Page 42 - Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.47, 2021

XIAO Ximing & SHEN Ling / The historical development and contemporary construction 041
of the framework of fundamental theory of library science with Chinese characteristics

of China that “we shall develop China’s library science” . This has been a “centenary issue”
[2]
for the Chinese library community. In nearly a hundred years, generations of Chinese library
practitioners have been making relentless efforts in developing “China’s Library Science”, which
definitely includes the fundamental theoretical system of Chinese library science. Nevertheless,
this journey of exploration has been exceptionally complicated and arduous, which are due to
several factors. First, the external conditions are not favorable for Chinese librarianship in quite
a long period of time, and vicissitudes of the historical eras also affect its development. Second,
library professionals inevitably fall into visionary limitations due to historical reasons. Therefore,
the objective of building “China’s library science”, including its fundamental theoretical system,
remains a mission yet to be fulfilled.
To date, after over 40 years of reform and opening-up, particularly since the start of the 21st
century, Chinese librarianship has overall entered a brand new era. Not only has the development
gap been narrowed down with the rest of the world, but in many aspects China has reached or even
takes the leading role in international librarianship. In areas of theoretical research, Chinese library
professionals have achieved many innovative research outcomes, vividly narrating and interpreting
the “China Story” of library science with original concepts, theoretical categories and discourse
system. Therefore, the external conditions are well-established for exploring and building a
fundamental theoretical system of library science with Chinese features.
On the basis of briefly reviewing the historical process of the indigenization of the fundamental
theoretical system of library science in China, this paper analyzes the distinctive features of the
fundamental theoretical system of library science with Chinese characteristics, discusses its core
values, and attempts to build a fundamental theoretical framework and explores the approaches in
developing a fundamental theoretical system.

1 Exploration of the fundamental theory of library science with Chinese
characteristics

The late 19th and early 20th century saw the introduction of library science into China as a result
of the dissemination of Western culture and academic thoughts in China. In 1920, the Boone
Library School was established and consequently a library science curriculum system was built.
This marks the creation of library science as a subject in China. Ever since then, the fundamental
theory of library science has been making explorations along with the social changes and progress
of librarianship. The three development stages: 1909-1949, 1949-1978, 1978-. each with
distinctive features, have witnessed the indigenization of the fundamental theory of library science
in China.