result that more benefits and better performance are achieved by using web digital libraries or mobile libraries. Usefulness is consid-ered to be a major dimension impacting on users’ usage behavior. Researchers have paid considerable attention to the usefulness of digital libraries and mobile libraries in the literature. For example, Hong et al. (2001) found that perceived usefulness has a stronger influence on behavio-ral intention to use the digital library than perceived ease of use. Thong et al. (2002) reported that organizational context (relevance and system visibility) positively affect perceived usefulness of digital libraries. In Jeong’s (2011) study, interface characteristics indirectly influence per-ceived usefulness of e-library systems via perceived ease of use, and system characteristics (relevance and system quality) directly influence perceived usefulness. In the context of developing countries, perceived ease of use of the digital library has a significant effect on perceived use-fulness which leads to behavioral intention to use the digi-tal library (Park et al., 2009). For the usefulness of university library websites, Kim (2011) found that doc-toral students and faculty members have the highest level of perceptions, followed by Masters students and then undergraduate students. For mobile libraries, Aharony (2014) found that students perceive higher levels of ease of use and usefulness of mobile services in the library than librarians, and younger users are more prone to adopt mobile technology. Goh (2011) investigated differences in how male and female students perceived a mobile library search service based on short message services when adopting it and found that there are significant differences

in perceived usefulness but no significant differences in perceived ease of use between genders.

For the construct usefulness of web digital libraries, respondents were asked to rate the following statements:

UDL1. Using my university web digital library in my study (work) enables me to accomplish tasks more quickly.UDL2. Using my university web digital library enhances my effectiveness on the study (work).UDL3. Using my university web digital library makes it easier to do my study (work).UDL4. I find my university web digital library useful in my study (work).

The data analysis for this construct is the same as that for ease of use of web digital libraries. The total number of this construct thus amounts to 1224 (306×4). Likewise, for the construct usefulness of mobile libraries, respondents were asked to rate the similar four items listed in the Appendix. Figure 2 presents the comparison between use-fulness of web digital libraries and mobile libraries.

From Figure 2, it can be seen that 11.93% (146/1224) of the respondents think that web digital libraries are not use-ful to them while 73.69% (902/1224) think that web digital libraries are useful to them. Meanwhile, 14.38% (176/1224) chose 4, which reflects the neutral attitude. For usefulness of mobile libraries, 19.85% (243/1224) of the respondents think that mobile libraries are not useful to them, and 55.39% (678/1224) think that mobile libraries are useful to them. Meanwhile, 24.75% (303/1224) chose 4, which reflects the neutral attitude.

Paired samples test

Figures1 and 2 above present the comparison of ease of use and usefulness of web digital libraries and mobile

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Figure 1. Comparison between ease of use of web digital libraries and mobile libraries.

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libraries in terms of data distribution, which answered the first research question. The figures also illustrate there are differences between the web and mobile context. In order to present the exact mean difference of ease of use and usefulness between the web and mobile context so as to answer the last research question, the score of the four con-structs examined in this study were first each calculated based on their measurement models. Then, the authors employed a statistical method, namely, the paired samples t test oriented to dependent samples, to compare means. Table 4 shows the result of paired samples t test between users’ perceptions of web digital libraries and mobile libraries in terms of ease of use and usefulness.

From Table 4, it can be seen that there are significant mean differences for both ease of use and usefulness between digital libraries in the web and mobile context. Specifically, the mean difference between ease of use of web digital libraries and mobile libraries is 0.404 while the mean difference between usefulness of web digital librar-ies and mobile libraries is 0.670. For both ease of use and usefulness, web digital libraries significantly exceed mobile libraries.

Discussion and implications

The digital divide and digital inequality can take many forms (Pearce and Rice, 2013). Compared with the first-level digital access divide, the second-level digital capabil-ity divide and the third-level digital outcome divide tend to be hidden, thus easily ignored by the public. This study compares users’ perceptions of web digital libraries and mobile libraries in terms of ease of use and usefulness, which provides a new and useful view to explore the sec-ond-level and third-level digital divide of digital libraries. Specifically, the two figures present the exact nature of

users’ perceptions of ease of use and usefulness in terms of data distribution. These figures are supplemented by the paired samples t test which presents the exact mean differ-ence between web digital libraries and mobile libraries in terms of ease of use and usefulness. We believe the find-ings of this study have important implications.

