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

“instrumental rationality” to represent an idea that science and technology come above everything
(J. Zhao, 2000). Value rationality means that people make use of their own cognitive ability and
knowledge to pursue their ultimate goals of value. Value rationality does not exclude utilitarian
ends, with no opposition to meeting people’s immediate needs, but it focuses more on the human’s
long-term needs, caring how to make human survive, develop, and improve in a better way.
In LSE, instrumental rationality is mainly shown as the excessive pursuit of education’s
utilitarianism, maintaining that education is purely a means of seeking jobs for students. Such
rationality is reflected by the technology-orientation and technolatry in the setting and design of
curriculum and teaching content. Specialized courses and theory teaching concerning Library
Science have been marginalized, while computer-related courses become the core courses. It
is suggested by value rationality that LSE should also pay attention to people’s comprehensive
development and the long-term needs and focus on how to improve students’ overall quality
and innovative ability. Therefore, when designing curriculum and teaching content, we should
emphasize on broad application and solid foundation, which means that students not only learn
technologies and skills but also have a command of theories, and more importantly, they should
know how to serve the humankind by using various technologies and tools under the theoretical
guidance (Xiao, 2004). Instrumental and value rationalities are correlated with the reliance and
dependence of education. LSE’s reliance is likely to cause instrumental rationality, while its
independence helps LSE try to maintain the dominance of value rationality. Therefore, LSE is
devoted to realizing the unification and harmony between instrumental and value rationality. In the
education of Library Science, we should lay equal stress on technology education and humanity
education and attach equal significance to the education of both basic theories and working
knowledge. The talents cultivated in this way are required to have a good command of the modern
technologies and methods regarding library, and more importantly, have a profound understanding
of the core values of library. Only such comprehensively developed talents can meet the needs of
social development in the long term.

5.3 The unity between dynamism and stability in LSE

Against the increasingly fierce tide of social informationization, it is an irresistible trend for
LSE to make changes. Remaining unchanged or making untimely changes will lead to the final
breakdown, which can be shown by the closure of those renowned educational institutions of
Library and Information Science, such as the School of Library Science at the University of
Columbia and the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Chicago. It is
exactly due to such awareness of crisis that a number of famous LIS educational institutions in
America launched the iSchool movement in the early 21st century, whose goal was to integrate
the education of all information-related disciplines. iSchool is devoted to exploring the interaction
between information, technology and human, with emphasis laid on the application of information