INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
In its several thousand years of social progress, China has put continuous efforts on cultural development, which to a certain extent contributed to the exploitation and utilization of information resources.
Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the government has been attaching great importance to information resources development. In 1956, the government set “Marching Towards Science” as the directing principle for the course of information resources management, and made a conscientious plan in information resources development with the emphasis on collecting, rearranging, analyzing, indexing, and reporting scientific and technical documents from home and abroad to serve the needs of professionals in various disciplines. By 1987, the scientific and technical information sector alone had already possessed 26,000 foreign periodicals, 6,000 domestic periodicals, 120 million patent manuals, and more than 32 million topics. There were 236 abstracting and indexing journals published annually, covering more than 1.2 million documents and articles. Further, there were 2,038 public libraries at county and higher levels, collecting more than 200 million topics. There were 745 academic libraries, collecting 250 million topics. There were also more than 4,000 libraries in research institutes (Guan, 1988).
In late 1980s and early 1990s, however, information resources development was affected by the readjusting of China’s economy. Non-profit libraries and information service institutions suffered from a severe shortage of money for collection development. As a result, information resources development was captured in severe logjam or even retrogress. Types of document collections in some libraries dropped by a half or even two-thirds (Fu, 1996). Many abstracting and indexing journals stopped publication. On the other hand, some new abstracting and indexing journals emerged, along with bibliographical databases, which catered to market demand.
Under the promotion of the international information technology revolution, China has been experiencing an upsurge in information development since the last decade of the 20th century. Information infrastructure construction keeps a rapid pace in development. The ownership of telephone, cellar phone, and computer has been increasing steadily. The overall scale of China’s information infrastructure in terms of network capacity and number of users now ranks first in the world.On the other side, however, information resources development is lagging far behind. The lack of information, especially Chinese information, in networks and information systems influences the benefit of investment in information technology, which has become a major obstacle not only to China’s informationalization drive, but also to the competitiveness of Chinese economy.
Since the mid-1990s, under the promotion of the tide of information superhighway construction in many countries, information resources development in China entered a new phase. In 1997, the Chinese government constituted the “Draft on China’s Informationalization,” drawing the outline of China’s information infrastructure (Zou, 1997), which includes six elements: information resource, national information network, information technology (IT) application, information industry, information professional, and information policy code and standard.
Information resource was set as the primary element among the six, which showed the state’s emphasis on its development. This also indicated that people once again realized the importance of information resources development. Several years later, the proposal was accepted as a part of China’s tenth “five-year plan,” which marked that information resources development became the central task of China’s informationalization drive.
The concept “information resources development” used in this item refers to collection, processing, organization, and dissemination of document resources, as well as their digitalization and networking. Factual and data resources ought to be included in the concept. However,
China’s progress in these aspects is relatively slow. In recent years, people started to realize the importance of factual and data resources development. The departments concerned have started to work out a plan for constructing the National Data Center.
MAJOR INITIATIVES IN CHINA’S INFORMATION RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
Under the guidance of the policies introduced in the last section, the Chinese government initiated several major information resources development projects to change the current situation of inconsistency between information resources development and information network construction, as well as to lessen the discrepancy between information resources available and those required by the public.
CALIS (China Academic Library and Information System)
CALIS is an initiative under China’s plan to build 100 key universities in the 21st century (named “211 Project” by the Ministry of Education). It aims at constructing a networked information resources sharing system based on the China Education and Research Network (CERNET) so as to parallel the development of a communication network and an information resources network, and provide university faculty and students as well as professionals in research institutions with easy access to a national information service system characterized by abundant information resources, advanced technologies, and a convenient service system.
The service system consists of a CALIS national management center, four CALIS national information centers (covering sciences and social sciences, engineering, agricultural science, and medical science, respectively), and seven CALIS regional information centers (in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Xi’an, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Changchun, respectively). The system will also be linked to major information service systems outside China to form China’s Academic Library and Information System. The construction of CALIS will greatly increase the amount of information available to academic libraries and also improve their capability in information services (data from www.calis.edu.cn).
Digitalization Projects
The China Digital Library Project was carried out under the coordination of the Ministry of Culture. In July 1997, the National Library of China (then Beijing Library), together with Shanghai Library and a few other institutions, started the Chinese Pilot Digital Library Project (CPDLP). Later in 1998, the Ministry of Culture formally put forward the proposal of constructing the China Digital Library. Various enterprises and organizations—such as China Telecom, the National Library of China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Aerospace Industrial Corporation, Peking University, and Tsinghua University— participated in the project, called the China Digital Library Project.
