MOBILE-BASED LIBRARY LOAN SERVICE

(MBLLS)

Submitted by
Your Name

Supervised by
Your Supervisor

University of Palestine
2014

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION________________________________________________________1
1.1

Background__________________________________________________________1

1.2

Motivation for the Research_____________________________________________2

1.3

Problem Statement____________________________________________________2

1.4

Research Questions____________________________________________________3

1.5

Research Objectives___________________________________________________3

1.6

Significance of the Research_____________________________________________3

1.7

Scope of the Research__________________________________________________4

LITERATURE REVIEW________________________________________________5
2.1

Introduction__________________________________________________________5

2.2

Mobile Technology_____________________________________________________5

2.2.1
2.2.2
2.2.3
2.2.4
2.2.5
2.2.6
2.2.7

2.3
2.3.1
2.3.2
2.3.3

Mobile Applications_________________________________________________________7
WAP Concept and Definition_________________________________________________10
WAP architecture__________________________________________________________12
WAP Session______________________________________________________________14
Wireless Mobile Markup Language____________________________________________17
Image support_____________________________________________________________18
Mobile Guide Application___________________________________________________19

Library Loan Service_________________________________________________20

Conventional Library Loan Service____________________________________________20
Web-Based Library Loan Service_____________________________________________21
Mobile-Based Library Loan Service___________________________________________21

2.4

Usability Evaluation__________________________________________________24

2.5

Summary___________________________________________________________27

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY___________________________________________28
3.1

Introduction_________________________________________________________28

3.2

Design Research Methodology__________________________________________28

Evaluation______________________________________________________________29
Prototype Design______________________________________________________29
Information Gathering design_________________________________________29
Prototype Development_______________________________________________29
3.2.4
3.2.5

Evaluation________________________________________________________________31
Summary________________________________________________________________31

REFERENCES________________________________________________________32
Appendix A: Questionnaire_______________________________________________38

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

1.1

Background

Throughout history, people need to have access to information. Previously, they have to
obtain information from scientists, clergy, libraries and universities. However, today
people can access information without the need for such efforts [1]. The need remains,
but the acquisition ways have changed to suit peoples needs. Mobile technologies are
rapidly growing, and they have played an important role in the management of relations
between people in social, economic and everyday life [2, 3]. With the rapid growth of the
means of communication, the learning and education has adopted technology based
systems such as e-learning [4], distance learning (DL) [5] and mobile learning (MLearning) which is an approach of e-learning [6].

Libraries are considered as the most important component of education in all stages,
whether in high level education or at the school level. Some of library services do not
offer electronic loan operations, and others lack complete loan operations. It depends on
the library staff to carry out such operations. However, library systems and e-learning
systems actually need to interact in a variety of ways [7].

Ubiquitous is an important word in mobile-based technology. It means to present

everywhere as well as at same time. However, online teaching and learning has been

providing great opportunities to increase flexibility in time and location of study, in terms
of availability of information and resources, synchronous and asynchronous
communication and various types of interaction via the World Wide Web (WWW) [8, 9].
Moreover, mobile-based can be used in many fields of work to manipulate and share data
in libraries, museums and homes as well as in the classrooms [10].

Consequently, the needs of library users have increased rapidly. Their needs should be
available everywhere and every time rather than anywhere and anytime. Thus, to
overcome the lack of loan services and to meet users needs, this study proposes MobileBased Library Loan Service (MBLLS) which utilizes mobile technology which allows
users to carry out operations everywhere at all time.

1.2

Motivation for the Research

There are demands for library users to access the library facilities anytime and anywhere.
However the existing library system only allows users to access the facilities during
working hours. Mobile technology has been widely used in many areas, for example
education, health, entertainment and etc. Since this technology enables application to be
used anywhere and anytime, this motivates to use this technology for developing an
application for the library system.

1.3

Problem Statement

The conventional library loan services provided by the University Library require the
users to go to the library or through a computer to do any transaction. These services have
2

limitations whereby they require users to go to the library themselves. While through
online, users can only access the services via computers connected to the internet. A new
form of technology has to be introduced to overcome the limitations. Mobile technology
has been considered as a viable alternative for developing applications to be used for
renew and reserve of library books anywhere and anytime.

