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FAN Bingsi / A review of the theory of Library Science in China: 1956-2016 015

descriptions have been abandoned and replaced by critical thinking. In constructing theoretical
systems, inner logical connections were advocated instead of piling up empirical elements, which
is helpful for the development of theoretical systems.” (W.C. Wu, 1992) In the next year, Liu Xun
and Fan Bingsi (1992) published letters suggested making an atlas for Library Science for the fear
of theoretical misunderstandings. “It is the reflection in the new century to make a atlas for Library
Science”. The atlas of Library Science was also the focus in international Library Science in the
21st century, such as American librarian D. Lankes’s The Atlas of New Librarianship. The paper
From Empirical Library Science to New Type Library Science (1993) discussed the development
and changes of Library Science in the 1980s from the aspects of sub-disciplines, theoretical
characteristics and organization (Fan,1993).

4.2 About the future of Library Science

In 1991 China won the bid for 62th IFLA Conference. After five years’ preparations, IFLA
Conference “The Challenge of Change: Libraries and Economic Development” was held in Beijing
in August, 1996. The conference and academic communications before and after it strengthened
the contact with the international community. From 1995 to 1996 Wu Jianzhong and C.R. Steele
(1995) published Dialogues about the Future of the Library which was truly up to the international
level. The dialogues involved many international library scientists such as Colin Steele, Schutz,
Patricia Ward, Takeuchi Satoru, Terry Douglas Webb, Marie-Therese Varlamoff, G.E. Gorman,
Shiomi Noboru and Michael Koenig, and also Chinese library scientists such as Zhang Qiyu
and Hou Hanqing. The dialogues dealt with theoretical foundation (future of the library), public
library services, management of library, Library Science education, library informatization,
retrieval language, etc. The dialogues demonstrated that Chinese library scientists kept abreast of
international Library Science. They realized that “the library is undergoing a revolution in which
every single part of the library is changing dramatically”. They were also thinking about challenges
that Library Science and services were faced with because of information technology. As the first
large-scale conversation between Chinese Library Science and international Library Science,
the dialogue suggested that Chinese Library Science had got rid of the communication relied on
translation. It marked that our international communication had upgraded to a higher level.

4.3 Internet information context and digital library technology

The 1990s witnessed the rapid development of the Internet. The enthusiasm for digital library had
an impact on library studies. Since the Digital Libraries Initiatives launched by the United States,
domestic research on the field gradually went in-depth, from technical issues to various aspects
related to digital libraries. Wang Bing (1998) focused on “definition of the digital library, impact of
the digital library on the traditional library, cognitive abilities in the digital era, and problems the