From July 9 to 11, led by Lihong Zhou, Associate Dean of the School of Information Management, Wuhan University, and Congjing Ran, Director of the Department of Library Science of the SIM, more than 40 teachers and students of 2019 undergraduate students major in Library Science went to Nanjing, Jiangsu Province to carry out a three-day professional cognitive practice.

On July 9, students and teachers visited the Cloud Jianye Smart City Exhibition Center. They learned about the overall planning and construction of smart city in Jianye District of Nanjing, and experienced the comprehensive changes of the new technologies such as Internet plus, big data, 5G, artificial intelligence and digital twins in urban construction to the public work, study and daily life. The students also went deep into many different exhibition areas such as intelligent transportation, intelligent medical treatment, intelligent community and intelligent education, experienced the convenience of the latest scientific and technological achievements in different application scenarios, and deeply felt that technological development plays a great role in promoting the realization of the beautiful life that people yearn for.

On July 10, students and teachers went to Nanjing Library, which has the third largest collection in China and the fourth largest collection in Asia. The students visited the 100 Years of Party History, 100 People and 100 Deeds-- special exhibition of collected documents celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, children's reading room for all ages, Jiangsu writers' Works Museum, Sinology Museum, Historical Documents Department, Nanjing Library History Museum and other characteristic library areas, and deeply felt the profound cultural heritage of China's cultural hub, the long history of Nanjing Library since its establishment in 1907, staff of Nanjing Library embody their love and awe for the library profession in their work and their humanistic care in service. At the Historical Documents Department, the students were amazed at the precious rare ancient books, and through the detailed explanation of the staff, they peeped into the mystery of Chinese civilization handed down from generation to generation. After the visit, the students listened to the report Leading High-quality Development with New Development Conceptgiven by Qin Quan, Deputy Curator of Nanjing Library and also a 1980 alumnus of the Department of Library Science of the SIM. Through Qin Quan’s report, the students have a comprehensive understanding of the development concept, objectives and measures of China's public library during the 14th Five-year Plan period, and have a clearer understanding of the development trend of the whole industry.

On July 11, students and teachers went to Xianlin Campus of Nanjing University, visited Duxia Library of Nanjing University, and communicated with teachers and students of the School of Information Management of Nanjing University. The smart library construction of Nanjing University Library is at the forefront of the country. Bo Shao, Deputy Curator of Nanjing Library, made a report entitled Smart Library Application Practice and Frontier Researchfor the students, introduced the big data and artificial intelligence technology mainly involved in the current library and information field, and focused on how to use technical means to promote the construction of smart library, improve the intelligent service level of the library. Through this report, students learned about the practice frontier and future development direction of smart library, and benefited a lot.

Through the three-day professional cognitive practice activities, the students moved from classroom to a broad world, personally felt the landing of the latest technologies, theories and methods in different application scenarios, the great empowerment of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G and big data for the library cause, and were more aware of the special role of the library in preserving human civilization and providing intelligent services for the society. The students have more faith and strength to join in professional construction and industry development in the future.