1.4

Research Questions

In relation to the problem statement, this study aims to investigate the following:
i. What are the user requirements towards the use of Mobile-Based Library Loan
Service (MBLLS)?
ii. What are the criteria to be used for usability evaluation of the Mobile-Based Library
Loan Service (MBLLS)?

1.5

Research Objectives

This study utilizes mobile technology for renew and reserve of library books. The
objectives of the study are:
i. To develop a prototype Mobile-Based Library Loan Service (MBLLS).
ii. To conduct user evaluation on the Mobile-Based Library Loan Service (MBLLS).

1.6

Significance of the Research

The significance of this study are as follows:

i. The MBLLS offers numerous opportunities for students and staff to accomplish
their tasks more quickly and efficiently.
3

ii. Introduce a new concept in the library renew and reserve services which enables
users to access it anywhere and anytime.
iii. The MBLLS based on effective utilization of WAP technology for library loan
service.
iv. The prototype utilizes the existing mobile interface and database infrastructures,
thus MBLLS does not require extra cost to take advantage of the mobile
technology.

1.7

Scope of the Research

This study focuses only on students and staff of University Utara Malaysia (UUM). It is
intended to provide the facility for users to access online renew and reserve books
operations through mobile devices. A mobile prototype was developed based on Wireless
Application Protocol (WAP) using Microsoft Visual C#.Net as the programming language
and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 as the Relational Database Management System
(RDMS).

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1

Introduction

The background of this study and brief description of the study settings were introduced
in the previous chapter. This chapter will continue on the discussion and ideas in previous
work related to mobile technology, library loan system and usability evaluation. The
discussion will go through some details related to the study.

2.2

Mobile Technology

Mobile technologies potentially create a wide variety of uses and limitations that differ
significantly from desktop and laptop technologies. Figure 2.1 shows the infrastructure
for mobile computing [11]. However, today most people are equipped with mobile
devices and most of them already have good knowledge and experiences in using mobile
devices to access internet applications [12]. As an example, The total number of remote
workers in European Union (EU) has grown from six to thirteen percent in the period
from 1999 to 2002 [13]. The number of subscribers of mobile phones has also increased
in the same period in Norway. Even though, the number of subscribers was already
substantial, it grew approximately 30 percent. In 2001, 3,201,554 people were mobile
phone subscribers. That is 71% of the population .With comparison, only approximately
30% of the population in the USA has mobile subscription [14]. Moreover, China has 206
million subscribers in 2002, which is 16.19% of Chinas population [15]. One reason for
5

this growth can be the expansion of mobile devices like smart phones, personal digital
assistants (PDAs) and mobile phones in the market.

A smart phone is a mobile device with both PDA and mobile phone capabilities [14, 15,
16]. It is a handheld computing device that contains applications like word processor,
calculation program, calendar and perhaps some communication possibilities [17]. The
number of mobile phones has increased rabidly. In Norway, 78,000 PDAs were sold in
2000 and 60,000 in 2001. In 2002, the sales were much lower [14]. Worldwide in 2001,
13.1 millions units were sold [18], and according to Intel Developer Update Magazine in
2002, there were approximately 1 billion cellular phones used, with 1.8 billion in 2006.
Market penetration is approaching 50 percent in the U.S., and has reached 70 percent in
Western Europe, Japan and Korea [19].

Figure 2.1: Computing Mobile Infrastructure [11]

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2.2.1 Mobile Applications

Mobile applications increasingly affect the diffusion of information as well as business
activity. They gain broad acceptance due to the increased need in supporting the mobile
workforce and the rapid improvement in the devices and wireless technologies for
communication. Many mobile applications provide personal services such as sending and
viewing email, browsing the world wide web (WWW), viewing traffic and weather
reports , watching movies and chatting with others [20].

Mobile services appear to be an obvious choice for travel and tourism as the travelers are
on the move, which is the first criterion for mobile services to be relevant. Nevertheless,
based on a study conducted by [21] in 2003; few users have expressed their desire to use
their mobile phone whenever possible. The travel and tourism industry have been
undergoing many dramatic changes during the last decade, due to the possibilities offered
by Internet technology.

