Purpose: The delivery of information services in higher education is increasingly relying on Web-based systems. The low adoption and underutilization of information systems have been major problems for developing countries such as Pakistan in terms of realizing their full benefits. This study aims to investigate factors affecting student use of Allama Iqbal Open University’s (AIOU) Web-based services by using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) from the perspective of Pakistani distance education. Design/methodology/approach: This study has adopted quantitative research design with the UTAUT model as a theoretical framework. A self-completion structured questionnaire-based survey has been administered to 388 master’s level students, selected through systematic sampling from the target population. The response rate was 82 per cent (318). All statistical tests have been performed using IBM SPSS (version 20.0) and Process macro for SPSS. Findings: Findings of the model’s hypotheses reveal that performance expectancy, effort expectancy and social influence are significant predictors of student behavioural intention to use AIOU Web-based services, whereas actual student use is dependent on facilitating conditions and student behavioural intention to use. The impact of moderating variables with respect to age, gender and experience did not influence the actual use of the Web services. However, the research model significantly measured (62.1 per cent) the actual use of AIOU Web-based services by the students. Research limitations/implications: This study is delimited to the UTAUT model to investigate the phenomena. Besides this, the context of the study is the voluntary instead of mandatory usage of Web services. A study conducted in mandatory settings, in which students are bound to use Web services, may have different results. Originality/value: This is the first attempt to apply the UTAUT model to investigate the factors affecting student use of Web-based services from the perspective of distance education and the findings prove strong support for the model.

This study aims to synthesise the findings of research on Internet of Things (IoTs) adoption and use in libraries. This systematic literature review is based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method and comprises publications in the five world-renowned databases. The libraries adopted IoTs for saving time, enhance performance and efficiency, improve the quality of services, and ease in collection accessibility. This study identified various IoTs-based practices including auto-notification of circulation tasks, inventory management, tracing users’ data from virtual/physical card, user tracking and self-guided virtual tour of library. To adopt and use IoTs, libraries faced several challenges such as security and privacy, cost, lack of standards and policy, require highly integrated environment, and lack of management interest. The critical IoTs adoption and usage factors as well as various challenges identified would provide valuable insights to library professionals to design state-of-the-art smart technologies drive services.

Purpose: Universities across the globe are spending an increasing amount of their budgets to offer web-based services to cater information need especially off-campus students. However, the success of web-based services depends on how well the target users are satisfied with the use of the web services. The purpose of this paper is to assess students’ satisfaction with the use of the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) web-based services.Design/methodology/approach: Pilot tested questionnaire-based survey was administered to collect data from a sample of 388; selected through systematic sampling technique from the study’s population consisted of master level students belonged to 11 different academic departments of the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at the AIOU from all over Pakistan.Findings: Based on 318 useful questionnaires, response rate 82 percent, the results show that majority of the students were satisfied with the use of at the AIOU web-based services except for online mailing books tracking system, library web OPAC and web radio service. However,t-test analysis shows that no difference was found in the opinion of male and female respondents in terms of their satisfaction with the use of the web services. ANOVA results indicate that there was no significant difference depicted in satisfaction with the use of the web services among the respondents enrolled in different disciplines of the faculty. Similarly, no significant difference was found among different age groups. Moreover, the respondents belonging to all five provinces; Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Baluchistan, Gilgit Baltistan, and Federal Capital territory showed the same level of satisfaction with the use of the services. The results of regression analysis (R²=0.226) denote that both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use significantly predicted, 22.6 percent, in students’ satisfaction with the use the web services.Practical implications: The study provides valuable recommendations which may be helpful for web administration of the university to improve AIOU web-based services.Originality/value: To the best knowledge, this is the first study conducted to investigate the satisfaction with the use of the university web-based services in distance education’s perspective of Pakistan.