**3. Review planning and research methodology**

#### **3.1 The systematic literature review (SLR)**

A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted to find out what other researchers found about the smart library seat occupancy and reservation systems. A SLR concentrates on an analysis of several investigations within a particular field of research [38]. It is also a method for locating, analyzing, and synthesizing all data pertinent to a specific research question, topic, or phenomenon of interest [39]. Additionally, SLR is an approach that streamlines the steps involved in compiling, categorizing, and rating literature in a review area [40, 41]. Based on the goal of this investigation, which is to identify relevant results in current research and make recommendations for future research, a systematic review was deemed appropriate in this study [42]. Systematic reviews are becoming more and more prevalent across all disciplines and in sectors that combine IT and Academia [43]. Professionals and academics utilize systematic reviews to keep current in their disciplines, as a foundation for creating technology guidelines that can be applied to other sectors such as libraries [44]. It is therefore utilized as a tool for finding, assessing and interpreting research pertinent to a certain research issue or an area of interest. By highlighting gaps and outlining potential research subjects, a systematic review can considerably advance our understanding of a certain field of study [45]. Researchers that use this strategy must follow the principles and recommendations of systematic reviews [39]. The systematic review will be highly efficient if it is started utilizing a strategy to find, pick, and evaluate the pertinent literature [46]. According to Boell and Cecez-Kecmanovic [47], the systematic procedure should be rigorous, clear, objective, and repeatable.

The structured methodology Watson [48] suggested, which explicitly lays out the procedures and techniques for literature searching, provides the foundation for this systematic review. The process of a systematic review protocol consists of the following phases: planning, execution, and reporting. During the planning stage, rules and

criteria are implemented, such as determining the necessity of a systematic review, creating a categorization framework, formulating research questions, and formulating research methodologies. The execution process covers the methods of identifying a trustworthy data source for the research questions; conducting a search strategy; conducting the study process; choosing pertinent primary studies (using inclusion and exclusion criteria); evaluating the quality of the studies; and extracting the data. This research's reporting phase comprised categorization of the chosen articles and discussion of the findings. **Figure 2** describes the procedures, regulations, and standards followed for this systematic review.

In research a systematic review finds, groups, synthesizes a comparative approach of enquiry, and promotes information transfer [38]. To achieve this, the researcher reviewed existing research papers, articles, book chapters and journals related to this topic. The questions for the research determining the emphasis and the paper's objectives are listed. Then, an SLR approach is used, which entails planning, carrying out, and recording the issue at hand. This section provides a summary of the planning and conducting phases that were used to carry out this. Finally, the study clearly explains the procedure for reviewing the data and protocol.
