This study examined research scholars' perceptions of using smart phones for library services at Aligarh Muslim University, India. A survey was administered to 60 scholars from three social sciences departments. The results showed that most scholars use Android smartphones for over 2-3 hours daily. A majority were likely to use library resources on their phones and preferred searching online resources as the top mobile service. The scholars felt mobile library services could improve access, efficiency, and quality of services. Overall, the study found scholars wanted a "library mobile app" for convenient, quick access to information.

1. Smart Phones Libraries: A Perceptive View of Research
Scholars of Faculty of Social Sciences, Aligarh Muslim
University, Aligarh

2. 1.
• Introduction
• Components
2.
• Objectives
• Discussion
3.
• Suggestion
• Conclusion

3. Introduction
“Smart-phones have become an integral part of the daily life of many
university students, even in developing countries. These devices
allow users not only to make and receive phone calls or text and
voice messages, but also to run a wide variety of productivity and
convenience applications, popularly known as apps. Running on
mobile operating systems, today’s smart-phones provide advanced
computing capabilities and connectivity options in a manner similar
to traditional computers”

4. A smart-phone provides students with immediate,
portable access to many of the similar education-enhancing
capabilities as an internet-connected computer, such as online
information retrieval, file sharing and interacting with
professors and classmates
This paper has made an attempt to investigate the
perception of the research scholars to implement smart phones’
library services. The paper includes objectives, research
questions, methodology and sample of the study, results and
discussion, recommendations and finally conclusion with a
brief summary of the study.

5. Library services verses smart phones
library service
Traditional library
services
Smart phones library
services
Audio lectures Podcasts
Physical reality Augmented reality
Physical maps Mobile maps
Reference services Mobile services
Barcode QR code
Notification SMS notification
Library Services Verses Smart Phones Library
Service

7.  To know the level how much students are devotee to smart-
phones
 To know the purpose of using smart-phones
 To examine the students’ perspective about the type of
information resources they want through smart-phones
libraries.
 To know the likelihood of using information resources
through smart-phones
 To identify the areas for further improvement

8. *
This paper examines the use of smart-phones for
using Library Services by research scholars at
Faculty of Social Sciences, Aligarh Muslim
University, Aligarh. As there are 12 departments in
the faculty of social sciences the investigator has
taken three departments . The study used the
descriptive survey approach with a self-constructed
questionnaire and interview for data collection.

9. *
S.N
o.
Name of the Department Total Population
(Research
Scholars)
Sample Size
Population
1. Department of Library &
Information Science
35 15
2. Department of Political
Science
97 30
3. Department of Sociology 44 15
Total 176 60

10. *Types of devices used by the
students
S.No. Types of mobile devices Frequency Percentage
1 Smartphone 60 58%
2 Tablet 5 5%
3 Laptop 35 34%
4 E-book reader 04 4%

11. Used by the Research Scholars
82%
6%
8% 4% 0%
Fig:1. Operating System of smartphones
Android
iOS
Windows
Blackberry
Others

12. Frequency Of Using Smart-phone
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
7% 8% 10%
75%
Fig:2 Frequency of using
smartphone

13. Purposes of using smart phones
S.
No.
Purposes Dept. LIS Dept. Political
Science
Dept. Sociology
1 Search for E-
books, E articles
and E-reviews 12(18%) 15(15%) 10(17%)
2 To know current
global news
12(18%) 18(18%) 11(19%)
3 To discuss with
group study
8(12%) 9(15%) 8(14%)
4 Online shopping
10(15%) 15(15%) 7(12%)
6 Mobile banking
9(14%) 14(14%) 8(14%)
7 Email/instant
messaging
15(23%) 30(30%) 15(25%)

14. *Likelihood of using Library
Resources on Smartphones
67%
23%
10%
Fig:3 Likelihood of using Library
resources on smartphones
most likely
less likely
not likely

15. *
Types of Information Services for
Smart-phone LibrariesS. No. Information Services LIS Dept. Political
Science
Dept.
Sociology
Dept.
1 Search for online resources 15(24%) 30(33%) 15(24%)
2 Search library catalogue 12(19%) 17(18%) 13(21%)
3 See new addition of books 8(13%) 10(11%) 7(11%)
4 Reference inquiry services 7(11%) 9(10%) 5(8%)
5 Contact librarian 6(10%) 9(10%) 8(13%)
6 Feedback 8(13%) 10(11%) 7(11%)
7 Information of reserved book
available in library
6(10%) 7(8%) 7(11%)

16. *
Possible increase in the services
S. No. Possible increase in services Very
much
Much Somewhat Not Much Not at
All
1 Access to Library 92% 8% 0% 0% 0%
2 Usability of information
sources 83% 8% 9% 0% 0%
3 Ease of use of the Library 100% 0% 0% 0% 0%
4 Number of request/services
by users 90% 8% 2% 0% 0%
5 Quality & efficiency of
Library 92% 3% 2% 1% 2%
6 Need of more marketing &
training 100% 0% 0% 0% 0%
7 Quality of services by
Library 92% 8% 0% 0% 0%
8 Book reservation 92% 8% 0% 0% 0%
9 Overdue reminders 100% 0% 0% 0% 0%

17. *Case of BHU mobile library

18. *
 Majority of the students use smart-phones in their daily life for more than
2-3 hours day
 The result of the study revealed that Android is the most prominent
Operating system used by the students.
 Majority of the students like to use library resources on smart-phones.
 The study revealed that most sought service is to search for online
resources through smart-phones regarding the provision of Library
services.
 Majority of the students strongly believe that if the library starts providing
its services through smart-phone application it will increase access to the
library with ease and efficiency and quality of the library services will be
increased as well. It will also increase the number of requests and services
by users.

19. *
With the advancement of technology and the growing use of the
internet enabled smart-phones among students for learning purposes
and the increasing numbers of electronic information resources,
librarians are having the view that this is the time to move towards
bringing the libraries on fingertips of the users rather than remaining
confined to the brick walls of the library building. The study
revealed that ‘library mobile app’ is much-awaited service by the
users as it is believed that “access to the library via app will be
helpful to get information quickly and easily. It is more convenient,
time saving, purposeful and need of the hour”.