Innovating Library Services: Co-Creation, Experimentation, and Enhanced Business Value Tool for Technological Advancements

ABSTRACT

This article provides entrepreneurs with information about library services and investigates the function of an Enhanced Business Value Calculator in identifying patrons who may be interested in participating in co-creation-driven experimental technology adoptions in libraries. By identifying the most productive users, the librarian could invite them to participate in the co-creation process, which results in more collaborative and knowledge-based technology experimentations. Patrons (high-performing users and their peers) actively participate in the design, execution, and post-experimentation phases of the experimentation process continuously through co-creation. Ongoing participation increases patron engagement, transforming patrons into library evangelists who support cooperative trials that result in novel services. The article culminates in a case study that shows how the public libraries in collaboration with the university library strategically experimented with ChatGPT to see if it might be used for its systematic literature review services for the entrepreneurs.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic libraries
• artificial intelligence
• co-creation process
• curiosity-based experimentation
• enhanced business value calculator
• entrepreneurship
• public libraries
• strategic technology adoptions

Institutional review board statement

The conducted study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Gisma University of Applied Sciences, Potsdam, Germany under protocol number 02/2023.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research is funded by the European Union’s Horizon research and innovation program (Project ID: 101061516, Project Acronym: LibrarIN). The paper was also co-funded by the Faculty Research and Innovation Grant of Gisma University of Applied Sciences, Potsdam, Germany (Project ID: RGVG_02, Project Acronym: DIGEnt). This publication solely reflects the views of the authors, and the funding agencies cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

Notes on contributors

Varun Gupta

Varun Gupta received his Doctorate (cum laude) in Organizational Engineering, Doctorate (International/European Doctorate, Cum Lade) in Economics and Business Management, as well as in Computer Science and Engineering. He also earned his MBA (General), Máster en Dirección Internacional de Empresas, Master of Technology (By Research) in Computer Science & Engineering, and Bachelor of Technology (Hons.) in Computer Science & Engineering. He is a Professor of Digital Innovation and Head of the Multidisciplinary Research Centre for Innovations in SMEs (MrciS) at Gisma University of Applied Sciences, Potsdam, Germany. He is also a researcher at Universidad de Alcalá (Spain). Previously, he was associated with University of Toronto (Canada), Leicester University (United Kingdom), Software Engineering Research Group (SERG), Lund University (Sweden), Sapienza Università di Roma (Italy), Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (Italy), University of South-Eastern Norway (Norway), Poznań University of Technology (Poland), Uniwersytet Szczeciński (Poland). Prof. Gupta is an Associate Editor of IEEE Access (an SCIE-indexed publication of IEEE), PeerJ Computer Science (an SCIE-indexed publication of PeerJ), and the International Journal of Computer Aided Engineering & Technology (a Scopus-indexed publication of Inderscience Publishers). He is a former editorial team member of the British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET) (an SCIE-indexed publication of Wiley), PLOS One (an SCIE-indexed publication of PLOS), and the Journal of Cases on Information Technology (ESCI and Scopus-indexed publication of IGI Global). Prof. Gupta has worked on multiple projects supported by various agencies such as the European Union and the Spanish National Programme. His areas of interest include evidence-based software engineering, innovation management, digital transformations and innovation, technology adoption in SMEs, entrepreneurship, and international business management.