Based on a study by [22] which focuses on the improvement of organizational

infrastructure for campus and student needs, it indicates that there are still many
weaknesses in the current version of Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) that require indepth investigation, since every new technology arriving on the market has to be
investigated of its benefit for daily use. At present, mobile phones have been popular
worldwide. Mainly it is ubiquitous and customers can make calls anywhere for
transaction. Mobile phone market shares have grown up dramatically. Mobile commerce

(m-commerce) attracts various relative companies such as mobile handset manufacturers

to develop technologies to generate added values for their mobile sphere [23].

Study [21], investigated mobile services for the hospitality industry. It found that mobile
services is the obvious choice for travel and tourism as they are one of the largest and
most rapidly expanding industry in the world and one of the significant users of ICT. It
seems to be an apparent choice as all travelers are on the move. However, the available
mobile services are not as many and as value adding as expected. The study is done by
contrasting the problems with travelers attitude and expectation in order to improve
productivity of some key routines in the hospitality industry.

Mobile learning (M-Learning) can be considered a lifelong activity that can take place in
changing communities and mixed with everyday life situations where people repeatedly
enhance their knowledge and skills [24]. Figure 2.2 shows a mobile framework for
interactions between learners and learning technologies, as well as Figure 2.3 shows a
conversational framework for personal learning.

Figure 2.2: A mobile framework for interactions between learners and

learning technologies [24]

Figure 2.3: A conversational framework for personal learning [24]

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M-Learning is an emerging form of distance learning that offers both teachers and
learners the opportunity to interact and gain access to educational material using a
wireless handheld device, independent of time and space [25]

Research in M-Learning for higher Education is steadily progressing. In a survey of

young adults (16 24 years) use of mobile phones in the UK, almost half expressed an
interest in using their mobile phone to improve their reading, spelling, and maths or
language skills. Although only 50% currently use palmtops, 55% stated that they might
use one under other conditions, especially lower prices [26].

Developments in telecommunication technology provide new facilities and interfaces for

students and staff of universities. In order to improve the organizational infrastructure for
students and staff, every new technology arriving on the market has to be investigated of
its benefit for daily use. In the case of the WAP, the consortium of Mobile Services for
Campus and Student needs Campus Mobil was founded in order to investigate
innovative services based on this technology [22].

2.2.2 WAP Concept and Definition

Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a collection of wireless application protocol and
specification standard that allows mobiles devices to communicate with the web server
using the WAP browser and display the contents back on the mobile devices screen,
basically, it is the protocol that allow mobile devices to access the internet [27].
International Engineering Consortium (IEC) has introduced another definition: Wireless
10

application protocol (WAP) is an application environment and set of communication

protocols for wireless devices designed to enable manufacturer, vendor, and technology
independent access to the Internet and advanced telephony services [28].

In the early day of wireless web, several companies produced their own proprietary
application protocol, this made the wireless web developed that followed one company
communication protocol standard can only be view by mobile phone that use that
standard [29]. Lacks of standardization hinder the growth of wireless web, users were
confused, and developers were screaming for standardization.

One of the most important aspects of wireless communications is standardization. WAP is

intended primarily for Internet enabled digital phones, pagers and other handheld devices.
It is designed to standardize development across different wireless technologies
worldwide. In 1997, the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) was developed by Nokia,
Ericsson, Motorola and others to foster the emergence of the wireless Internet. It is
designed to standardize development across different wireless technologies worldwide
[30]. Moreover, in June 2002, 350 member companies involved WAP forum companiesjoined together and formed the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). They represent the worlds
leading mobile operators, device and network suppliers, information technology
companies, application developers and content providers [31].

According to analysts at Lehman Brothers Inc [32], the number of wireless Internet
access devices being utilized worldwide is expected to double annually from

11

approximately 50 million units in the year 2000 to approximately 600 million units in the
year 2004. Based on this data, recognizing the upcoming need to have pricing
information and purchasing opportunities available for users of handled Internet access
devices is essential for companies looking to become the most preferred suppliers of
consumer goods on the Web. Moreover, IEC [28] has believed that the future for WAP
will be bright; based on 75 percent of the world companys stand behind the mobile
telephone market and the huge development potential of WAP.

