Abstract

Libraries have embraced many technological developments in their daily operations to improve their efficiency and fulfill their mission of serving the community by collecting and providing information sources and knowledge. Librarians now perform many of their tasks through platforms and applications specifically developed or adapted to meet the needs of libraries and their users. Consequently, the traditional focus on library automation is gradually evolving toward the concept of smart libraries. An important transitional step in this transformation is the use of robots, either as tools for automation or as intelligent work assistants. In this article, we present the first research attempt to record, analyze, and evaluate the level of maturity that libraries in Greece demonstrate in adopting robots in their activities. To conduct this research, we carried out a study involving 63 Greek libraries across various sectors. The findings indicate that although Greek librarians initially maintain a somewhat skeptical attitude toward robots, they are nevertheless willing to adopt the technological advances that robotics can bring to library services. This study advances the literature by incorporating inferential statistical analysis to demonstrate that library size significantly influences technological readiness, highlighting structural inequalities in the transition toward robotics in library environments.