Students’ Perceptions of Academic Library Social Media: Examining Perceived Usefulness and Ease of Use
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24191/mg1vaj28Keywords:
academic library, social media, students perception, technology acceptance modelAbstract
Academic libraries increasingly use social media to communicate with students, promote services, and disseminate information. However, maintaining a social media presence does not necessarily lead to regular student engagement. This study examined students’ perceptions of academic library social media among Faculty of Business and Accountancy students at Universiti Selangor (UNISEL) Shah Alam Campus. Guided by the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the study focused on Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU). A quantitative cross-sectional survey involving 224 students was conducted using a structured questionnaire, and the data were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics through descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, and multiple linear regression. TikTok (77.7%) and Instagram (64.3%) were the most frequently used platforms. Despite high general social media use, 56.3% of respondents did not follow an academic library social media account, while 46.9% spent less than five minutes per session viewing library content. Respondents generally perceived academic library social media positively, with PU recording the highest mean (M = 4.03, SD = 0.73), followed by Students’ Perceptions (M = 3.98, SD = 0.82) and PEOU (M = 3.88, SD = 0.77). The regression model explained 58.0% of the variance in Students’ Perceptions. Both PU (β = .381, p < .001) and PEOU (β = .444, p < .001) were significant positive predictors, with PEOU emerging as the stronger predictor. The findings highlight the importance of useful, accessible, and user-friendly social media content in strengthening student engagement with academic libraries
References
Abu, R., Setiawati, L., Agustina, S., Ramadhan, S. Y., & Khoerunnisa, L. (2025). Exploring the impact of social media usage towards mental health among university student in Malaysia. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 8(3), 6354–6362
Adetayo, A. J., Adeleke, O. A., Adekunmisi, A. A., & Alawiye, M. K. (2023). Technology usage of off-campus undergraduates for library social media engagement. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, 35(3), 207–221. https://doi.org/10.1080/1941126X.2023.2224676
Akpojotor, L. O., & Okonkwo, I. N. (2024). Use of social media by Library and Information Science students. International Journal of Knowledge Dissemination, 5(1), 77–89. https://doi.org/10.70118/ijkd.02040501.8
Alang Achik, S. N. A., & Abdul Kadir, M. R. (2022). The relationship between social media marketing and academic library service quality. Journal of Information and Knowledge Management, 12(2), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.24191/jikm.v12i2.5817
Al-Rahmi, A. M., Shamsuddin, A., Wahab, E., Al-Rahmi, W. M., Alismaiel, O. A., & Crawford, J. (2022). Social media usage and acceptance in higher education: A structural equation model. Frontiers in Education, 7, 964456. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.964456
Chan, T. T. W., Lam, A. H. C., & Ho, K. K. W. (2020). From Facebook to Instagram: Exploring user engagement in an academic library. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 46(6), 102229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2020.102229
Cheng, W. W. H., Lam, E. T. H., & Chiu, D. K. W. (2020). Social media as a platform in academic library marketing: A comparative study. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 46(5), 102188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2020.102188
Davis, F. D. (1989). Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. MIS Quarterly, 13(3), 319–340. https://doi.org/10.2307/249008
Drivas, I., & Vraimaki, E. (2024). Unveiling the feed: Academic libraries’ Instagram unpacked. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 50(5), 102924. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2024.102924
Ihejirika, K. T., Goulding, A., & Calvert, P. J. (2021). Do they “like” the library? Undergraduate students’ awareness, attitudes, and inclination to engage with library social media. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 47(6), 102451. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2021.102451
Lam, A. H. C., Ho, K. K. W., & Chiu, D. K. W. (2023). Instagram for student learning and library promotions: A quantitative study using the 5E instructional model. Aslib Journal of Information Management, 75(1), 112–130. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-12-2021-0389
Mensah, M., & Onyancha, O. B. (2021). A social media strategy for academic libraries. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 47(6), 102462. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2021.102462
Scherer, R., Siddiq, F., & Tondeur, J. (2019). The technology acceptance model (TAM): A meta-analytic structural equation modeling approach to explaining teachers’ adoption of digital technology in education. Computers & Education, 128, 13–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2018.09.009
Young, S. W. H., Rossmann, D., & Craanen, K. (2022). A long article about short videos: A content analysis of U.S. academic libraries’ use of TikTok. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 48(6), 102611. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2022.102611
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Nur Syafiqah Sonny, Roziya Abu, Fara Nur Izwana Ismail

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright of articles that appear in the journal belongs exclusively to Faculty of Information Science, Universiti Teknologi MARA (Publisher). This copyright covers the rights to reproduce the article, including reprints, electronic reproductions or any other reproductions of similar nature.