2.2.3 WAP architecture

WAP has a client and server approach that compounds wireless network and internet
technology. In fact the motivation for developing WAP was to extend Internet
technologies to wireless networks, bearers and devices [33].

The First specification of WAP (WAP 1.0) released in 1998 by WAP Forum. Followed by
WAP 2.0 which is a next-generation set of specifications that utilized and supported
enhancements in the capabilities of the latest wireless devices and Internet content
technologies, also WAP 2.0 provides managed backwards compatibility to existing WAP
content, applications and services that comply to previous WAP versions.

It was designed to work on any mobile network standard whether Wireless LAN (IEEE
802.11 protocol), Bluetooth, Infrared (IR) or cellular networks such as Global System for
Mobile Communications (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) [34, 35, 36].
WAP has a layering concept like the internet; each of the layers of the architecture is
12

accessible by the layers above, as well as by other services and applications. Figure 2.4
shows the WAP layer stack (centre) and internet OSI (International Standard
Organization) layer stack (left). WAP stack consist of Wireless Application Environment
(WAE), Wireless Session Protocol (WSP), Wireless Transaction Protocol (WTP),
Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS) and Wireless Datagram Protocol (WDP).

Figure 2.4: WAP Protocol Stack [27]

i. Wireless Application Environment (WAE)
The WAE layer is where the protocol for the user interface resides, WAE interact
with Wireless Markup Language (WML), and WML is equivalent to the HTTP in
the internet, WML Script and Wireless Telephony Application (WTA) to display
content on the screen.
ii. Wireless Session Protocol (WSP): Compose of two protocols:
1. Work with WTP to make connection oriented session.

13

2. Allow server to make connectionless oriented session (PUSH

technology).
iii. Wireless Transaction Protocol (WTP)
WTP layer responsible to manage a transaction, WTP employed the User
Datagram Protocol (UDP) on the internet OSI (International Standard
Organization) model; WTP offers three classes of transaction service: unreliable
one way request, reliable one way request and reliable two way request respond.
iv.

Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS)

WTLS layer deal with security, data integrity and authentication protocol.

v. Wireless Datagram Protocol (WDP)

WDP is data transport protocol that manages the transmission; WDP allows WAP
protocol to adapt any data communication protocol from network standard, thus
allowing WAP to communicate with any network standards.

2.2.4 WAP Session

WAP session consists of interaction between mobile phone, Telco, WAP gateway and web
server. WAP gateway is a software that acts as an intermediary between mobile phone
and internet, it process request from micro browser, forward the request to the
corresponding web server, encode the content in WML if the content not in WML format
and divided the content into smaller chunk to be transmitted back to the micro browser.

The WAP gateway performs two main functions [27]:

14

i. Protocol Gateway: Translates WAP protocol request to the WWW protocol request
(HTTP and TCP/IP) and vice versa.
ii. Content Encoders and Decoders: Translate Web content into compact encoded
formats to reduce the size and number of packets traveling over the wireless data
network.

WAP phone cannot communicate directly with the web server due to the different mark
up language and protocol used; web server normally uses HyperText Markup Language
(HTML) while WAP phone uses WML. One of the reasons why WAP phone cannot use
the available internet protocol such as TCP/IP and HTML was the limited amount of
information that can be transfer by the wireless network, WAP was primarily design to
minimize bandwidth use [37], therefore WAP phone require WAP gateway to perform all
the conversion and synchronization. Figure 2.5 shown process flow, it assumed that the
user is already connected to the internet [38].

1. Request

1
4
3

5. Respond

HTTP
Protocol

WAP Protocol

Figure 2.5: The WAP Process Flow [39]

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WAP process flow described briefly in the following points:

1. An Uniform Resource Locator (URL) request for a WAP site is send out by micro
browser reside in users mobile phone to a WAP gateway.
2. The request will be processed by the WAP gateway, WAP gateway will query the
requested URL for the content, the requested URL (web server) will reply back by
sending the content to the WAP gateway.
3. If the requested content is WML format, the requested content is directly send back to
the micro browser, but if the requested content is written in HTML language, WAP
gateway will translate the content to WML format before transmitting it to the micro
browser.
4. The requested content is send back to the micro browser.
5. Micro browser will display the content on the mobile phone screen.

