University Library Work [Theory·Exploration] 2023/5

Research on the Construction and Promotion of University Library Culture-Tourism Integration Models from the Value Co-Creation Perspective

Lin Yuting, Yang Xumin
Library of Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou

Abstract: This article introduces the connotations and conceptual framework of culture-tourism integration in university libraries, examines its internal logic, and draws on industry convergence theory to construct four integration models from a value co-creation perspective: restructuring integration, penetration integration, cross integration, and innovation integration. University libraries can explore the promotion of these culture-tourism integration models through resource-space integration, characteristic resource development, cultural creative product marketing, service channel extension, and evaluation method optimization.

Keywords: Value co-creation; University library; Culture-tourism integration; Integration model
CLC Number: G258.6

Introduction

Over the past decade since the Ministry of Culture and National Tourism Administration issued the "Guidance on Promoting the Integrated Development of Culture and Tourism" in 2009, the integration of cultural and tourism industries has continuously deepened. President Xi Jinping's speech at the symposium with experts in education, culture, health, and sports in 2020 emphasized the need to "shape tourism with culture and highlight culture through tourism," pointing out a new direction for culture-tourism integration under the strategy of building a strong cultural nation. Existing domestic research on university library culture-tourism integration has established a foundation, primarily covering four aspects: (1) theoretical and model research on library culture-tourism integration; (2) innovative service models and pathways for libraries under culture-tourism integration; (3) case studies of university library culture-tourism integration; and (4) research on how university libraries support local culture-tourism integration development.

The term "culture" originally referred to patterns and later extended to mean writing, while "tourism" originally denoted military units before evolving to represent travel activities. The integration of culture and tourism signifies the maximum发挥 of their关联性, where culture serves as the pillar and soul of tourism development, and tourism acts as the medium and vehicle for cultural development. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism proposed that the overarching思路 for culture-tourism integration should adhere to "ideological integration, functional integration, industrial integration, market integration, service integration, and exchange integration," providing a macro-level interpretation of its connotations and offering directional guidance for university libraries. However, university libraries must also ground their efforts in their own characteristics.

Participants in university library culture-tourism integration refer to behavioral actors who drive library culture-tourism integration and achieve joint value creation in real environments, including libraries, tourism organizations, other public cultural institutions, new media, and the public. As public cultural institutions, university libraries possess rich cultural resources and play a central role in culture-tourism integration. From an industry perspective, university library culture-tourism integration represents a form of industrial convergence. While existing research has outlined a basic framework, few studies have explored it from the perspective of industrial convergence theory. Therefore, this article attempts to analyze university library culture-tourism integration models from a value co-creation perspective, considering the non-profit nature of libraries and their social service functions, and proposes corresponding promotion strategies to provide suggestions and references for domestic university libraries regarding their practice processes and depth of integration.

1 Connotations, Internal Logic, and Value Co-Creation

1.1 Connotations of University Library Culture-Tourism Integration

University libraries can establish culture-tourism integration frameworks and activity processes based on their cultural resource types and characteristics, investing human and material resources both inside and outside the library. They can plan tourism routes for visitors from perspectives such as humanistic landscapes and ecological folk culture. From a spatial boundary perspective, university libraries should seek partners to provide abundant resources, extending from physical space to virtual space. Library culture-tourism integration is not a single-actor activity; other organizations serve as primary participants, compensating for libraries' deficiencies in funding, marketing, and other aspects. Tourism organizations provide tourism products, professional capabilities, and marketing promotion skills, achieving richness and diversity in activity experience value.

1.2 Value Co-Creation, Industrial Convergence, and University Library Culture-Tourism Integration

Value co-creation thought originated from service economics in the 19th century. Storch (1823) implied that service value creation was jointly determined by producers and consumers. Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2004) proposed value co-creation theory from a consumer experience perspective, while Vargo and Lusch (2004) proposed it from a service-dominant logic perspective. Despite different perspectives, both reflect the essence of collaborative value creation.

The European Commission's Green Paper defined industrial convergence as the combination of industrial alliances and mergers, technological network platforms, and markets. Chinese scholars have noted that industrial convergence refers to the dynamic development process where different industries or different products within the same industry mutually penetrate and eventually merge to form new industries. Convergence models can be categorized as industrial penetration, industrial cross-integration, and industrial restructuring.