As for the achievements of the project, it was expected that some 20 resource databases would be made available on the “China Cultural Information Network,” which included the China Medical Science Resource Database, China Tourism Resource Database, China Economic Resource Information Database, among others. The network will become a significant channel of spreading the Chinese culture and strongly support China’s project of “rejuvenating the nation through science and education” (Xu, 1999, 2000; Sun, 1999).
Besides the China Digital Library Project, various other digital library projects were also carried out. The construction of the Chinese National Science Digital Library (CSDL) was started in late 2001. The project, as part of the Knowledge Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, aims to build a digital information service system that meets the international developing trends of digital libraries, and caters to the development of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It should be able to serve the needs of researchers and professionals in information accessing and knowledge innovation when it is finished in three to four years’ time (Zhang, 2002).
In China’s Taiwan Province, eight digital library initiatives are currently under way, including the construction of a Digital Library and Information Center and building of the Haoran Digital Library at Jiaotong University. Objectives of the initiatives are to promote information exchange among learning and research institutions in Taiwan, and coordinate their purchase of information resources such as databases from foreign countries. Another objective is to promote the research on Chinese culture, especially on Chinese history (Lv, 1999).
There are also digitalization projects other than construction of digital libraries. In January 1999, the Geology Department of the Chinese Academy of Sciences raised to the State Council a proposal on strategies of China’s “Digital Globe” development, indicating the importance of building a national global information infrastructure and establishing a digital global spatial information sharing system (Information Industry Newspaper, November 22, 1999). In November 1999, the first “Digital Globe” International Conference was held in Beijing, showing that the Chinese government attached great importance to international cooperation in this area (China Computer World, December 6, 1999).
Construction of the China National Science and Technology Library (NSTL)
In June 2000, the China National Science and Technology Library was formally established through the cooperation of China’s Ministry of Science and Technology, State Committee of Economics and Trade, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. As a virtual scientific and technical resource center, it consists of eight library and information institutions, including the Library of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Engineering Library of China, Library of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Library of the Chinese Academy of Medical Science, and Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China. The center utilizes advanced technologies and methods to collect information from domestic and foreign sources. It also makes standards and criteria in information sharing. Moreover, the center serves as a bridge of cooperation between Chinese information resources management professionals and their foreign counterparts (Yuan, 2001).
Special-Topic Information Resources Development
Government Information Resources Development—China Online Government Project
On January 22, 1999, the China Online Government Project Start-Up Conference was held in Beijing, sponsored by China Telecom and the State Economic and Trade Commission, together with the information sectors of more than 40 ministries. During the conference, the China Online Government Project was started. Subsequently, the main Web site of the China Government Portal, www.gov.cn, was established in 1999.
According to the “White Paper on China Online Government Project,” accessed through the portal, the project refers to the practice by the government at all levels to establish their formal Web sites to promote office automation in government work, offer public services via the Internet, and fulfill the roles of management and service in the fields of society, economy, and social life.
Patent Information Resources Development
Patent information is an essential part of a country’s technical information resources. To meet the users’ requirement of searching and utilizing patent information, China Patent InfoNet was established by the Retrieving and Consulting Center under the State Intellectual Property Office in May 1998. In January 2002, its new version (www.patent.com.cn) was published online and started to offer to patent users and researchers comprehensive services, such as patent information retrieval, introduction of patent laws and regulations, guidelines for patent application.
Construction of the National Institute for Information Resources Management
Three national research centers for information resources management have recently been set up in Beijing, Nanjing, and Wuhan to promote research on theories, applications, policies, and technologies in IRM, affiliated to the Department of Information Management of Peking University, Department of Information Management of Nanjing University, and School of Information Management of Wuhan University.
INITIAL IMPACT OF SOME INITIATIVES CALIS
Started in November 1998, CALIS completed its first phase of construction by the end of 2001. Currently, the system can provide an online public access catalog, interlibrary loan (ILL), Internet navigation, online cataloging, cooperative literature purchasing, and various other services through digitalization of information resources, networking of information services, and cooperation among participating academic libraries. As a result, universities and colleges in China now possess information resources greatly, more than ever before: the variety of foreign periodicals increased by one-third, 95% of the Chinese literature and 80% of the foreign literature are now available, and more than 100 academic libraries offer 24-hour online information services. In addition, 25 distinctive databases and 194 disciplinary navigation databases are built.
