User Acceptance of Digital Library Services
Summary
User acceptance of digital library services encompasses the processes by which individuals choose to engage with online repositories of scholarly information. It is underpinned by perceptions of value, ease of interaction and the degree to which services align with user needs. Core determinants include perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, social influence and facilitating conditions, while emotional responses and technology readiness also modulate adoption. Research has shown that tailored interfaces, reliable access and supportive infrastructure enhance uptake across diverse populations, from medical students leveraging e-library portals during pandemic restrictions to postgraduate researchers in resource-constrained settings. Emerging studies emphasise the role of mobile platforms and affective factors in driving consistent engagement. Together, these insights inform design principles for more intuitive discovery systems, adaptive recommendation engines and proactive support mechanisms. By integrating behavioural frameworks with user-centred design, digital libraries can achieve broader global reach, foster equitable access to knowledge and support evolving research practices in both developed and developing contexts.
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User Acceptance of Digital Library Services publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in user acceptance of digital library services across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM): A theoretical framework positing that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use determine users’ intentions to adopt new technologies.
Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT): A consolidated model identifying performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions as key predictors of technology acceptance and usage behaviour.
Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB): A psychological theory stating that behavioural intentions are shaped by attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control.
Technology Readiness Index (TRI): A scale measuring individuals’ propensity to embrace and utilise new technologies, based on optimism, innovativeness, discomfort and insecurity dimensions.
Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance (PAD) model: An emotion-measurement framework assessing users’ affective states across the dimensions of pleasure, arousal and dominance to evaluate interface and service experiences.
References
- Nexus between integrating technology readiness 2.0 index and students’ e-library services adoption amid the COVID-19 challenges: Implications based on the theory of planned behavior. Journal of Education and Health Promotion (2022).
- Evaluating Users’ Emotional Experience in Mobile Libraries: An Emotional Model Based on the Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance Emotion Model and the Five Factor Model. Frontiers in Psychology (2022).
- Electronic library resource use by postgraduate students at a university of technology in South Africa. South African Journal of Information Management (2023).
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