Page 32 - 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 031

which is the dialectic relationship between books and users in library science.
Library science can be categorized as ancient library science and modern library science by time
periods, theoretical library science and applied library science by objectives, and micro library
science and macro library science by scope, that is, from micro and macro perspectives. How is the
book-centered idea reflected in the micro and macro library science?
From the perspective of micro library science, the micro research generally concentrates on the
library and the framework of basic elements—“books & people”. The framework is demonstrated
in the library as follows: all work in the library is centered on “collection-organization-
dissemination-utilization” of books; the value chain is centered on books; the subject is people
(librarians) and the object is for people (users); the whole chain of collection, organization,
dissemination and utilization by librarians is for users; utilization is intended for users; users utilize
facilities of the library and their ultimate objective is to utilize books.
The library as a system or organism, involves elements such as resources, space, facilities,
librarians, users, service, technology, management, environment and activities such as
development planning, resource acquisition, resource processing, resource distribution, resource
services, information service and knowledge service, user education, service marketing, service
management. These elements and activities have their values which decide how to combine
various elements and organize various activities. Inheriting the thought of essential elements, a
new theory of three essential elements emerged in contemporary library science. Although there
are different viewpoints about the three elements such as “resource, service and management” ,
[34]
[35]
“resource, service and technology” , and “space, resource and service” , they all put resources
[36]
and service in an important position. In terms of resource construction, from emphasis on size
and quantity to structure and quality of resources, from only printed resources to both printed and
digital resources, from resources collection to resource planning and evaluation, views such as
[37]
“resource as the king” arose, whose value is book centered. In terms of service, as early as in the
1950s, there were slogans of “looking for books for readers” and “looking for readers for books”,
which transformed passive service of “waiting for readers to borrow books” to active service of
“sending books to readers”. The access channels of “books to readers” and “readers to books” were
established. Nowadays, users become more and more important. What do they want? How would
the library provide service? User service would fail without the book-centered value. A library
without books is not a library in essence, and a library without high-quality books cannot be a
good library. In library management, the management of buildings, facilities, funds and personnel
is of course important, but is not comparable to that of books/resources. Only by setting up the
book-centered value and giving it the first priority over other elements can library management be
elevated to science and art. The book-centered value should guide the library work of “resource
construction as the foundation, user service as the goal and scientific management as the means”,
which will lead to the fulfillment of the goal and mission of the library.
From the perspective of macro library science, the macro research generally concentrates on the