The Construction and Development of Academic Library Digital Special Subject Databases

One important component of digital academic library construction is to sort out the unique or rare resources from academic institutions by digitalizing and organizing them by themes. Building special subject databases is an important sub-project under CALIS. Throughout the continued construction and development of Phases I, II and III, a large number of special subject databases have been built. These databases are not only important digital resources that strengthen discipline development, but they are also rich special data resources of digital libraries for higher education in China. By reviewing the development path of the CALIS Special Subject Collection, this chapter will cover the management mechanism, technical platform, standards, social benefits, and philosophy behind it.

Scholarly Learning Commons

First, this chapter analyzes the theoretical research on the effects of Scholarly Learning Commons (SLC) in China from the perspectives of concept, instance analysis, and ideas for construction. The results can be summarized in the following three stages of SLC development in China: preliminarily integrated stage, double fusion stage, and highly integrated stage. With this structure and the concept of being “user-centered,” this chapter concludes that Chinese academic libraries mainly adopt two methods of building an SLC: independent construction by libraries, and joint construction with other units of the university. Finally, this chapter demonstrates construction strategies, elements, and service in SLCs, and it shows five typical cases of SLC construction in Chinese academic libraries.

The China Academic Social Sciences and Humanities Library (CASHL)

In 2004, the Ministry of Education of China started the construction of the China Academic Social Sciences and Humanities Library (CASHL). CASHL is composed of 17 university libraries in mainland China, receiving its primary funding from government support. As the only collection with full subject coverage of the humanities and social sciences in China, CASHL's process of development was cause for wide scale interest, and many research articles were published on this topic nationally and internationally. Throughout a decade of development, CASHL has formed unique characteristics in resource sharing, collaborative acquisition, and more. This chapter gives a detailed introduction to the origin, structure, and primary services of CASHL, as well as the implementation of collaborative innovation within the service. It can be seen as an exploration of CASHL's more than ten years of development through a research perspective. Furthermore, the author also describes some obstacles and challenges CASHL is now facing, and shares some considerations about future development strategies.

Resource Sharing and Mutually Beneficial Cooperation

Beilun Library is a joint-use college/public library in Ningbo of Zhejiang Province. Beginning with the location background and functional layout of Beilun Library, the author elaborates upon its management mode of “a balance of centralization and decentralization,” as well as its achievements. Meanwhile, the article presents the development vision of Beilun Library and further explores the mutual management mechanism on team development, digital resource sharing, co-construction of special collection, and management innovation.

A Bibliometric Analysis of Research and Services in Chinese Academic Libraries

This paper analyzes the years of publication, authors and their institutions, journal titles, and keywords of research papers relevant to academic libraries published in the 18 core journals of library and information science, which were downloaded from the full-text database of the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). The purpose of this paper is to discover the distribution of the research subjects, hot topics in library and information research, and development trends in the age of big data.

Library and Information Science Education and Graduate Programs in Academic Libraries

In academic libraries, there are two main types of education activities: information literacy, serving all university students and staff, and graduate education, focusing on LIS students. Academic libraries bear the responsibility of teaching information literacy to university students and staff, so the libraries develop a variety of training programs to help them with literature retrieval and resource utilization in order to improve their academic abilities. The first library to offer graduate education in library and information science independently was Shanghai Jiaotong University, which received authorization to offer an information science master's degree in 1996. In 2003, academic libraries began to offer graduate education and library and information science training more widely. After ten years, academic libraries had developed their own graduate education and training experience as distinct from LIS schools. This chapter investigates and analyzes academic library web portals in terms of education patterns, fields of study, entrance examination subjects, and curriculum.

Digital Libraries in the Western Region of China

The rapid technological development of the 21st century brought with it the rise of the digital library, which has become a global trend in university libraries. This chapter examines the construction and development of university digital libraries in western China. By investigating the current samples, consisting of 100 universities in the region, we try to reveal problems which arise during the construction process and discuss the future directions of university digital libraries in western China.

The China Academic Library and Information System (CALIS)

The China Academic Library and Information System (CALIS), approved by the State Council and headed by the Ministry of Education, is a public service system within “Project 211”. It is also a nationwide academic library resource sharing consortium. CALIS has as its goal the integration of academic library resources and services, and the development of higher educational digital libraries, so that it can consistently serve both higher education and basic education and promote global academic communication. CALIS plans to accomplish these goals by means of advanced technology based on the resources and services of member libraries, information service institutions, education and research institutions, and various information service websites.

Leadership Development and Career Planning

Academic libraries are in an increasingly complex and dynamic social environment. This necessitates an outward development model that focuses on the various ways academic libraries need to adapt to these changes. The trend of development in higher education has led to rapid growth of digital and internet resources, large-scale application of various technologies, and new subject integration or differentiation. These trends constantly change patrons' relationship with information, so academic libraries should be open-minded, far-sighted, and creative, building stronger leadership and development agendas. To accomplish this, librarians must also be equipped to adapt to these changes. This chapter will introduce the trends of development in higher education and academic libraries and will explain the necessity of leadership development in responding to the change. By reforming management philosophy and structure, human resources, teamwork, and capability enhancement, academic libraries can turn passive into active, becoming patron-oriented, innovative, flexible, and far-sighted.

Library Buildings on New Campuses

In the 21st century, with increasing enrollment in higher education, the government invests more in education. However, discordance between population growth and land use has become more intense during city development, and land for campuses has become limited. Thus, in order to seek for better natural environment and larger space, university campuses are compelled to shift to suburbs. Suburbanization is the main trend of universities; most colleges and universities nationwide start building their new campuses in the outskirts of cities. To meet faculty and student needs for teaching, learning, research, and literature on new campuses, and to perform better in assessments of educational administrative departments, a new round of library construction boomed. Of course, economic growth and technological development provide strong material foundation and technical support for the construction of academic libraries.