Page 29 - Journal of Library Science in China 2020 Vol.46

028 Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.12, 2020

display the detailed information of the books and their position on the shelves on the touch screen
in the form of a digital map, so as to guide readers to find the shelves (Aguilar-Moreno, Montoliu-
Colaás, & Torres-Sospedra, 2016). The Kadir Has University of Turkey has designed a smart
library seat reservation system to display the distribution of available seats in the library, so that
readers can reserve seats through the system. The sound and temperature sensor data in the library
provide reference for readers to select areas, and also help administrators monitor and control the
environment in the library (Arsan, 2016).
The construction strategy of smart library should be in line with its own specific state of
development and local conditions. So it is necessary to adopt construction strategies that are
suitable for the real contexts. In the process of building a smart library, each library should
understand its own strategy and the necessary stages of construction, clarify the general idea and
basic processes, strictly implement the strategy once formulated, and make timely adjustment to
it, so as to ensure the library understands and sticks to its goals, and avoids detours. On the other
hand, it is also necessary to find a breakthrough point at the business level in the smart construction
and complete smart transformation of the digital library as soon as possible.

4 Cooperation needed for the construction of the smart library

Under the influence of economic globalization and information integration, the construction
and development of smart library should not be carried out by the library alone, but rely on the
collective efforts and complementary advantages of multiple parties. The following three forms of
cooperation are suggested.
First, cooperation between libraries within different networks and from different regions.
Public libraries, university libraries, professional libraries or other types of libraries in different
regions, based on cooperation agreements, alliance provisions, norms and standards, shall carry
out vertical cooperation in resource sharing, innovation of service modes and improvement of
management efficiency through technologies and platforms. The most typical cooperation mode
in practice is library alliance. The concept of library alliance first appeared in the United States
in the 1930s, and the most representative one was the “Triangle Research Libraries Network”
in North Carolina (Bostick, 2001). After decades of development, library alliances have been
established in different countries. In 1997, representatives of library alliances from all over the
world established the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) in Denver of the
United States (YAN, 2005). Currently, we also have dozens of university library alliances in
China, including the China Academic Digital Library Alliance and the National Consortium of
Normal University Libraries in China (S. J. XU, DU, C. LIU, & J. WANG, 2017); public library
alliances, such as the National Lectures Alliance of Public Libraries and the National Library
Alliance of Cultural Creative Products Development; as well as the National Libraries Reference
Alliance and the National Libraries Accessible Information Service Alliance. We also have cross-