The thesis is devoted to the substantiation of the theoretical and methodological foundations of the development of scientific libraries of higher education institutions of the People’s Republic of China at the stage of society digitalization. The state of scientific development of the adaptation problem of scientific libraries of higher education institutions to the digital information space has been studied, the level of theoretical development of the topic has been determined. The peculiarities of the development of scientific libraries of higher education institutions of China in the digital society have been studied. The current state and features of digitization of scientific libraries of higher education institutions, which are recognized as the leading socio-communicative component of the information space of the PRC, are analyzed. External factors affecting the strategic directions of their development are identified, including: digital modernization of China’s socio-cultural sphere, deployment of information infrastructure, application of cognitive technologies for processing information and document arrays and flows. It has been proven that in the People’s Republic of China, the activities of libraries of higher education institutions are aimed at the fulfillment of priority tasks, including: creating a comfortable information environment for effective meeting the information needs of users; formation of a system of educational resources, which includes the library fund, digital information resources of its own generation, databases of other libraries and institutions; creation of an effective information service system. This approach allows to create powerful systems for the production of scientific, technical, economic and social information, necessary for solving the tasks of information support of educational activities.
The criteria for the effectiveness of the activities of academic libraries of the People’s Republic of China are defined as: the number and volume of printed and digital collections, availability of institutional repositories with digitized versions of the results of scientific research by university specialists, comfortable information environment, virtual access 24 hours a day with remote authentication; effectiveness of virtual reference services and extensive search system within various databases. It is noted that the digital library is an integral part of the university library, which provides information services in the electronic environment. Based on the analysis of the results of the webometric research carried out by the author of the thesis of 31 sites of the leading scientific libraries of Chinese universities, the geographical composition of user audience, the average indicators of use/day and the depth of content viewing were revealed, which made it possible to reach a conclusion about the leadership positions of university libraries in the digital space. An analytical description of the experience of university libraries in China regarding the formation of a digital educational and communication space, the use of innovative forms and methods of information support for the scientific and educational activities of universities, and the specifics of the development of scientific libraries of higher education institutions of the People’s Republic of China are provided. The main factors of the internal environment that determine their transformation and contribute to the diversification of activities in the digital space are determined. The latter include project activity, psychological climate and creative activity of project teams for the introduction of technical and technological, service, management innovations. It is emphasized that despite the fact that the general feature of the construction of the national system of Chinese library institutions is strict centralization, subordination to decisions from above, closedness to external interventions, it can be already stated: Chinese libraries actively use automated library and information systems, master digital technologies, create information sites and portals, consolidate information resources, form a system of digital communications. The main stages of the digitization process of libraries of higher education institutions in China are characterized, including: the first stage – the beginning of the 90s of the XX century, which was characterized by the introduction of automated library and information management systems; the second stage – the end of the 1990s, the initiation of the national project to create a Chinese experimental digital library; the third stage – the beginning of the 3rd millennium (2001-2005), the stage of deployment of project activities to support the standards of the Chinese digital library system; the fourth stage – the stage of development of Chinese digital library and information systems based on open standards.
