Page 54 - 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 053

exist without the society in which people live. While satisfying the needs of users, the library
should also regard the society’s demand for knowledge as its responsibility, accept social tasks
actively, and contribute to society with its knowledge and smartness. In the current social
environment, smart libraries should shoulder social responsibilities in the four areas.
1) Support community and urban construction. People are the soul of the city, and the city exists
because of people. The library supports community and urban construction, which indirectly
supports people’s development under the people-oriented concept. For example, the Kansas
City Public Library in the United States cooperates with local health organizations to provide
health care courses and food health knowledge for health problems in communities with poor
economic conditions (Berry, 2017); the Daqing Oilfield Library continues to pay attention to the
dissemination of the culture of the oilfield, and adjusts the service strategy at any time according to
the development of the enterprise to meet the ever-changing needs of scientific research, personnel
training, etc. (Ye, 2017). It can be concluded from these cases that the expansion of library services
to cities is a broader dissemination and utilization of smart services.
2) Support the development of the industry sector. With the help of existing knowledge
integration advantages, the library cooperates with institutions in the industry field to fulfill the
smart mission in the application of knowledge. The DA2I report released by IFLA in 2017 pointed
out that libraries could support innovation in agriculture, health, social equity and other fields
through active information sharing and creation, and cooperation with other social organizations,
and share some successful cases (IFLA, 2017). Therefore, the library has much leeway in
providing smart support for the development of the industry.
3) Support national development strategies. The national strategy is related to the future of
the country and every citizen. The library should provide strong smart support in history, policy
formulation and cultural communication with the help of knowledge resources. Director Wu
Jianzhong (2016) pointed out at the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Gansu Provincial
Library that participating in the “Belt and Road” Initiative was not only an important mission
of the library, but also a great opportunity. It could promote mutual understanding and social
development exchanges between countries and regions along the route through various knowledge
and cultural exchange activities. Therefore, as an innovative origin of intelligence, the library
should participate in the country’s construction and contribute to the two hundred-year grand goals.
4) Support the inheritance and development of human culture. Culture is the product of social
practice. As a spiritual force, it supports human intelligence activities, so libraries have an
obligation to protect and spread human culture. In July 2017, the Ministry of Culture of the PRC
issued the National Public Library Development Plan during the 13th Five-Year Plan, which
requires that the library should make full use of the advanced knowledge of library resources to
spread the advanced culture, develop and utilize the traditional literature, and develop cultural
and creative products (The Ministry of Culture, 2017). Therefore, libraries should use advanced
technology to fully display the essence and laws of cultural heritage, and attract users to participate