Page 61 - Journal of Library Science in China 2020 Vol.46

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

house” and exhibited the library’s collection on the stairway to promote digital resources. Another
librarian provided curbside delivery service for users to drive to the gate of the library to get their
resources (Luo, 2020).

4 Answer: Developing professional connotations of the librarianship in the
new era

The article surveyed the professional actions of libraries in the battle against the COVID-19,
which shows that libraries and the library field have changed. Libraries do not fight alone.They
cooperate with other libraries and stakeholders in the library ecosystem, which equips libraries
with more resources, product systems and service abilities. The IFLA noted as the pandemic
spread globally, “our industry partners—publishers, vendors, suppliers—will work with us to
provide the necessary assurances to allow libraries to continue to provide access to information
and culture” (“COVID-19 and the global library field”, 2020). As the dust clears, we need to
follow social demands and the current trend, uphold the right position and innovate to further
develop new professional connotations. We should make the library a more active institution and
librarians more proactive to lead partners, fulfill the advantages of the library ecosystem, and
enhance the degree of dominance and visibility, providing better and more comprehensive services
for users. The library will not lose its value and significance as long as it clings to the public and
society.
Because of the aforementioned, the author’s answer to the raised question is that the librarian
should 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.We should focus on these roles,
cultivate librarians’ abilities and literacy in an all-around way, and find the way out of the
deprofessionalization situation.

4.1 To be the active respondent to major social events

Discussions were held on whether librarians should actively participate in social agendas at
home and abroad. Through the pandemic, we believe that nowadays if we do not participate in
major social events, our voices will not be heard, the degree of dominance will decrease and the
profession will even be marginalized. Only when our values are displayed in major social events
can the librarianship be acknowledged by the state, society and the public, which is much more
meaningful than writing papers, books and reflection essays. In the popular slogan, we should “live
in a shared world, and face the shared destiny”.