Public libraries in China: Development and challenge

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1 Public libraries in China: Development and challenge Bureau of Social Culture and Libraries, Ministry of Culture, China Beijing 0020, China Translator: Editorial Office of CJLIS Received Mar. 28, 2008 Revised Jun. 23, 2008 Accepted Jul. 8, 2008 Abstract Since the start of the new century, public libraries in China have shown a healthy trend of development, featuring an ever-increasing scale, an initially established service system, a steady progress in infrastructure construction, improvement in networking, digitization and modernization levels, and strengthening of service efficacy. Nevertheless, there are also serious problems, such as a weak foundation, insufficient funding, lagging legislation, and shortage of professionals. For the present and for a certain period to come, the focus of the building of public libraries should be placed on further seeking financial support, promoting the building of service systems covering both urban and rural areas, and improving services. Keywords Public library, Financial investment, Culture building project Public libraries have been enjoying a healthy development since the start of the new century, and have taken an increasing important role in the cultural development. With the rapid economic and social development in China, it has become a severe challenge for the building of public libraries to expedite the building of service systems covering both urban and rural areas by adhering to the outlook of humanoriented and scientific development. 1 Development Public libraries in China have seen fast development in recent years, taking on a brand-new look, as reflected in the following five aspects: 1.1 Financial allocations growing, scale of public libraries expanding, and service system initially established In recent years, financial investment at various levels in public libraries has increased remarkably, leading to the continuous improvement in facilities and conditions of public libraries. In 2006, national financial allocations to public libraries stood at Correspondence should be addressed to Chen Shengli ( tsgchu@sina.com). CJLIS Vol. 1 No. 2, 2008 pp

2 Chinese Journal of Library and Information Science Vol. 1 No. 2, 2008 RMB 3,195 million [1], and expenditures of public libraries at various levels for purchasing books stood at RMB 660 million [1], up to 7.6% and 57.9% over 2002 respectively. Facilities and conditions of public libraries nationwide have improved greatly. From 2001 to 2005, 28 large libraries were built, rebuilt or expanded throughout the country. The State Development and Reform Commission invested RMB 80 million to implement the Program of Building Libraries and Cultural Centers. More than 1,000 libraries at county level were built, rebuilt or expanded. By the end of 2005, the national objective of enabling each county to have a library and a cultural center in the period from 1981 to 1985 had achieved. [1] At present, a relatively complete service system of public libraries has been initially established at four levels, i.e., at the central government, provincial, prefecture (municipal) and county levels. By the end of 2006, the total collection of books of public libraries nationwide stood at million volumes [1], up to 17.% over 2002; the total number of public libraries reached 2,778 [1], up to 3% over 2002, including one national library, 27 provincial-level libraries, 39 prefecture-level libraries and 2,391 county-level libraries, employing a total of 51,300 workers. Breakthrough has been made in the construction of grass-roots service networks. In 2002, Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Finance jointly launched the National Cultural Information Resource Sharing Project (hereafter referred to as Culture Sharing Project), helping the service system of public libraries to expand rapidly into towns/communities and administrative villages. As a public-welfare cultural innovation project backed by the construction of public libraries at various levels, the Culture Sharing Project applies modern technology to conduct digitalized processing and integration of information resource of splendid Chinese culture. And through the service network for the project, it achieves nationwide co-building and sharing of such resources by means of the satellite network, the Internet, cable and digital TV networks, mirrors sites, mobile storage and CDs. From 2007 to 20, a sum of RMB 2,70 million as special construction funds from the central government will be used for project construction, and, by 20, a service network will be built covering both urban and rural areas throughout the country, thus achieving the goal of universal access to villages. By the end of 2007, the aggregate resources of the project had reached 65TB, and grass-roots service points had exceeded 530,000 in quantity Steady progress in infrastructure construction of public libraries resulting from assessment and rating of public libraries at county level and above The assessment and rating of public libraries with scientific and strict criteria is an effective and practical approach to strengthen infrastructure construction and macro-management of public libraries. The work of assessment and rating was conducted by Ministry of Culture in 199, 1998 and 200 respectively on public libraries at county level and above. In 200, based on the previous two assessments and ratings, Ministry of Culture revised the six sets of assessment criteria respectively for libraries at provincial,