Despite TCP/IP might be the efficient method to transfer data between internet and
computer, large amount of data can be transmit by the network and displayed back on the
computer monitor screen. However unlike the computer, mobile phone has many
limitation such as small display, low storage capacity and processing power and limited
input capabilities, furthermore the amount of data that can be transmit by wireless
network is limited, due to the limited bandwidth. The WAP protocols were specifically
design to address all of these limitations [38].

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2.2.5 Wireless Mobile Markup Language

WML is an official markup language endorsed by the WAP forum [27]. It is An XML
based scripting language for creating content for wireless system [11]. As mentioned in
WAP session section the relation between WAP and WML is: The Wireless Application
Protocol (WAP) enables different kinds of wireless devices to communicate and access
the Internet using the Wireless Markup Language (WML) [40].

The page written in the WML language can be displayed back on any WAP phone using
a micro browser, WML language is based on Extensible Markup Language (XML), a
markup language that conform to the stricter standard, can be shared across different
systems, and also the language that recommended by the World Wide Web
Consortium(W3C).

A WML document is called a deck and contains one or more sections called cards. Each
card consists of text content and/or navigational controls for user interaction. Only one
card can be viewed at a time, but navigation between cards is rapid because the entire
deck is stored by the micro browser [40].

A Deck is the smallest unit of WML that can be transmitted by a WAP gateway, when
user request for URL, WAP gateway will send deck to the mobile phone, micro browser
will the display the first card as defined by the deck. However due to limitation of mobile
phone, WAP gateway will not send compiled WML deck larger than 1,429 bytes to the
mobile phone to avoid data overwhelming [37].
17

WML like HyperText Markup Language (HTML) supports several basic features [40]:
1. Formatted text such as bold, italic, larger or smaller and other tags.
2. Hyperlink, just like HTML hyperlink, can be linked to a card on the same deck or
a card on another deck.
3. Selection, user can select from series of option.
4. Input, user can be requested to enter data.
5. Soft button, soft button can be programmed to execute specific command.
6. Wireless bitmap (wbmp) images.
7. Flash screen, this function will display a card for period of 1 to 5 seconds, then a
new card is displayed.
8. Event handling, can handle interrupt from other application, for example accepting
incoming call while browsing the internet.

2.2.6 Image support

WML only support images in the wbmp format [37, 41, 42] with the following
characteristics: i) no compression. ii) one bit color (white=1, black=0). iii) Depth: I bit
deep (monochrome)

While the XHTML MP has greater support for image format such as: GIF (Graphic
Interchange Format), Animated GIF, JPG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), PNG
(Portable Network Graphics) and Wbmp [43]

18

However, the support is depend primarily on the wireless devices that displaying it, if the
wireless device (e.g. mobile phone) does not support the image format, then the WAP
browser will replaced the image with the supplied text, For example the XHTML MP
syntax to display an image is
<img src=logo.png alt= logo height=62 width=60 />
If the mobile phone does not support the image format, then the text logo will be
displayed instead of the image.

2.2.7 Mobile Guide Application

The Mobile Guide application is a system for mobile devices that is able to answer
spatially related queries from mobile users, help them use public transportation, find a
point of interest - hotel, restaurant, sightseeing, and finally work as a personal navigation
system [44].
The goal of Mobile Guide application was to develop a brand new type of application for
mobile users. The interface is easy to understand and context sensitive. After you locate
the mobile device you will be able to utilize following functionalities:
i. Search for the nearest point of interest to your location: restaurant, hotel, castle,
sporting area, tennis court, museum, bus stop, railway station.
ii. Find a way: using public transportation, going by car or walking from one place to
another. The start and destination points can also be defined using a point of interest.
The user gets navigation instructions.
iii. Mobile compass: unique functionality, the mobile device serves as a compass for
determining the direction in which a point of interest is.
19

iv. Tourist information about a place.

v. Support information for people traveling by car: gas stations, car services, car rentals.

