Page 232 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2018 Vol. 42

Extended English abstracts of articles published in the Chinese edition of Journal of Library Science in China 2016 Vol.42 231

The author used “Social Networking” or “SNS” or “Facebook” or “Twitter” or “Myspace” and
“Library” or “Libraries” as keywords to retrieve the literature in foreign databases such as Web
of Science、LISTA、Emerald etc. and on the Internet. Meanwhile, the author also used “Social
Networking” or “SNS”, and “library” or “renren” or “microblog” or “wechat” as keywords to
retrieve the Chinese articles in CNKI databases.
Through using content analysis and inductive methods, the author reviews the research progress
from seven aspects:SNS application advantages in the library, library-centered case studies, library
using SNS to provide services, attitudes of users using SNS, libraries and librarians survey, and
evaluation of SNS services, problems in SNS applications.
The research is trying to gain a deeper understanding of the achievements and limitations of
social networking applied in the field of Library and Information Science, and to predict the
future research directions. Through literature review, the author gets the following conclusions:
1) On the time dimension, SNS have been applied earlier in foreign libraries, but developed
faster in China; 2) In the practical application dimension,SNS are used widely at home
and abroad. According to the survey, the majority of the American library websites applied
SNS as regular service and the feature of the modern library. In China, social networking
technology application developed rapidly and attracted more attentions in recent years, but
the quality of library services applied the technology were uneven; 3) On the theoretical
research dimensions,the number of theoretical researches is less in abroad than in China. In
abroad the study object is one-fold (centralized on Facebook), but the research level is higher,
mainly for there are diverse research topics and empirical researches. In China, the researchers
more emphasize the macro-theoretical discussion. The research topics are relatively resemble
and lack strong empirical research articles; 4) On the social networking application attitude
dimensions in the library, compared with foreign countries, we lack research articles about
user’s attitudes on using SNS, libraries and librarians attitudes on SNS. These indicate that
the application of a new technology abroad is relatively rational. Through understanding the
acceptance of the new technology by the related people, the libraries can cope timely with
the problems caused by new technologies. This has important reference value to the related
researches and practice in China.
Combined with the trend of SNS technology and the characteristics of the library, the author
thinks that future research should include library crisis management of SNS, information literacy,
SNS evaluation and sustainable development. It should be recognized that SNS is the technical
means to expand the service of the library, but not the objective. The library should return to the
value rationality of the service from the technical rationality.