3 Public libraries in China: Development and challenge prefecture and county levels and children s libraries at provincial, prefecture and county levels. Each set of assessment criteria contained six indicators, including library-running condition, infrastructure construction, readership service, service research, guidance, collaboration and coordination, management and rewarding, with a total score set at 1,000 points (Tables 1 and 2). And based on scores gained, public libraries nationwide were assessed as Class I, II or III libraries. 2,038 libraries out of 2,709 ones at county level and above throughout the country participated in the 200 assessment. Among them, 1,1 libraries were assessed as libraries at Class III and above, including 3 Class I libraries, 13 Class II ones and 68 Class III ones, accounting for 16.9%, 20.3% and 33.6% respectively. The assessment and rating of public libraries is a comprehensive review of China s public libraries, which standardizes the infrastructure of public libraries at various levels, promotes the construction of automation and networking, and improves service capacity. Due to the assessment and rating, financial investment in public libraries have been increased throughout the country, leading to an obvious improvement in library-running conditions. Take one province in east, central and west China respectively as an example. In Jiangsu Province, from 1998 to 2003, grants from the State which public libraries of the province received increased from RMB 5.7 million to RMB.357 million, up to 1.2%. The aggregate building area of libraries increased from 21,000 m 2 to 323,000 m 2, an increase of 3%. Some newly built public libraries became the local landmarks. In Jiangxi Province, six libraries have been newly built since 1998, with an added building area of m 2. The total collection of books in 2002 was 98,600 volumes more than that in Investment in purchasing books grew by RMB million. In Sichuan Province, there were 8 counties without a public library in 1998; while by 2006, the province achieved the goal of each county having a library. And the aggregate building area of public libraries increased from 215,000 m 2 in 1998 to 238,000 m 2 in Ministry of Culture has treated the work of public library assessment and rating as an important working system and approach, and performs the work every four years. The fourth assessment and rating will be carried out in the first half of Improvement in networking, digitization and modernization levels With the development of information technology and computer networking technology, especially the implementation of the Culture Sharing Project, the majority Table 1 Assessment items and scores of provincial-level public libraries in 200 No. Indicator Score 1 Library-running condition 25 2 Infrastructure construction Readership service 280 Service research, guidance, collaboration and coordination 90 5 Management 1 6 Rewarding 20 Total 1,000 3

4 Chinese Journal of Library and Information Science Vol. 1 No. 2, 2008 Table 2 Indicators and scores for readership service assessment of provincial-level public libraries in 200 No. Indicator Standard/Factor Score Remark 3 Readership service Reader satisfaction 0~20 The assessment group releases questionnaires to readers for opinions about library-running condition, environment, quality of service, service effectiveness, etc. 32 Common service Volumes borrowed by readers a year (,000) 322 Total number of circulation a year (,000 person-times) 323 Volumes of open shelves/total collection (%) 32 Publicity of books & periodicals (species) Open hours per week Service points and subordinate libraries 327 Service for disadvantaged groups 328 Service of delivering books to households and to the countryside 33 Service of retrieval and consultation 331 Number of topics retrieved for readers Have passage and reading rooms for the disabled, with special services ~5 Based on statistics by computer Excluding ancient books in total collection Publicize or recommend books via billboard, column, circular, webpage, etc. No scores if the library is inaccessible on Saturday and Sunday Serve the senior citizens and the disabled 0~5 Including automobile library Examine retrieval records which should contain such items as time, user requirement and result, excluding nonstandard records

5 Public libraries in China: Development and challenge (Continued) No. Indicator Standard/Factor Score Remark 332 Number of questions responded a year (,000) Answer questions raised by readers with knowledge of library science and informatics, by telephone, orally or in writing 3 Information service 5 31 Provide information service for leading bodies for decision making 32 Provide information service for scientific research and economic construction 33 Provide information service for the development of other undertakings 3 Secondary and tertiary documents compiled a year 35 Use of library website (,000 clicks) 0~ Fixed-topic service, information research, follow-up service, etc. 0~8 Same as above 0~7 Same as above 0~ Regular or irregular continuous publishing. points each for over 6 issues published a year; 2 points each for others Activities organized for readers Activities organized for readers a year (times) 3511 Lecture & report meeting (times) Including 3511, 3512 and Activities in other forms 0~ Exhibition 0~8 352 Readers who participate in activities a year (,000 person-times) 353 Library service publicity week 0~5 36 Social education and user training ~ Various social education training courses and user training 5

