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Application of Blockchain Technology in City Public Library Management

———— Release time:2020-02-14   Edit:  Read:10 ————

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With the rapid development of information technology , new technologies such as "Internet + ", mobile Internet, "blockchain" technology, and artificial intelligence have emerged endlessly. Blockchain has attracted attention from all walks of life due to its decentralization, immutability, and traceability, and has also empowered all walks of life. The library management industry and blockchain technology belong to the category of information management and information systems, and naturally have synergistic effects. According to media reports, in September 2017, the first domestic blockchain theme library was unveiled in Qianhai, Shenzhen. Some scholars also explored and researched the blockchain-enabled book management. The author tries to explore the feasibility of blockchain-enabled book management by taking his own working practice as an example.

 

The blockchain is basically a distributed database. Its operating mechanism is to obtain a random number and letter combination with extremely low repetition rate through the random generation of a hash value ( HASH , also known as a hash, similar to the "ID card" of a piece of data), and synchronize it across the entire network. Then, it will generate the next hash value to ensure that the data is unique, immutable and traceable. At present, the main forms of blockchain include public, alliance, and private chains. The public chain is criticized by the industry due to its high redundancy and low TPS (the number of information exchanges processed per second), and the alliance chain and private chain are relatively efficient in processing information. Because the library needs to record a large amount of information, this article intends to discuss the blockchain-enabled book management method in the alliance chain or private chain category.


First, after the big data is on the chain, it is easy to trace and analyze

 

The duties of book management include putting all kinds of books into different categories, and also managing the lending and return of various books. At present, book management has accumulated big data such as reader information, borrowing records, and book admission. However, islands are formed between data. Blockchain, as a tool and carrier, can break these data islands and use data efficiently.

 

Specifically, we can match the book borrowing data with the reader's identity data and record it on the blockchain to form decentralized decentralized procurement such as " PDA (Reader Decision Purchasing)", so that readers can read the books they want to read and can make the library better to provide services from the perspective of the server.

 

We can also match the number of books purchased with the data of book borrowing and record them on the blockchain to form a library cost-effective book plan. Let every penny be spent on the blade. Ensure that every database and every book you buy can be used efficiently and benefit more readers.


Second, the blockchain enpowers book procurement and presentation

 

Now is the era of information explosion. Whether it is the traditional book purchase or the emerging library purchase, it is the product of centralization. The centralization of traditional libraries is easy to understand. Library workers are “gatekeepers” in the process of purchasing, filtering, and presenting book categories . However, emerging libraries use huge reader data, apply mature algorithms, and readers' preferences to purchase and display books. If they like, they will see more related books, which will easily lead to the tragedy of "nipple music" and damage the publicity of the library.

 

Some people believe that the decentralized and traceable nature of the blockchain adds more open rules to the book procurement process. However, I believe that blockchain technology has a limited role in evading invalid purchases and reshaping the public nature of libraries. Of course, the vision described by the believers of blockchain technology is to place the production and procurement process of books on the chain in accordance with the time sequence, and through consensus algorithms, use the voting mechanism to determine whether books need to be purchased, thereby eliminating fake books and poor books. But at most, it can only facilitate people to go to the source of book production. It cannot guarantee that the books that most people agree with are genuine books and good books. Even if there is a token that motivates people to judge the authenticity and quality of books, this is still difficult to achieve. If readers vote to decide book purchases, they are indeed upside down.

 

In my opinion, the application of blockchain in book procurement is more reflected in the selection of high-quality content. First, the token economy can be used to stimulate original content creation. The current book publishing does not lack content, what is lacking is quality content. For example, the Sino-U.S. Trade war has become the focus of readers. The readers look forward to the interpretation of the situation by experts in Sino-US relations and the research and judgment of economic trends by macroeconomic experts. However, the book market is full of alarmists who are out of context. We can use the consensus algorithm to calculate good books with high-quality content, so that we can buy more and place it in a prominent position, and creators of high-quality content can also get more rights. Instead of just relying on readers' preferences, they push a large number of good and bad books to readers, so that they can be immersed in authenticity.