Page 77 - Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.47, 2021

076 Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.13, 2021

science, public security, military, security, national defense and other fields. There are nearly 100
master’s programs (including programs providing academic degrees) on information science,
doctoral programs on information science (secondary discipline code 120502) in 13 universities,
and doctoral programs on military information science (secondary discipline code 110504)
in 3 universities [12] . Every year, thousands of graduates with master’s and doctoral degrees on
information science are employed in various sectors and industries. The discipline of information
science has embarked on the road of rapid development.

1.3 Opportunities to accelerate the development of the discipline system, academic
system and discourse system of information science with Chinese characteristics

Information science is an applied discipline, which is an interdisciplinary and practical one that
covers various sectors and industries, as well as research fields. Driven by the new technologies
in the new context of the new era, and the needs of national security and development strategy,
information science is presented with great opportunities for development. It has become a trend
to build the discipline system, academic system, and discourse system of information science with
Chinese characteristics. And it has become a consensus in the academia to establish a macroscopic
intelligence system oriented to national security and development. The theories and approaches
of information science that result from the changes of the times need to be innovated. The core
discourse of the discipline filled with information science knowledge is expected to play a greater
role in national security and development strategies.
Although the discipline of information science in China is still young, its concepts have a quite
long history. As early as ancient times in China, military works such as Sun Tzu’s Art of War, Six
Arts of War (Liu Tao), Thirty Six Strategies, and Art of Espionage (Jian Shu), which are rich with
thoughts on information with Chinese characteristics, were written. Although these thoughts are
not clearly expressed in the theories of information science, many of them have influenced the
theoretical research and practical exploration of information science and work on information in
China imperceptibly. As a result, we are in a favorable condition to absorb these thoughts and apply
them on the basis of the feature of the new era, technological development, needs of the nation and
existing information theories to build an academic system of information science with Chinese
characteristics. Information science in China has been branded with Chinese characteristics since
the day it was born. After continuous development and changes, it is still closely related to the
needs of the nation, scientific and technological development, social needs and national security.
Today, information science and work on information have penetrated into all sectors and industries
and numerous research fields. The concepts of macroscopic intelligence and the development of
the discipline of information science have created conditions for accelerating the construction of
the discipline system of information science with Chinese characteristics in the new era. Many
ideas of serving a variety of industries with information are in place, including “leading science