University library culture-tourism integration is not only a complex systematic project but also a relational combination formed by numerous actors at different spatial levels within a specific logic. Analyzing its internal logic levels helps clarify boundaries and deepens understanding of its profound meaning. Based on spatial levels and participant characteristics, this article identifies four logical levels manifested in different integration models.

The first level involves viewing university libraries as cultural tourism destinations from a physical space perspective. Many university libraries possess historical culture, unique architectural design, and campus scenery, making them desirable locations. For example, Oxford's Bodleian Library is world-famous for its ancient Gothic architecture and has become a filming location for movies like Harry Potter.

The second level involves virtual space, where university libraries establish various databases to disseminate tourism culture. For instance, Hetao College Library collects local Wula Mountain rock art culture and Hetao farming water conservancy culture resources, forming a symbiotic system with multiple business forms.

The third level involves extending from spatial boundaries to physical or virtual spaces, breaking industry barriers and expanding university libraries' functions. This includes cooperating with various social organizations in diverse regional spaces, fully reflecting libraries' connotations and values.

The fourth level involves embedding elements such as characteristic collection resources or local culture into cultural creative product development activities. All parties collaborate in program design and system establishment, achieving co-creation of value and interests through multi-element association and multi-subject interaction, gradually forming a dynamic development process of new industries.

2 Construction of University Library Culture-Tourism Integration Models

Based on the collaborative development characteristics of university library culture and tourism industries, this article divides integration models into restructuring integration, penetration integration, cross integration, and innovation integration.

2.1 Restructuring Integration Model

The restructuring integration model refers to the reorganization of specific resources and spaces to form new products such as library eco-tourism. This model represents the primary direction of culture-tourism integration by integrating original resources and core industry links to create entirely new cultural experience tourism activities or projects. It adapts to market demand while improving industrial efficiency.

University libraries can utilize existing resources and advanced mechanisms to develop study tour activities for primary and secondary students, tourism enthusiasts, and the public. For example, Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Qian Xuesen Library uses its resources to launch themed study tours, including study manual production, inquiry-based learning, and campus tours of the university history museum and shipping museum. The immersive script experience 1955 and original poetic drama Qian Xuesen launched in May and June 2022 have been warmly welcomed by visitors.

Restructuring integration can be divided into physical space integration and virtual space integration. Physical space integration involves using library buildings, historical landmarks, and other representative structures as tourism foundations. For instance, Tsinghua University Library is a representative work of contextualism in Chinese architectural history, while Southeast University's Li Wen Zheng Library originated from the Sanjiang Normal School established in 1902. These libraries' profound cultural and tourism heritage makes them spiritual homes for people.

Virtual space integration involves establishing databases to provide spatial resource visualization services, attracting online and offline visitors. For example, some libraries create hand-drawn maps of library spaces and campus landmarks, providing map information through online and offline channels with precise positioning.

2.2 Penetration Integration Model

The penetration integration model occurs at the boundaries between university libraries and the tourism industry, primarily through libraries penetrating the tourism industry by developing resources and transforming them into cultural tourism services. Due to scientific and technological development, the transformation of databases and culture through technology can penetrate the tourism industry unlimitedly, improving industrial efficiency.

Many university libraries have built characteristic databases covering books, archives, and accounts. These include celebrity characteristic libraries (such as Tsinghua's Cohen Book Room, Peking University's Ji Xianlin Collection, and Fudan's Yigong and Wangdao Book Houses) and thematic field characteristic libraries. Thematic field characteristic libraries are built around specific fields with accumulated, cohesive, and scarce literature resources.

Penetration integration mainly includes two types: regional culture characteristic databases and ancient book special collections. Regional culture characteristic databases utilize local cultural resources. For example, Xiamen University Library established a Putian Mazu local culture database, while North China University of Science and Technology Library established the Jidong "Three Branches" characteristic resource database. Ancient book special collections implement the national ancient book protection plan, with over 90% of Chinese ancient books held in university libraries. During collation, libraries can cooperate with history departments to hold exhibitions like "Southern Fujian Treasures," allowing visitors to experience the charm of Southern Fujian folk art culture.

2.3 Cross Integration Model

The cross integration model refers to functional complementarity and cross-expansion between university libraries and the tourism industry. On the basis of original functions, it adds value and naturally extends boundaries, possibly forming partial mergers rather than complete integration. This creates new industrial structures.

