Page 177 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2018 Vol. 43

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Extended English abstracts of articles published in the Chinese edition of Journal of Library Science in China 2017 Vol.43 177

No. 4

Library transformation and potential risks
CHEN Chuanfu〇 & CHEN Yi
〇a*
Changes of social information environment have brought both new opportunities and challenges
to the development of libraries. To deal with the new information environment and preserve
the traditional value of libraries, transformation has been a common trend for libraries all over
the world. Transformation risks mainly come from the uncertainties caused by the changes
of the library organizational structure, service and management, and business process. The
specific manifestations are as follows: low transformation efficiency causes resource wastage;
high transformation cost makes it difficult for transformation practice to advance deeper; low
transformation revenues lack continuous impetus; transformation culture is inconsistent with
the traditional value of libraries. The author divides the transformation risks into five aspects:
investment, operation, technology, policy and value. The study finds that the transformation
risks have the characteristics of universality, foreseeability, and evolution. The main reason is
that transformation risks of library are widespread in all kinds of library transformation practices
at different stages. It is possible to grasp the operating law of such risk from a macroscopic
perspective according to a large number of statistical data in a specific scope during a certain
period of time, and different risk elements, which are correlated with each other in a dynamic
way, have continued to evolve. The author warns these risks and suggests to control risks through
environmental prospect. Before transformation, a library should first control environmental factors,
master the trends of technological evolution and changes of the behavior of user information
demand, and at the same time, the cultivation of librarians and talents should be adjusted and
improved according to the environment. Libraries should optimize governance migration risks
and absorb more social forces to participate in library governance and the common service
system to form a new flat governance system. Business innovation reduces risks, simplifies the
business process and improves working efficiency. It is required not only to reorganize business
process based on the diversified information demands in the digital era but also to innovate the
corresponding work methods and service contents. Proper systems should be built to avoid risks,
and the legal status of libraries should be made clear, and the copyright and privacy issues should
be carefully dealt with during the process of transformation.

* Correspondence should be addressed to CHEN Chuanfu, Email: cfchen@whu.edu.cn, ORCID: 0000-0003-1163-7691