Page 40 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2018 Vol. 44

XIA Lixin, BAI Yang & ZHANG Xinyi / Integration and reconstruction: A new development pattern of the smart library 039

why we should build a smart library or what is the smart library. Nevertheless, the smart library is
not only a specific form of library pursued by the current academic and industry. From the essence
of the library knowledge service, the smart library is a development concept that the library needs
to adhere to for a long time. Its focus should be on how to provide pragmatic knowledge service
based on users’ needs, thereby condensing and inspiring intelligence. Therefore, based on the
analysis of the history and current situation of the library, this paper will explore the smartness
of the library and how to integrate the various elements of the library to activate the library’s
capabilities of smart service. Based on this, the paper will reconstruct the service model of smart
library, and provide ideas and references for the overall positioning and development strategy of
the smart library.

1 “Change” and “invariability” in the transformation of library knowledge
service

The library transitions from the collection of books in the ancient library (the initial form of the
library), to the modern library as a reading space and a document center, and to the digital library
providing a full range of media resources as well as the library in the network environment
providing knowledge service conveniently. The transition has witnessed the development process
of libraries providing users with increasingly rich knowledge services in their space. The changes
in the form of library services are inseparable from the development of society and the progress of
science and technology behind it, especially the digital technology. It not only affects the changes
of the basic functions of libraries and the diversification of services, but also provides necessary
guidance and support for the innovation of library ideas and the upgrading of services so that
library services continue to evolve and develop. At the same time, the form and content of users’
knowledge demand is also changing as the time changes, thus the library is required to make
changes accordingly to avoid the decline. However, the development planning of the library should
be based on the practical needs of users. The internal needs of users in the social environment are
pivotal to the application of library technology and external value. Therefore, before discussing
the form of the smart library, we should first deconstruct the history of the library, and make clear
what the dilemma of the contemporary circumstances of the library brings to users to acquire
knowledge, so as to clarify how the library should adapt to the changes.
In the historical development, libraries have to accept and respond to the opportunities and
challenges brought by various new technologies. The application of new technologies has solved
many bottlenecks in library development and helped libraries to upgrade themselves. In fact, many
changes experienced by libraries, such as technological and service changes are caused by the
fact that the “unchanged” library’s inherent core needs to adapt to new reforms. Therefore, it is
necessary to follow the historical path of library reforms to find the core ideology of library which
has not changed so far. Only by discussing the form of the smart library on the basis of these ideas