Mobile Internet applications and service innovations have penetrated to every corner of life, changing the way people access, seek and use digital resources and services (Li, 2013; Wang et al., 2013). The mobile Internet can pro-vide seamless and ubiquitous access to the Internet, mak-ing it more amenable to provide various value-added services than stationary Internet services (Yang et al., 2012). Mobile phone Internet use in China is now on a massive scale, showing a quick developing trend during past years (CNNIC, 2013). However, Chinese university libraries did not follow this trend since it is reported that only a few of them provide mobile library services (Li, 2013). This study presents the exact nature of users’ per-ceptions of web digital libraries and mobile libraries, indi-cating that there are the second-level and third-level digital divide between them. We thus recommend that Chinese university libraries should give priority to the mobile library initiative so as to retain their users by providing various mobile value-added services, given digital librar-ies face severe competition as information providers in the modern information society (Ross and Sennyey, 2008).

Mobile libraries involve the delivery of library digital resources and services which are accessed by users through mobile devices (Aharony, 2014). We suggest Chinese university libraries as a whole are undergoing a transition from web digital libraries to mobile libraries. Transition from the web to mobile context has been exam-ined in some areas, such as the transition of electronic word-of-mouth services from the web to mobile context

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usefulness of web digital libraries usefulness of mobile libraries

Figure 2. Comparison between usefulness of web digital libraries and mobile libraries.

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(Wang et al., 2013), the transition of payment services from the web to mobile context (Lu et al., 2011), and the transition of brokerage services from the web to mobile context (Lin et al., 2011). However, the success of a cer-tain application in the web context cannot guarantee its success in the mobile context (Wang et al., 2013). For mobile libraries, on the one hand, they facilitate library users to access and interact with library digital resources and services anywhere, thus making the library shift from being at a fixed location to being ubiquitous (Aharony, 2014). On the other hand, like other mobile Internet appli-cations, mobile libraries have limitations such as small screens, unfriendly user interface, low bandwidth, unstable network connection, vulnerability of wireless data trans-mission, inconvenient input and slow responses (Kim and Hwang, 2012; Zhou, 2011). The results of this study sug-gest that more users think that web digital libraries are easy to use than think that mobile libraries are easy to use (Figure 1). Meanwhile, more users think that web digital libraries are useful than think that mobile libraries are useful (Figure 2). We thus recommend that there is an urgent need for libraries to provide user training regarding mobile libraries during the period of transition so that the second-level and third-level digital divide of mobile libraries resulted from user factors can be much reduced. Previous studies high-lighted that users will be interested in mobile library ser-vices only when there is a perceived need and immediate benefit (Meier, 2010; Paterson and Low, 2011; Walsh, 2010). We thus further recommend that librarians should actively interact with users to capture and understand their exact needs so as to develop much needed functions and services of mobile libraries with the result that immediate benefits and value to their users can be achieved.

Libraries function differently from business entities (Kiran and Diljit, 2012). Digital libraries not only deliver information resources but also associated services to user communities through the use of various ICT (Heradio et al., 2012). A service is defined as the work performed for others or an activity offered by someone else (Chen and Chou, 2011). We suggest service quality which is defined as the level of service in terms of reliability, responsive-ness, empathy and assurance (Gorla et al., 2010) is critical for digital libraries. The results in Table 4 suggest that the mean difference of the third-level digital outcome divide is bigger than that of the second-level digital capability

divide, which suggests that mobile libraries especially mobile services need to pay more attention to the useful-ness so as to help users to reduce the third-level outcome divide. More importantly, for either the web or mobile context, the managers of digital libraries should think more about how their librarians can obtain adequate knowledge and ability to provide dependable, prompt, per-sonalized and professional service for their users. This is important given users are less likely to trust librarians who provide services (Pinto et al., 2010) on the one hand, on the other hand, librarians’ levels of perceived ease of use and usefulness of mobile technology are even lower than those of students (Aharony, 2014). We suggest that the final purpose of digital libraries lies in helping users to reduce the third-level digital divide, namely, helping users to take advantage of library digital resources and services to achieve great outcomes such as accomplishing tasks more quickly and enhancing the effectiveness of study or work. We recommend that librarians should take advan-tage of mobile libraries to provide ubiquitous and more value-added services to users and meanwhile facilitate digital libraries in the web and mobile contexts to inform each other. Only in this way, can the essential meaning of digital library initiatives be signified and the usefulness of library digital resources be fully realized.

