Page 15 - Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.45, 2019

014 Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.11, 2019

“digital divide” and reducing information poverty with the provision of more effective support and
services for the public to equitably access information and engage in social progress.

2.3 Burgeoning development of information technology

The world today is facing the advent of the third wave of informatization, with the trends towards
the integration of digitalization, networking, and intelligent technologies. Digitalization has
evolved from IT-based to data-driven development, networking has changed from the Internet
to the Internet of Things, and intelligent technologies has transformed from intelligent machines
to machine intelligence. New technologies and new equipment have consequently emerged with
computing, communication, control, and collaboration capabilities. All these are profoundly
changing people’s ways of thinking and life.
The number of global data resources is expected to reach 40ZB by 2020, and will continue
to grow at a rate of doubling every two years (Gantz & Reinsel, 2019). On the one hand, the
resources that libraries can collect and use have been greatly expanded. In particular, a great
number of investigative, statistical and scientific research data resources gradually adopt open
access, providing a more solid basis for libraries to improving legislative reference, scientific
research, and innovation and entrepreneurship services. On the other hand, network information
resources are increasingly presented in the form of data and fragmentation. Along with its multiple
and heterogeneous structure, library patrons are facing new challenges in obtaining, filtering, and
using information. Moreover, this also means higher requirements for library intelligent learning
and collaborative innovation services based on data mining, semantic association, and other
technologies.
New information dissemination models are constantly emerging, while continued upgrading are
seen in new media such as computers, mobile phones, and tablet PCs. Self-media platforms such
as Weibo and WeChat are developing at a fast pace. Audio-visual and other multimedia resources
are gaining popularity among the public and replace traditional graphic information. In 2018, the
rate of adult listening to audio books reached 26.0% (National Reading Survey Research Group
of Chinese Academy of Press and Publication, 2019); the number of online live broadcast users
amounted to 397 million; the number of online video users totaled 612 million; and the short video
usage rate surged to 78.2% (China Internet Network Information Center, 2019). Library users
have more diversified channels to obtain information, and an increasing number of users no longer
regard libraries as their first choice of information source. This change has urged libraries to face
the competition and challenges in the information service market. Library resources and services
must extend beyond the stacks of collections and local server of digital library. Libraries should
integrate more proactively into the daily working, learning and living settings of users.
The widespread application of artificial intelligence not only greatly improves social
productivity, but also accelerates the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure. More