Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the role of users' mental models as a key cognitive factor in technology acceptance of academic library systems at Shahid Madani University of Azerbaijan.
Method: This research is applied in purpose and descriptive-survey of correlational type in data collection method. The statistical population included all students of Shahid Madani University of Azerbaijan in the academic year 2025-2026, totaling 8,429 students. Ultimately, 364 students participated in this study. Research instruments included two questionnaires: the Users' Mental Model Assessment Questionnaire and the Technology Acceptance Questionnaire based on TAM. Content validity was confirmed by 12 experts using CVR and CVI indices, and reliability was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Data were analyzed using SPSS software.
Findings: Results showed that the mean of overall mental models (3.38) and technology acceptance (3.78) were both above the theoretical average (3). The highest mean among mental model dimensions was for "social and cultural influences" (3.73), while "perception of search logic and system architecture" had the lowest mean (3.11). Among TAM components, "perceived usefulness" (4.01) had the highest and "perceived ease of use" (3.40) had the lowest mean. The five dimensions of mental models together explained 40.1% of the variance in technology acceptance. "Social and cultural influences" had the strongest positive effect, while "compatibility with research and educational needs" had a negative effect on technology acceptance.
Conclusions: This study demonstrated that users' mental models play a determining role in technology acceptance of academic library systems, and TAM as a motivational-cognitive framework needs to be complemented by mental models as a cognitive-interpretive framework. Social and cultural influences were identified as the most important dimension of mental models in explaining technology acceptance, indicating the socio-cultural nature of technology acceptance in Iranian academic libraries.