Page 166 - Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.45, 2019

165
Extended English abstracts of articles published in the Chinese edition of Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.45, 2019 165

Disciplinary construction of rare books’ preservation and conservation

〇a ∗
YAO Boyue & ZHOU Yujiao
Since the official implementation of China Rare Books Preservation Project in 2007, great
achievements have been made in the preservation and conservation of rare books. However, for
the lack of specialized talents to be engaged in rare books’ preservation and conservation, there
is a long way to go to train enough talents to cater the realistic demands, and accordingly the
disciplinary construction of rare books’ preservation and conservation has become the focus of
academic circles. Under the advocacy and guidance of the National Center for the Preservation
and Conservation of Rare Books, more than a dozen universities and colleges have been offering
special education in Chinese rare books’ preservation and conservation. Up to now, a three-in-one
talent training model for rare books’ preservation and conservation has been established, in which
colleges and universities, training bases, and training institutes join together. At present, colleges
and universities have been playing a key role in the talent cultivation for rare books’ preservation
and conservation. Fudan University, Sun Yat-sen University, Graduate School of Chinese Academy
of Social Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, Jinling Institute of Technology, Nanjing University
of the Arts, and some other colleges and universities, together with Nanjing Mochou Vocational
School, have been exploring in the talent cultivation for rare books’ preservation and conservation,
ranging from vocational school to graduate school and under different disciplines like Library and
Information Science, Cultural Relics and Museology, etc. With a view to domestic and foreign
disciplinary construction and talent cultivation of rare books’ preservation and conservation, it
is clear that it is necessary to construct an independent discipline of rare books’ preservation and
conservation. There has been a consensus on the construction of an independent discipline of rare
books’ preservation and conservation, but there are still different viewpoints of its disciplinary
attributes. Thus, the disciplinary category of rare books’ preservation and conservation is the key
question to be further discussed. The paper holds that it is of great significance to strengthen the
disciplinary construction of rare books’ preservation and conservation, and rare books’ preservation
and conservation should become an independent discipline in the future. A theoretical framework
of rare books’ preservation and conservation should be proposed, and basic theoretical questions
such as its nature and definition, objects, type and scope, contents, methods, and aims should be
clarified. Besides, it is necessary to grasp the key points of the disciplinary construction of rare
books’ preservation and conservation, that is, to clarify its objectives, methods, research directions,
curriculum, teaching materials, laboratories and training bases. In view of the dilemma caused by
the lack of an independent discipline, it is our near-term goal to establish a second-level discipline
of rare books’ preservation and conservation to meet the practical needs. With its development
in the future, rare books’ preservation and conservation could become a first-level discipline

* Correspondence should be addressed to YAO Boyue, Email: yaoby1963@163.com, ORCID: 0000-0001-7807-7516