2.3

Library Loan Service

Throughout history, people need access to information, whereas previously they were
going to the stores where the information was to scientists, clergy, libraries and
universities, today people have access to information without the need for such a lot of
effort [1], therefore, the need remains, but access ways differed varied to suit their life.
With the rapidly growing of the means of communication, the evolution of the means of
learning and education has evolved systems that are using technology in education (Elearning) [4], distance learning (DL) [5] and mobile learning (M-Learning) that is an
approach of E-learning [6]. As the library of the most important component of education
at all stages, whether high level education or even school level.

Therefore, in libraries system we have a concept called Bibliography. It focuses on

describe the aspects of the books and other types of library materials [45]. Hence,
Enumerative bibliography: the listing of books according to some system or reference
plan, for example, by author, by subject, or by date. Thus, usually the list providing only
the author's name, the book's title, and date and place of publication [46].

2.3.1 Conventional Library Loan Service

Many libraries have applications to manage their contents such as bibliographies,
electronic list of resources and patrons loan service [47]. Moreover, the loan service
20

comprises of four basic operations which include; borrowing, returning, renewal, and
reservation of books or other materials. Moreover, the library is one of the most
important fundamental components of the educational process. It is extremely important
for the learner to access required books and references. It is also primarily designed to
enhance the educational opportunities available in schools and institutions of higher
learning [48]. Consequently, almost every organization or library comes to realize,
sooner or later, that it needs a system to manage its content by new publication forms like
Web, WAP or other forms [47].

2.3.2 Web-Based Library Loan Service

One of the publication ways is Web which had dramatically changed the way contents are
published [47]. Moreover, the needs of users and a variety of libraries increased with the
proliferation of these techniques to be available every where and every time rather than
anywhere and any anytime. Consequently, some of the library services do not involve
electronic loan operations, and others lack for complete loan operations, or it depends on
library staff to make operations. While library systems and e-learning systems actually
need to interact in a rich variety of ways [7].

2.3.3 Mobile-Based Library Loan Service

Ubiquitous is an important factor in mobile-based which means present everywhere as
well as at same time. However, online teaching and learning has been providing great
opportunities to increase flexibility in time and location of study, in terms of availability
21

of information and resources, synchronous and asynchronous communication and various

types of interaction via the WWW. Moreover, M-Learning is enabled by the use of
portable devices, such as notebooks, smart phones, PDAs over wireless networks. A key
benefit of M-Learning is its potential for increasing productivity by making learning
available anywhere regardless the time [49].

Moreover, mobile-based can be used in many fields of work to manipulate and share
data, in libraries [50], clinics [51], museums [52] and home as well as in the classroom
[10]. A study [52] designed and implemented a prototype that uses mobile devices to
help patrons to museum or zoo to obtain information about places where they viewed. In
particular, the system provides services for people with special needs (limited hearing,
vision and mobility) and introduces these solutions to help them, each and everyone
according to the need and suitable manner. Images with high contrast of artifacts allow
personal viewing, audio descriptions with adjustable audio delivered via headphones, text
in bold san serif font with user adjustable font size. The system identified the place where
patron stand and thus determines the artifacts closest to him and introduce historical
information and image about this patron.

Several articles in the medical and nursing literature espouse and support the possibilities
and realities of mobile devices in the clinical setting for improving the quality of patient
care [50, 52]. Another study [51] introduced a field study on the use and support of PDAs
medical libraries. The study considers that PDAs a new technology provided healthcare
professionals with an innovative new platform from which clinical information can be

22

provided at the point of care such it can used by doctors, nurses and staff. However, it has
helped to improve the quality of patient care. The researcher investigated the use of PDA
in loan service of e-books using electronic expansion cards.

A study conducted by [53] outlines four models of library PDA support that are familiar
in library terms. These provide opportunity for libraries to use one or all of these models
to enhance their services through mobile-based technology. The models include:
i) Collection Development Model: This is the process of evaluating, selecting, procuring
and managing the licenses for PDA resources.
ii) Instruction/Advisory Model: This is providing formal training sessions, individualized
one-on-one consultations and being an informal advisor of PDA hardware, software and
content.
iii) Technical Support Model: This involves the provision and support of synching cradles
and Infrared (IR) beaming stations for clients. This role may or may not overlap with
the IT departments role.
iv) Facilitator/Communication Model: This involves developing web pages with links to
PDA content, facilitating face to face PDA User Groups or online PDA mailing list
server.

