Page 62 - Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.45, 2019

YE Jiyuan / Eight major problems in the development of the librarianship in China 061

services can be provided, which are opportunities for libraries. However, the continuous growth
of funds is uncertain and the growth in funds can not catch up with the growth of price of paper
documents and databases, which are challenges for libraries. If individual person or institution
takes advantage of funds to collect data, online open access resources and build databases of
special subjects, the library’s competence will also be challenged. Meanwhile, people of diverse
disciplines (with master or doctor’s degree), notably technicians come to work in libraries, which
is better for the application of new technologies and enhancement of service abilities in special
fields. But not many of these professionals engage in basic library operations such as resource
selection, evaluation, acquisition, classification, description and report. With the introduction of
outsourcing and crowdsourcing, the situation will worsen. The library has established systems to
manage paper documents effectively, but lacks standards and systems to manage digital resources.
Few professionals are dedicated to the study of basic operations. All of the above are challenges.
Accordingly, faced with both opportunities and challenges, the library community should
recognize the has general direction of the development and clarify the positioning of the library.
As the largest place of collecting and utilizing human civilization results—paper documents at one
time, the library has played a unique role in the progress of human civilization. Without The British
Museum, Marx would not publish the Das Kapital which means that current circumstances would
not be possible. Without the foreign journals provided by the Institute of Scientific and Technical
Information of China, Academician Wang Xuan (2017) would not invent the Chinese character
laser phototypesetting technique, and the present informational society would not be possible.
In the past, the library demonstrated its unique significance. At present, the library must expand
its original base to become the center of collecting, distributing, utilizing and releasing for all
information resources including digital resources, and also for content of documents—knowledge.
In such a case, the library will be an integral component of society in the future. “Original base”
reinforces the dual tasks of libraries for the moment. On the one hand, the library should continue
its basic tasks such as lending and reference services, and improve the environment including cozy
temperature, comfortable desks and chairs, soft light and lovely ornaments. On the other hand,
connotative knowledge service, as well as diversified and customized services should also be paid
attention to. The dual tasks should be completed, especially in the underdeveloped and unbalanced
libraries. As long as the human beings is alive, social civilization results need to be inherited and
promoted, and libraries or library-like entities (no matter they are called libraries, book houses,
service platforms, information space and so on) will not perish. Even if human society was
destroyed on a large scale for a while due to man-made (such as nuclear wars) or natural (such as
celestial body clashes) disasters, human civilization would rehabilitate quickly provided that the
library still exists. Therefore, the library will play a more important part in information collecting,
processing, organizing, and utilizing and make contribution to the development of human
civilization. The library transformation is imperative and the reform is necessary, while innovative
costs, risks and effectiveness should also be factored in. As long as this direction is clarified, we