SMS-based library catalogue system: a preliminary investigation of user acceptance

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate potential users' cognitive beliefs and intention to use (IU) a proposed short message service (SMS)-based library catalogue system. The motivation for this research is the growing popularity of mobile information systems and the need to explore if SMS is a technology that libraries could tap into to enhance their services to users. Design/methodology/approach - A review of literature on SMS-based services and applications within the library sector is followed by a prototyping of an SMS-based library catalogue system and the development of a number of hypotheses using the technology acceptance model (TAM) as the base framework. The study investigates potential users' cognitive beliefs and fU the systems as well as the effect of self-efficacy (SE) on these. A survey questionnaire is distributed to a purposeful and convenient sample of university students who are also users of the university library online public access catalogue. Findings - The results of the data analysis show that SE has a positive impact on the perceived ease of use (PEOU) and a negative impact on perceived usefulness (PU). The findings also show that SE does not have direct impact on fU. The overall model explains 55.2 per cent of behaviour intention in using the proposed system. This is comparable with other TAM models in the context of SMS usage. Originality/value - There is scant research available in the literature on user acceptance of SMS-based systems. This study and its findings provide new insights for understanding user motivation for using SMS-based systems, specifically for SMS-based library catalogue systems. This understanding can aid the efforts when designing and promoting the use of such systems. The study also examines SE alongside the user technology acceptance constructs of PECU, PU and IU.