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038 Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.10, 2018

Z.R. 2013). These library visions put forward by librarians in different historical eras had played
important guiding roles in the development of library science and library practice since then. In
the current social environment, the Internet information is extremely rich and open sharing has
become a mainstream trend, providing a great convenience for users to acquire information. On
the other hand, the development of intelligent technology makes the machine more aware of users’
interests and needs, which could recommend accurate information service to users based on their
behavioral records. In this context, many academics and professionals have proposed the future
direction of libraries, such as “Compound Library” (Sutton, 1996), “Data Library” (Tan, 2016),
“Intelligent Library” (Chen, 2006), “Smart Library” (Wang, 2011), and so on. Among them, the
“Smart Library” has witnessed a sharp increase in academic research and discussions in recent
years. A large number of related articles were published and seminars were held (L.Luo, Yang,&
Zhou, 2017; China Library Weekly, 2017).
The concept of the smart library expresses the desire of librarians to use advanced technology
to provide users with convenient services. The concept is proposed timely in the context of
the rich knowledge resources, which is helpful for libraries to make further contribution to the
idea of “people-oriented” development. Current research and discussion on building a “smart
library” centers on “how to do”, mostly focusing on how to use advanced intelligent technology
to facilitate the users’ access to resources. But would the application of smart technology really
make the library smart? Many librarians give positive response. Their basic logic of being
smart is that: the application of intelligent technology to libraries could save users from some
unpleasant and complex knowledge acquisition experience, which is more convenient and user-
friendly to users. However, there are three main problems in this idea. Firstly, the emphasis of the
library on the application of intelligent technology is not called smart library, which is only the
construction requirement of the intelligent library. Wang Shiwei (2017) once made a definition
of the two concepts, and believed that the level of the smart library should be higher than that of
the intelligent library. The smart library should be integrated into the idea of green development
and benefaction to people, and apply all-around smart considerations of intelligent technology.
Secondly, the discussion of the smart library is not based on the status quo of the library, and is
not aimed at solving the existing problems and dilemmas. Actually, it is a vision of what an ideal
smart library would be like, disconnected from reality. Thirdly, the discussion of the smart library
did not penetrate into the essence of being smart. Practically, it failed to explain theoretically how
the library could activate the function of smartness in knowledge service. And the discussion also
failed to conduct in-depth study of theoretical basics, and only made some suggestions which were
not really helpful. Moreover, advanced intelligent technology may fall behind in a few years. The
idea of building a smart library with intelligent technology as its core may also retreat in a few
years. Then how to permanently maintain and develop a smart library in the true sense?
Therefore, the smart service of the library cannot be limited to the smart technology application,
but also should have a broader connotation and practical significance. Research seldom explores