Page 32 - Journal of Library Science in China 2020 Vol.46

LI Yuhai, JIN Zhe, LI Jiahui & LI Jue / Five questions in the construction of smart library in China 031

standards, business specifications (X. L. ZHANG, ZENG, LI, FENG, & W. LIU, 2002) and
development mode, and provided guidance to the practice of digital library construction. In the
education of library science, the subjects of literature acquisition, machine readable catalog,
network catalog, database, bibliographic control, digital library theory and practice, as well as
bibliometrics, information organization and embedded disciplinary services are included in the
curriculum, so that the education is closely combined with the practice of library construction and
leads the direction of disciplinary development.
In recent years, as the construction of smart library has received widespread attention, research
on the concept has been expanded from the initial definition and characteristics to technologies
and services. However, scholars have not yet addressed many of the core issues related to it. From
the perspective of academic research, the theoretical studies of smart library at this stage should
focus on exploring the effective response to the impact of the application of new approaches, new
technologies and new business processes in the library field as follows.
First, reengineering of business processes in the smart library context. The application of new
technologies and new scenarios will raise new demands for the theories and approaches of resource
development, acquisition process, cataloging process, service mode, and the layout of library
space. Nowadays, robots and the Internet of Things have been applied to libraries, enabling the
library to provide “book to people” self-help book loan services, and carry out automatic shelving
and shifting of books according to a variety of classification strategies. These new techniques and
approaches are not entirely compatible with the existing theories in the application process, which
urges researchers to explore new shelving and arrangement approaches. In addition, the theoretical
research of smart library should also focus on the exploration of smart services, personalized
recommendations and other emerging business processes supported by new technologies such
as cloud computing and big data, and put user experience as a priority. These changes will bring
about the reengineering of the internal business process of the library, which requires theoretical
exploration and guidance for the practice of construction.
Second, the relationship of library and library science with data analysis and data science.
The library owns massive data, including a large amount of authoritative data generated in the
digitization of the library’s collections; data collected on various topics and in various carriers
through different channels; government open data and scientific data that are shared and jointly
collected with government departments and relevant scientific research institutions; and big data
generated by the perception, calculation and implementation feedback functions of the smart
library. How to integrate these data, mine, calculate and analyze them, and provide users with
smart data services and knowledge services is a question that needs to be carefully studied in the
theories of library science.
Third, the cultivation of librarians. With the application of new technologies and products in
the library, the nature and content of the work of librarians will change. In addition to increasing
librarians’ awareness for innovation, libraries should also focus on cultivating smart librarians. At