This model mainly manifests as cooperation between university libraries and other public cultural institutions or enterprises. Libraries can cooperate with associations and alliances focused on culture-tourism integration to obtain professional advice on attracting visitors and developing projects. They can also cooperate with public libraries, museums, and other institutions for resource exchange. For example, Fujian Museum and Fujian Provincial Library have rich Min-Tai regional literature resources, while Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Library has its own Min-Tai traditional Chinese medicine cultural resources.

Cooperation with enterprises is another form of cross integration. University libraries can introduce campus bookstores, provide coffee services, academic exchange activities, concerts, and small film exhibitions. For instance, Fujian Medical University and Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University introduced the local bookstore brand Dameng Book House, located within library complexes, creating characteristic reading spaces for visitors.

2.4 Innovation Integration Model

The innovation integration model refers to the innovative integration of culture and tourism through cultural and tourism creative product development, creating unique core competitiveness. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism and other departments proposed measures to further promote cultural creative product development in cultural and cultural relics institutions, suggesting that such products should become important carriers for people to experience Chinese culture and enhance cultural confidence.

University libraries should deeply explore their characteristic cultural resources and actively participate in the development and design of creative products featuring local culture and customs. This includes both offline and online cultural creative product development. Offline products include canvas bags, paper tapes, bookmarks, and other items developed by libraries like Tsinghua and Peking University. Online products include digital cultural creative products developed for network platforms, such as short videos, shelving games, and micro-films. For example, Nanjing University Library released micro-films, while Beijing Normal University Library built a library network community embedding game forms and scenario performances into reading activities to increase interest and interactivity.

3 Promotion of University Library Culture-Tourism Integration Models

In recent years, significant progress has been made in the integration of university libraries and tourism industries in China, achieving good cultural, social, and economic benefits. However, overall, this integration remains in its initial stages, with single models, insufficient channels, and limited space that cannot fully meet people's diverse and personalized tourism needs. Therefore, this article explores more mature promotion strategies from five aspects.

3.1 Resource-Space Integration

As cultural carriers, university libraries attract visitors with their cultural resources. Through digital empowerment, scenario creation, and other technological means, they can create integrated spaces combining reading, experience, and interaction. Resource-space integration enhances the restructuring integration effect, stimulating visitors' perception of library resources and improving their tourism experience.

3.2 Characteristic Resource Integration Construction

University library characteristic resources should be disciplinary and regional, collecting local historical, geographical, social, and cultural information to provide rich cultural resources for regional tourism. Libraries should emphasize挖掘 local characteristic resources, establish culture-tourism thematic collections, and comprehensively display the natural environment, social environment evolution, and development of their regions.

3.3 Cultural Creative Product Marketing

Marketing cultural creative products is crucial for university libraries. They can organize online and offline exhibitions, roadshows, and reader sharing sessions, using social media platforms like Weibo and WeChat public accounts for promotion. Products can be sold in bookstores, schools, and other venues to meet readers' diverse spiritual and cultural needs, enhancing innovation integration prospects and expanding product influence.

3.4 Service Channel Extension

University libraries should organize culture-tourism service resources, enrich service content, and extend service channels to surrounding communities and primary/secondary schools. This involves not only expanding service space but also extending service time and actively providing knowledge services to community residents and students, optimizing nationwide reading promotion.

3.5 Evaluation Method Optimization

To improve culture-tourism integration services based on their advantages, university libraries should adopt evaluation methods combining qualitative and quantitative approaches. This includes questionnaires before and after activities, quantitative data on visitor numbers and creative product benefits, and feedback from staff and visitors to reveal strengths and weaknesses and provide scientific recommendations.

4 Conclusion

The 19th Party Congress report emphasized the need to enhance people's sense of gain, happiness, and security. University libraries can meet people's growing needs for a better life through deeper and broader integration with the tourism industry, achieving value co-creation. This article has梳理 the connotations, internal logic, and value co-creation of university library culture-tourism integration, proposed four integration models (restructuring, penetration, cross, and innovation), and suggested promotion strategies through resource-space integration, characteristic resource development, creative product marketing, service channel extension, and evaluation optimization. These efforts will help university libraries demonstrate their integration effects to governments and visitors, secure more external cooperation, and contribute to building a strong cultural nation.

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