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

paper is a methodological exploration of LIS theories.

Professional terminology, a description of the practice and the concept
structure: Some thoughts concerning contemporary library activities
〇a*
WANG Zongyi〇
Following the development of computer information management and network communication
technology, major changes emerged in the contemporary library research field. Although a
quick disappearance was predicted, libraries are still flourishing all around the world. However,
research in the Library Science decreased over the time and there was also a decrease in the use
of traditional library terminology in professional publications. As the same time, terms used in
Computer Science, Information Science, Sociology, Psychology, as well as in General Education
and Political Science became more prevalent in the library’s professional publications.
The value of the modern library’s existence resides in improving the usage of society’s research
resources. It reflects the basic theory of the society’s marketing economy: using minimal resource
input to reach maximum benefit in resource utilization. As long as there’s no fundamental change
in the form of social activities, this theory is suitable for all fields and activities in the society.
The main functions modern libraries perform include the following: systematically collecting
resource materials, collecting external and internal features of the resource format for collection
management, and using various methods to arrange and organize the collected information. It is
only after all these steps are systematically completed that the library can provide its service. The
level that various libraries are able to organize and manage information determines the level of
service these libraries can provide.
To librarians, the concept of “literature” originally meant the traditional books, gradually the
concept evolved to cover all written materials in paper format. With the development of digital
storing methods of “literature”, terms with much broader definitions such as “information”
“knowledge” “resource” started to become mainstream terms used in the material management
activities in the library. Hence the focus in professional research was gradually lost.
All contents in literature are contained in groups of specially defined coding information. People
use special coding information to record their daily life, social and scientific activities, and then
transfer it to physical media in order to exchange ideas in society and preserve knowledge for
future generation. Literature is the physical media that records the coding information. Coding
information includes not only the written language of all nationalities but also the non-language
formats, such as picture, sound and visual formats that carry meaningful contents. Once one
mastered the rules and regulations of coding information, one is able to read through that material

* Correspondence should be addressed to WANG Zongyi, Email: 13661944561@163.com, ORCID: 0000-0002-0225-3613