Another study [54] has investigated the ways that enhance the library experience and
improve the communications among patrons and researchers in libraries community. This
allowed for users to get updated information on their current books charged out to them,
search histories, navigate through on-line library catalogue, bookmarks to library and

23

other Web resources. The study evaluated the human computer interaction (HCI) and
appropriate method for mobile library systems.

2.4

Usability Evaluation

The usability considers an important attribute of software quality. It is concerned with

making systems easy to learn and easy to use. The term is used to describe the quality of
a user's experience when interacting with a system whether a website, a software
application, mobile technology, or any other human operated device. A usable system is
one which enables users to perform their job effectively and efficiently.

Usability can defined as a term used to denote the ease with which people can employ a
particular tool or other human-made object in order to achieve a particular goal. Usability
can also refer to the methods of measuring usability and the study of the principles
behind an object's perceived efficiency or elegance [55]. International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) 9126, defined usability as: the set of attributes that bear on the
effort needed for use, and on the individual assessment of such use, by a stated or implied
set of users [56].

The importance of usability studies in information technology is not new. GOMS (goals,
operators, methods, selection rules) models, for example, has been in place since the
early 1980s and has gone through many successive iterations in the meantime [57].This
model provides software engineers with quantifiable data and computationally relevant
models of user information processing that can be used to pinpoint inefficiencies in

24

existing systems and provide baseline measures to compare alternate iterations of a

product [58].

GOMS tends to focus on formal derivations of user mental models and measurements of
individual user performance in discrete, bounded tasks. While GOMS-based models are
effective tools to create abstract models of user behavior and predict potential future
behavior.

Researchers in the digital library community have indicated the need for development
such multifaceted, user-centered approaches [59, 60] and have begun to integrate user
feedback into the design process [61, 62] . Moreover, researchers in a study [58] argue
that such a focus on user context and activity is especially relevant when mobile
computing technologies are the focus of attention.

Mobile computing challenges the status quo by forcing designers to make moderation of
a new set of abilities and limitations brought forth by small and lower-fidelity screens,
small amounts of memory and storage, slow network connectivity, and alternative forms
of input. Successful designs tend to be simple, elegant, stable and functional, albeit
within a tightly constrained range of potential usage contexts. Designing within the
limitations of these "information appliances" requires a solid and broad understanding of
user behaviors and tasks in order to be effective in practice [63].

25

In the literature, there have been thus far few studies addressing the usability problem of
WAP applications. One study [64] about use of WAP in Europe. They conclude with the
observation that in much of case the services are badly conceived for the mobile devices
and the use of the services is slow. Therefore, two studies [65] and [66] have introduced
a framework of system acceptability, where usability is a part of "usefulness", they list
five attributes of usability: learnability, efficiency, memorability, errors and Subjective
satisfaction.

A lot of usability research is documented about user interface issues with mobile devices.
Some research is published about using services with mobile devices. One study [67]
reported about user experiences with mobile banking services. It concludes with the
observation that the critical aspect in service development is that, the usability issues are
taken seriously in consideration during the design process. This means that a good mobile
service provides the content in the right form.

Many WAP usability problems appear during the early stages of Web site development
for PC computers [64] and

usability issue is critical to the adoption of mobile

applications [68]. However, good user interface design can reduce some of the usability
problems for WAP phone users. One study [69] recommends several design guidelines
for WAP applications, including: use short links, include backward navigation on every
card, minimize the level of menu hierarchy, reduce the amount of vertical scrolling and
include headlines for each card.

26

Usability evaluation includes two types: Formative Evaluation and summative evaluation.
A summative evaluation is a test that occurs at the end of a mission such lesson or
schooling semester. Formative evaluation is a method of judging the worth of a program
while the program activities are forming or happening [70]. It can be used to assess
training course or workshop as it progresses, to find out the extent of program
implementation or to determine improvements and adjustments needed to attain the
educational objectives. Summative evaluation is a method of judging the worth of a
program at the end of the program activities [70]. It can be used to find out the extent to
which educational objectives were achieved or to help you decide whether an educational
activity or any of its parts should be revised, continued, or terminated.

