User Perceptions in the Evaluation and Design of Smart Libraries

Smart libraries represent an important integration of digital and intelligent technologies into public cultural spaces and have substantial potential to meet the public’s growing demand for digital cultural services. However, how digital systems, service processes, and spatial environments jointly shape user evaluations and usage intention remains poorly understood. To address this gap, we integrated the information systems success model (ISSM) with the technology acceptance model (TAM) to develop a user-perception framework comprising system quality, information quality, service quality, and environmental quality. Survey data from 352 users with prior experience of smart libraries were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. The integrated model showed good explanatory power for user satisfaction, attitude towards use, and usage intention in smart libraries. System quality and information quality were positively associated with perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and user satisfaction, with information quality showing relatively larger path coefficients for perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. Service quality and environmental quality were positively associated with perceived usefulness and user satisfaction but showed no significant association with perceived ease of use. Perceived usefulness, attitude towards use, and user satisfaction were each positively associated with usage intention, whereas perceived ease of use did not directly predict attitude towards use. These findings indicate that user evaluations of smart libraries are shaped not by technological ease of use alone, but by the combined effects of digital facilities, information organisation, service touchpoints, and the spatial environment. On the basis of these findings, we propose four design strategies: optimising smart facilities and interactive interfaces; coordinating information classification with wayfinding systems; integrating service nodes with digital service scenarios; and improving functional zoning and indoor environmental quality. These strategies provide an evidence base for the spatial design and service-environment renewal of smart libraries.