Page 51 - Journal of Library Science in China 2020 Vol.46

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

Inquiring into and reflecting on library professionalism

in the new era: Taking Wuhan public libraries’ anti-
pandemic practice as an example

LI Jingxia & LI Zhenwu 〇 〇a*
Wuhan Library, Wuhan 430070, China

Abstract
Library professionalism is a key factor in ensuring the sustainability of the librarianship. With the
development and transformation of the librarianship in the new era, a new professionalism in libraries
is urgently needed. Taking the practice of libraries during the prevention and control of the COVID-19
pandemic as an entry point, the article examines the professional performance of libraries in Wuhan
in the fight against the pandemic from three aspects: professional library system, professional library
services and professional library resources. The article further broadens the scope of observation to
include the fight against the pandemic in libraries in China and worldwide to reveal the libraries’
professionalism in terms of responsiveness, resource availability, long-term planning and responsive
thinking. The author answers the question of the professionalism of libraries in the new era by
pursuing and thinking about the question in the anti-pandemic practice. The author believes that
librarians should play a more active and proactive role to be an active respondent to major social
events, the leader of the library ecosystem, the professional promoter of reading, an information
enabler bridging the information divide, and a firm practitioner of service innovation and lifelong
learning.

Keywords
Library professionalism, Libraries in Wuhan, COVID-19, Anti-pandemic practice

At the end of 2019, the outbreak of the COVID-19 made a major impact on industries including
the library. During that time it had become the primary task for the library to fight against the
pandemic. In the process, we have encountered with a critical issue: what is the value of the library
at this special moment? Could the library play a professional and irreplaceable role?
Hard times are passing by. In retrospect, actions of libraries during the pandemic not only
demonstrated their professional values of “providing accurate information and bridging the
information divide”, “supplying reading resources for spiritual release” and the like, but also
served as a special window of observing for us to examine and reflect on the significant issue—the
professionalism of the library.
This article takes public libraries in Wuhan as the central case, and also involves professional
actions of the library field in China and the world in fighting against the pandemic. It explores the

* Correspondence should be addressed to LI Zhenwu，Email：libraryzhenwu@126.com，ORCID：0000-0002-3833-081X.