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FAN Bingsi / A review of the theory of Library Science in China: 1956-2016 013

as nature of the discipline”. In On the Study of Library Science in the New Times of China (1982),
Qiu Chang and Huang Xin (1982) criticized the current research status of Chinese Library Science
and pointed out that the Library Science was just at the crossroad of crisis and revolution. In On
the Crisis and Its Revolution of Chinese Library Science, Shen Jiwu and Liu Xun (1982) elaborated
on the crisis. In On Change the Direction of Library Research (1985), Zhang Xiaolin (1985)
indicated that the main direction and content of Chinese Library Science had been “organization of
library and working content and methods, which violates the objective law of cognition, restricts
our thinking and hinders the development of library research and work”. The Bulletin of the China
Society of Library Science published discussions on the paper. Because of the participation of the
Bulletin of the China Society of Library Science and Library Science Research, the criticisms on
empirical Library Science reached the climax.
Criticisms on empirical Library Science in the 1980s were similar to criticisms of the Chicago
School on Dewey’s empirical Library Science in the 1930s. Eventually Chinese librarians
completed the process which was interrupted by wars and political movements. Only was it a
pity that the Chicago School was not only based on abstract ideas but also field study. However
Chinese Library Science only inherited the former.

3.3 Foundation of new type Library Science

Criticisms on empirical Library Science led to reform of values and study methods of Library
Science. A new type Library Science guided by modern scientific spirits was gradually founded.
A long progress as it was, it was noticeable in the late 1980s. The reform had four characteristics:
from empirical descriptions to scientific spirits, from micro to macro field, from critical research to
building research, from unitary to a diversified theoretical structure. In the progress in the 1980s,
the development and reform in theoretical foundation of Library Science, resource construction
and information retrieval language were more typical.
In the theoretical foundation of Library Science, scholars explored new theoretical foundation
and systems in the diversified structure instead of keeping on criticizing empirical Library
Science or complaining about current status of the discipline. For example, in 1985 Mi Hao and
Huang Chunyuan published Knowledge Communication and Science of Communication: on
Building of Theoretical Foundation of Library Science and created knowledge communication
theory. In knowledge communication theory, “the nature of library activities lies in social
knowledge communication.” “In the process of knowledge communication, users are objects
of communication, collections are medium and librarians are organizers and mediators. The
processing of the library can be seen as the process of knowledge arrangement for the purpose
of communication”(Huang, 1998). Mi Hao and some others compiled the Principles of Library
Science based on the structure of knowledge communication, which made the theory more
complete.