In its second phase of construction starting from 2002, CALIS aims to further strengthen the document-supporting ability of academic libraries. It plans to automate and network about 1,000 academic libraries, among which 100 will be completely automated and networked, becoming the backbones in information resource sharing. Some 20 academic libraries will be developed into digital library bases, acting as the kernels of information service systems and distributing centers of information resources. Besides, digitalized information resources imported from foreign countries are expected to cover all subject areas, while domestic information resources will be as much as several Tera Bytes (Zhu, 2001).
China Digital Library Project and NSTL Construction
Construction of the China Digital Library and the National Science and Technology Library have been advancing smoothly. In April 1999, the China Cultural Information Net started operation as the top level of the China Digital Library. In November 1999 and February 2000 respectively, the Capital Library and China Radio International (CRI) became experimental units of the China Digital Library Project. It should include information resources not only from libraries, but also from the government, even from international channels. The ultimate goal of the project is to build a “Digital China.”
The National Culture Information Resources Sharing Project has been carried out. The culture information resources base composed of 40 multimedia resource bases has included 300 films, 132 local operas, 300,000 pictures, and nearly 100 lectures. All resources have been published through Web pages to allow access for people in rural and remote areas.
The initiative of building the National Science and Technology Library is near conclusion. Through two years of construction, participating libraries now collect more than 16,000 types of foreign scientific and technical literature (including periodicals, conference proceedings, technical reports, etc.), as compared to no more than 4,000 types in 1996. Some 6.5 million bibliographical records had been put online by the end of March 2002, and this number is expected to increase at a rate of two million per year. The network service system provides 24-hour, free secondary literature retrieval service to Internet users. In March 2002 alone, 1.37 million users visited the system, as compared to 150,000 when the system was started in January 2001. More than 60,000 users have received full-text document service.
Development of Commercial Information Products
Information resource development in a market-oriented approach achieves great effect. Many database and information service providers (such as ICP, ISP) come into operation, among which the China Academic Journals CD-ROM database, ChinaInfo Group, Chongqing Weipu Information Consulting Corporation Ltd. (www.vipinfo.com.cn), Beijing Scholar Sci-Tech Co., Ltd., and China Infobank enjoy nationwide recognition. The Chinese Journal Full-Text Database includes more than 6.1 million articles from 6,600 major periodicals published in Mainland China since 1994, as well as more than 15 million bibliographical records. The database is available both online and in CD-ROM form.
In a broader context, Internet-based information resources have also undergone rapid development. According to statistics from the “Survey on Information Resources in China,” which was released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) in September 2001 fwww.cnnic.net.cn/tj/rep2001.shtml/), there were 692,490 registered domain names, 238,249 Web sites, 159,460,056 Web pages, and 45,598 online databases within China. A recently released report shows that the number of Web sites has increased to 293,213 by June 2002 fwww.cnnic.net.cn/develst/2002-7e/index.shtml).
FUTURE TRENDS AND CONCLUSION
The projects that we have introduced above lay a solid foundation for the further development of information resources in China. Recently, the Ministry of Science and Technology has started up the Science and Technology Documents Resource and Service Platform. Founding of the National Informationization Directing Committee also boosted the development and utilization of information resources.
Looking into the future, we can feel the long way ahead for China to improve its information resources. Efforts need to be made in a number of areas: first, the digital library projects need to be further expanded; second, the government should continue its support for information resources development projects; and third, the issue of nationwide cooperation across industries needs to be addressed properly as one of the most important problems in information resources development.
KEY TERMS
Digital Library: A cultural infrastructure that collects and stores information in electronic format and supports its users in accessing a large collection of information effectively through digital means.
Information Resource: A collection of valuable information generated by human activities. In a broader sense, it also includes related equipment, personnel, and capital.
Information Resources Development: The process of collecting, processing, storing, disseminating, and utilizing information resources according to the need of the society.
Information Resources Management: The planning, organization, allocation, and utilization of information and related resources through legal, technological, and other methods to support institutional goals and missions.
Information Service: The activity of providing information products and related services according to users’ needs. In a broader sense, it refers to providing users with information through any forms of product or service.
Informationalization: The process of social advances in which human society transforms from industrial society to information society.
