Page 69 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2018 Vol. 43

XIAO Ximing / The interaction between Library Science Education and the society in China over the past century 069

and information technologies to serve people and society. On account of the disciplinary
integration under the guidance of this idea, the advocates of iSchools are different from the
traditional LIS schools as well as the technology-oriented ones, such as School of Computer
Science and School of Information Engineering. Such disciplinary integration has provided LIS
with a unique disciplinary system and a distinctive educational system, and it also opens up new
vistas for the LIS education under the new information environment.
ISchools has soon caught the attention within the domestic educational circle of Library Science.
Chinese professionals have accepted the idea of iSchools and tried to learn from other countries,
adjusting and reforming the system and content of the LSE courses. The iSchools movement
aims to integrate all the traditional information-related disciplines, including Library Science,
information science, computer science, and communication technology, by figuring out their
common features, and then integrate them into a large group of disciplines (Ye, 2007). The original
intention of the iSchool movement was not “de-librarization”, namely playing down the role of
libraries. However, reviewing the operation of domestic and international iSchools in the past few
years, it can be seen that, there is an obvious tendency of “de-librarization” in the institutional
naming, curriculum setting, and academic research (Xiao, Q. Li, & Q.Y. Liu, 2017). In fact, the
characteristics and advantages of iSchools lie in that, they not only lay emphasis on information
and technology, but also attach greater importance to the “human being” in the information-related
studies; iSchools combine the humanistic tradition and value rationality of Library Science. If
iSchools play down the role of libraries, then their characteristics and advantages will no longer
exist. Hence, LSE should properly deal with the relation between “dynamism” and “stability”,
when integrated into the iSchool movement and the information discipline group. What should
be changed are those outdated concepts, modes and teaching content of education. Conversely,
what should remain unchanged are the core theories and methods of collecting, organizing,
storing, searching, spreading and utilizing knowledge and information, which are summarized and
accumulated by Library Science over years, as well as LSE’s humanistic tradition that is inherited
generation after generation. Only in this way can China’s LSE remains vigorous and prosperous in
its journey into the second century on the basis of a centennial history.

References

Chen, C.F., Chen, Y., Si, L., Ran, C. J., & Feng, C.Y. (2017). Forty years of development and innovation:
postgraduate education of Library and Information Science in China (我国图书情报研究生学位授权“四
个十年”研究). Journal of Library Science in China (中国图书馆学报) (1),17-28.
Chen, C.F., Wu, G., Tang, Q., Sun, K., & Yu, Y. (2008). The development of Chinese Library and Information
Sciences education in the 30 years after the Reform and Opening-up (改革开放三十年我国图书情报学教
育的发展). Documentation, Information & Knowledge (图书情报知识),(5),5-14.
Cheng, H.W. (2002). The library spirit beyond time and space: Ms. Mary Elizabeth Wood, Mr. Shen Zurong