Page 10 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2018 Vol. 43

010 Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.9, 2017

studies because they were more interested in political and ideological issues than technical ones.
The future direction proposed by Du Dingyou based on library classification techniques became a
topic of political criticism soon. Yet in the international library community, library classification
experts represented by Ranganathan advanced the theory and practice of classification greatly in
line with new requirements on classification by information retrieval and organization. The fourth
edition of Colon Classification in 1952 introduced many new classification theories such as facet
classification and basic category. The second edition of Prolegomena to Library Classification in
1957 was the most famous book in the history of library classification. It laid the foundation for
the basic principles and guidelines of modern library classification. Those achievements had not
been introduced by Liu Guojun until the end of the Cultural Revolution. In the global view, the gap
between Chinese library classification and the world was broadened instead of being narrowed.

2 1973-1978: Tough starting phase

Chinese Library Science had remained at a standstill since 1966. In practice, nonacademic
criticism had frequented since 1958 which wore down theorists’ enthusiasms. The criticisms of
well-known library scientists published in library journals could not be cleared up. In 1964 the
Journal Library (now Journal of Library Science in China) ceased publication which demonstrated
the great destructive power of nonacademic disputes in the library community. In 1966 when the
Cultural Revolution began all library journals ceased publication and so did library education.
Library scientists were forced to suspend their studies.
The standstill did not last until the end of the Cultural Revolution. In 1973 the Library Science
broke the ice. In 1972 the departments of Library Science of the Peking University and the Wuhan
University began to recruit students, which was a sign of recovery. The improvement of relationships
between the United States and China benefited the Library Science. It became an important task
to find out Library Science development in the Occident for major research institutes such as
the Library of Beijing, the Library of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the departments of Library
Science of the Peking University and the Wuhan University. Translations of development trends
in overseas libraries were published such as Liu Guojun’s Detail Specifications of MARC. Yet the
Library Science was far from flourishing. Slogans of political movements and empirical descriptions
appeared frequently in non-public library journals. However, outstanding researchers had returned to
academic issues. Anyway the atmosphere of criticisms from 1957 to 1966 disappeared.
The application of computers was a significant opportunity for librarianship and symbolized the
restart of Library Science. In 1975 in Introduction of MARC Plan and Application of Computers
in Library, Liu Guojun introduced for the first time the MARC Plan in the Library of Congress,
especially the MARC format and also discussed library automation. Computers were applied in
libraries in the late 1960s when MARC II was developed by the Library of Congress in 1969. Liu’s
attention to MARC revealed his academic acuity and responsibilities, “showing his broad vision