1-3 afternoon, the first lecture in the academic series commemorating the restoration and reconstruction of our School's Archival Science program, marking its 40 th anniversary, was held. Zhaogui Qin, an Expert with Outstanding Contributions of Hubei Province, a national-level archival expert, and a professor at Hubei University, was invited to the School to deliver an academic lecture titled "The Underlying Logic of the Archival Enterprise and the Dual Value of Archives." Dean Wei Lu, several faculty members of the Department of Archives and Government Information, and more than 100 undergraduate, master's and doctoral students of the School attended. Ping Wang, Vice Dean and Chair of the Department of Archives and Government Information, presided over the lecture.
Drawing on vivid case studies, Zhaogui Qin gave an in-depth exposition from three perspectives: the underlying logic of the archival enterprise, the dual value of archives and its manifestation, and the dual value of archives in relation to the focus of the archival enterprise. He presented his reflections on the purpose, objects, norms and functions of the archival enterprise, and clarified its underlying logic from three aspects: the characteristics of archives, what archives are, and why archival work exists. He argued that understanding the modernization of China's archival enterprise requires grasping its historical progression and global significance, and that ways to strengthen its rationality should be considered in terms of the construction and application of archival physical objects and professional technologies, the adjustment of archival systems and social relations, and archival values together with the positioning and effectiveness of the archival enterprise.
Zhaogui Qin introduced the original theoretical system of the dual value view of archives and summarized its core viewpoints and propositions. He emphasized that archives possess both instrumental value and informational value: they serve as management principles and levers of governance, as well as carriers of knowledge and cultural heritage. The dual value view of archives reveals the purposiveness of archives as a mode of human behavior and a management tool.
The original academic system constructed by Zhaogui Qin, the "dual value view of archives," has exerted a profound and lasting academic influence in the archival community and has played an important role in the practical development of the archival enterprise. Regarding the dual value of archives and the focus of the archival enterprise, he argued that an ideal archive should ensure correspondence and isomorphism between archival resources and archival utility on the one hand and social practice on the other; that the construction of archival resources should be guided by an awareness of preserving memory and cultural samples; that both "routine" and "rescue" work should be done well; and that, while realizing the value of archival resources through use, attention should be paid to resource content, with respect for archival documents and the characteristics of their benefits.
"The present cannot be separated from the past, and culture cannot be separated from its transmission." The development of the archival enterprise needs more idealistic young people devoted to its construction. Speaking as an archivist, Zhaogui Qin expressed his deep professional devotion, which deeply moved the faculty and students present. The lecture explained profound ideas in accessible terms, and the audience benefited greatly.
The lecture was jointly organized by the National Archives Administration Key Laboratory of Intelligent Development and Service of Archives and the Department of Archives and Government Information of the School of Information Management. In the prime of its forty years, the Archival Science program of Wuhan University will continue to forge ahead and write even more splendid chapters.
