Page 26 - Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.47, 2021

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KE Ping / Ideological system of library science in China: abstraction, core and value 025

library and its objects—books, otherwise it is not library science.
The understanding of objects in Chinese library science started from books. To incorporate the
origin and development of books and libraries into the cultural category gave birth to the idea of
book culture. The idea was represented in the NIU Hong’s “five misfortunes” in the Sui Dynasty
(in Request for Presenting Books) and QIU Jun’s “searching for books” in the Ming Dynasty (in
Book Collection and Searching for Lost Books). It was also embodied in the architectural concepts
and collection activities of ancient libraries. In modern times, this idea developed from fully
understanding the value of books’ and library’s role in cultural preservation to emphasizing the
cultural attribute of books and libraries, considering books and libraries as a cultural phenomenon.
In the upsurge of research of the book history and the library history in recent years, the
study of the history of library science has attracted extensive attention, and the problem of
the disconnection among histories of the book, the library and the library science has been set
forth. It is imperative to unify the three histories with book culture as the core, which is of great
significance to re-understand the relationship among the book, the library and the library science
as well as the essence of the library. In respect of the essence of the library, although the two
rounds of discussions of basic library theories in the 1960s and 1980s failed to solve the problem
fundamentally, two cognitive paths were established. The first one was to understand the essence of
library science and libraries in light of book culture, and the other one is to understand the essence
beyond materials in light of the development of library practice and library science. The two paths
shared the common ground: the object of library science was focused on document delivery or
knowledge exchange, which brought forth the idea of communication in Chinese library science.
In the two rounds of discussions, the “theory of librarianship” and the “theory of library” were
widely accepted because books as the object were more concrete. The “theory of librarianship”
was rooted in ancient Chinese concept of national collection and integrated the theory of essential
[17]
elements. Influenced by the library science in Soviet Union to some extent, especially Lenin’s
view of librarianship [18] , it stressed the integrity of the library and society, particularly the
importance of libraries in cultural, educational and scientific undertakings. As a major advocate of
the theory, WU Weici defined “the librarianship and related factors” as the object of library science
in his book Introduction to Library Science (1985 edition, 2002 revised edition and 2008 revised
edition) [19] . He inherited and developed LIU Guojun’s view of librarianship and elements. WU
Weici introduced the concept of “intermediary”, which considered that the essential attribute of the
library was as an intermediary. “Library is an intermediary institution.” “The library’s sociality,
dependence and academic nature are derived from its intermediary role.” As it established the
[20]
model of “library—books—users” and regarded the library as an intermediary to help people to
communicate indirectly with books, the concept of intermediary is parallel to document exchange
or document dissemination in some sense. The “theory of library” originated from the theories
of essential elements and contradictions. As an influential advocate of the theory, HUANG
Zongzhong held the view that the library was the center of book reservation and delivery. “The