Page 36 - 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 035

[46]
application of human records” . In a sense, it is an auxiliary discipline of modern science.
Firstly, books are the carrier of knowledge. They are not only results of scientific research
but also the raw materials and tools on which scientific research depends. Scientific research is
innovative labor based on previous achievements, and its characteristic of inheriting determines
the significant value of books. The library is the memorizer of human beings, the common brain
of society, as well as the repository and logistical support of knowledge and science. The book-
centered idea preserves the record of the whole process of scientific development and promotes the
positive interaction between scientific record and research.
Secondly, serving science is both a key function and a key mission of the library. From the
perspective of the law of scientific development and the nature of library, “library is a scientific
undertaking” [47] . “The library is the only tool for academic research in the process of cultural
progress” [48] . Under the guidance of the ideological system of Chinese library science, library
science has strengthened the research of scientific information and established scientific
bibliography. In practice, the library collects and sorts out core works and periodicals of various
subjects, integrates information in repository and on internet. It guarantees scientific research
through information retrieval, subject navigation and subject service. Library science provides
tools and methods such as bibliometrics, citation analysis, content analysis and knowledge map,
and thus has methodological value for scientific research.
Thirdly, there was no such specialized subject as history of science or scienology in ancient
times. Bibliography and library science assumed the function of history of science in a certain
sense. The ideological system of Chinese library science attaches great importance to the
emergence and development of science. The idea of “distinguishing to show the scholarship,
researching to define the origin” can guide not only the construction of the history of various
disciplines but also the history of science and scientology at present.
Fourthly, classification in Chinese library science is of great significance to modern scientific
classification. The ideas of seeking books by categories and studying disciplines according to
books can reveal the changes of scientific classification and the relationship between science
and documents. In today’s knowledge world, how to deal with the integration and division of
disciplines is the main problem concerned by the academic circle. Under the new circumstances of
big science and interdiscipline at present, the problem of scientific classification can be solved by
referring to the idea of “classification is similar to military regulations”.

4 Conclusions

Chinese library science was conceived and born in the development of ancient Chinese civilization
and culture. It experienced long-term experience accumulation and summarization, and thus the
theoretical system came into being. In this process, the History of the Imperial Library—the first
book about library science in the world was completed [12]56 . The idea of book collecting reflected