While formative evaluation focuses on the process, the summative evaluation focuses on
the outcome. Formative evaluation can use focus group testing, interviews or Small
group testing. And summative evaluation can use testing, full-field studies. However,
both of them can use surveys as a tool to acquire and evaluate the user perspective
towards the system or prototype.

2.5

Summary

This chapter discussed a background of the research that did about mobile web
applications are a successful example in loan library service. That has identified the
approaches to be used for developing a Mobile web interface to help user to do his work
everywhere and every time rather than anywhere and anytime.

27

CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1

Introduction

This chapter elaborates the research methodology which is adapted from System
Development Research Methodology (SDRM).

3.2

Design Research Methodology

Scholars today believe that without system development, research has no used and
without research, development has no base [71].

However, there are numerous

methodologies available today that can be used as a guide to develop various types of
systems. As [72], methodology is used to ensure a consistent approach is applied to all
phases of a project. Methodology also facilitates project accomplishment by structuring
the related processes according to the phase defined.

The methodology for this study was adapted from the System Development Research
Methodology (SDRM) [73]. The prototype MBLLS was developed with .NET
Framework using ASP.NET 2.0 as the Integrated Development Environment (IDE).
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 was used as Database to store and retrieve all information.

The design of the prototype took into account the status quo to make moderation of a new
set of abilities and limitations brought forth by small and lower-fidelity screens, small
amounts of memory and storage, slow network connectivity, and alternative forms of
28

input. The adapted methodology as shown in Figure 3.1 consists of four phases:
Information Gathering, Prototype design, Prototype Development and Evaluation. Details
of these phases are following:

Information
Information Gathering
Gathering
design
design
Prototype
Prototype Design
Design

Prototype
Prototype Development
Development

Evaluation
Evaluation
Figure 3.1: System Development Research Methodology (SDRM)

3.2.1 Information Gathering

The first phase of the methodology involves information gathering through interviews
with librarian and some of library users. According to [72], gathering of information
could be done through direct interview. Besides that, literature survey from the available
sources such as books, proceedings, journals, white papers, reports and news are
reviewed in order to gather and collect the relevant information. Focus was given on
studies related to mobile based library loan service.

3.2.2 Prototype Design

29

3.2.3 Prototype Development

The third phase involves the development of the prototype MBLLS. The design was
translated into program code. Microsoft Visual C#.NET was used for coding. It was
completely developed with .NET Framework using ASP.NET 2.0 as Integrated
Development Environment (IDE). Microsoft SQL Server 2005 was used as the
Database to store and retrieve all information. The development of the prototype
follows the Prototyping Approach methodology.

The prototyping process comprises of three steps which are adapted from Prototyping
Process [74], as shown in Figure 3.2. Prototyping provides end users with artifacts
that allow them to gain insight into the behavior of the system before the final
delivery.
Developing
Developing Initial
Initial
Prototype
Prototype

Using
Using Prototype
Prototype

Revising
Revising &
& Enhancing
Enhancing
Prototype
Prototype
Figure 3.2: Prototyping Process

30

3.2.4 Evaluation
The last phase of the methodology is user evaluation. It was conducted to determine
users perception on the usability aspect of the MBLLS prototype. The instrument was
adapted from [75] and [76]. The instrument covers three dimensions: Usefulness, Ease
of Use and Outcome/Future Use. Study [75] concluded that the Perceived Usefulness and
Ease of Use (PUEU) is a strong correlate of user acceptance and should not be ignored by
those attempting to design or implement successful systems. All questions in the
Questionnaire are measured using the Likert Scale format ranging from 1 to 5 as in Table
3.1[77].
Table 3.1: Likert Scale Classification
Strongly
Score
Categor

Disagree

1
disagreeDisagree

Neutral

Agree

3
Neutral

Strongly
5
agree
Agree

3.2.5 Summary
This chapter discussed the methodology of the research. It was guided to develop and
evaluate the prototype. The methodology was adapted from SDRM and it includes four
steps: Information Gathering, Prototype design, Prototype Development, and Evaluation.

31

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Appendix A: Questionnaire

38