Conclusion

Libraries ‘are no longer islands of information, but one among many nodes through which information flows to the users’ (Ross and Sennyey, 2008: 146). The mobile Internet brings a new round of competition and mobile library services are crucial for digital libraries. In this situ-ation, this study explores and compares users’ perceptions of web digital libraries and mobile libraries in terms of ease of use and usefulness given the consideration of the second-level and third-level digital divide. The results of this study present the exact nature of data distribution of web digital libraries and mobile libraries and the exact mean difference between them. The data distribution shows that there are more users who think that web digital libraries are both easy to use and useful, whereas mobile libraries are neither easy to use nor useful. The mean com-parison of ease of use and usefulness shows that web digi-tal libraries significantly exceed mobile libraries. We have

Table 4. Paired samples t test.

Constructs N Mean Std. deviation Mean difference t Sig. (2-tailed)

Pair 1 EUDL 306 4.986 1.300 0.404 5.768 .000***EUML 306 4.582 1.384

Pair 2 UDL 306 5.319 1.361 0.670 8.648 .000***UML 306 4.649 1.351

Note: ***p<0.001.

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made suggestions and recommendations accordingly. Ubiquitous mobile devices make it virtually impossible for libraries to continue ignoring mobile library services (Paterson and Low, 2011). We believe the study presented here is current and can help Chinese university libraries to see the exact nature of users’ perceptions of digital librar-ies in the web and mobile context in terms of ease of use and usefulness, thus usefully facilitating the healthy devel-opment of mobile libraries.

Funding

This study is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [grant no. 71373193].

Notes

1. ht tp: / /project .cal is .edu.cn/cal isnew/cal is_index.asp?fid=1&class=1

2. http://www.lib.whu.edu.cn/web/index.asp?obj_id=1023. http://www.lib.whu.edu.cn/web/index.asp?obj_id=1024. http://www.lib.whu.edu.cn/web/index.asp?obj_id=399

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Author biographies

Xianjin Zha is a Professor and doctoral supervisor of Information Science at both the Center for Studies of Information Resources and the School of Information Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China. He received his PhD in Information Science from the School of Information Management, Wuhan University, in 2001. He has published over 90 articles in Chinese journals and in English journals such as the Serials Review, Library Hi Tech, Library & Information Science Research, Online Information Review and Information Development. His research interests include information resources management, the adoption and use

of information systems in the Chinese context, competitive intel-ligence, and information analysis. He has received the New Century Excellent Talents in University award from the Chinese Ministry of Education.

Jinchao Zhang is a candidate for PhD, majoring in Information Science at the School of Information Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China. His research interests focus on information resources management, adoption and use of infor-mation systems.

Yalan Yan is an Associate Professor at the School of Management, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China. She received her doctoral degree in Information Science from the School of Information Management, Wuhan University, in 2005. She has published over 30 articles in Chinese journals and in English journals such as Information Development, Serials Review, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology and Computers in Human Behavior. Her research interests include knowledge sharing and management, information resources management, and the adoption and use of information systems in the Chinese context

Appendix

Constructs and items

Constructs Definitions Items

Ease of use of web digital libraries (adapted from Venkatesh et al., 2003; Zha et al., 2013)

The perception of the amount of effort involved in using web digital libraries

1. Learning to operate my university web digital library is easy for me.2. It is easy for me to become skillful at using my university web digital library.3. My interaction with my university web digital library is clear and understandable.4. I find my university web digital library easy to use.

Ease of use of mobile libraries (adapted from Venkatesh et al., 2003; Zha et al., 2013)

The perception of the amount of effort involved in using mobile libraries

1. Learning to operate my university mobile library is easy for me.2. It is easy for me to become skillful at using my university mobile library.3. My interaction with my university mobile library is clear and understandable.4. I find my university mobile library easy to use.

Usefulness of web digital libraries (adapted from Venkatesh et al., 2003; Zha et al., 2013)

The perception of the degree to which using web digital libraries would enhance performance

1. Using my university web digital library in my study (work) enables me to accomplish tasks more quickly.2. Using my university web digital library enhances my effectiveness on the study (work).3. Using my university web digital library makes it easier to do my study (work).4. I find my university web digital library useful in my study (work).

Usefulness of mobile libraries (adapted from Venkatesh et al., 2003; Zha et al., 2013)

The perception of the degree to which using mobile libraries would enhance performance

1. Using my university mobile library in my study (work) enables me to accomplish tasks more quickly.2. Using my university mobile library enhances my effectiveness on the study (work).3. Using my university mobile library makes it easier to do my study (work).4. I find my university mobile library useful in my study (work).

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