6 Chinese Journal of Library and Information Science Vol. 1 No. 2, 2008 of provincial- and prefecture-level public libraries throughout the country and of county-level libraries in economically developed areas have by and large realized automatic business management, gained access to the Internet, established electronic reading rooms, opened portal websites, and developed such services as , data exchange and on-line information interception. In 2006, the number of electronic reading room terminals of public libraries nationwide stood at 37,18 [1], an increase of,0 over 200, up to 37.6%. The construction of digital libraries has entered into a period of promotion and overall integration. In 2005, the construction project of National Digital Library of China started with a total investment of RMB 00 million. As of the first half of 2007, the aggregate digital resources of the National Digital Library of China had reached 130 TB. The project was expected to be initially completed and made open to the public in July of The completion of the National Digital Library of China is expected to achieve the following four functions: 1) Digitization and computer network-based management of literature resources of National Library of China; 2) Fast network connection and cross-library retrieval among major libraries of the country; 3) Combination with the construction of the Culture Sharing Project to form a new public service platform, replenish the contents of public cultural services, improve the quality of service and promote the building of a public cultural service system covering both urban and rural areas of the country; and ) Provision of the Internet services to the general public to build the National Digital Library of China into an influential Chinese website and thus form the overall advantage of Chinese cultures over the Internet. To integrate the construction of digital libraries of various departments and systems throughout the country, prevent redundant construction and promote co-building and sharing, Ministry of Culture convened, in July 2007, the 1 st Joint Meeting on Digital Library Construction and Service in China, attended by delegates from eight libraries including Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Education, Chinese Academy of, Party School of the Central Committee of Communist Party of China (CPC) and People's Liberation Army (PLA) University of National Defense. The establishment of the joint meeting mechanism is expected to play an important role as in sharing resources, technology and management experience and in promoting the development of digital libraries in China Strengthening in service efficacy Public libraries throughout the country have remarkably increased locality-based service capability, with extended services being fully developed. In 2006, public libraries throughout the country had a total of 252 million visits [1], lent 2 million volumes [1] to readers, distributed 11,599 thousand library cards [1] and had 500 thousand reading seats [1], up to 1.9%, 5%, 26.% and 13.9% over 2002 respectively. To extend the service network and expand the range of service, libraries in Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong and Shenzhen actively explored their own general and subordinate library systems, promoted industry libraries and special libraries, and carried out online consultancy and mobile services. Public libraries at various levels

7 Public libraries in China: Development and challenge also conducted various activities such as lectures, exhibitions and training, and achieved good social benefits. To promote the extended services, Ministry of Culture successfully held, in May 2007 in Tianjin, a national extended service experience exchange meeting of public libraries, giving full recognition to such initiatives as Tianjin s Extended Service of Library, Shanghai and Suzhou s central and subordinate library systems, Hangzhou s One Card Pass, Guangdong s Travelling Library and Shenzhen s Library City. To underline the government guidance and further improve library services, in 2007, Ministry of Culture initiated for the first time a public library service award All Stars Prize to commend service projects and praise the individuals working in the public libraries. For decades, a majority of China s public libraries had to subsidize and maintain their normal operation, due to insufficient funding, by collecting card handling and validation fees. In recent years, under financial support at various levels, many libraries have provided access free of charge or reduced charges, which aroused wide attention and approval from all circles of society, and became a new highlight for public libraries to strengthen their services. Since 2002, the annual funds that National Library of China (NLC) uses to purchase books has been kept at more than RMB 0 million, which has been on the rise year by year. In 2007, the additional government funding reached RMB 93 million. From February 7, 2008 (Lunar New Year s Day) on, NLC reduced or exempted items of charge, cancelled charges for the production and annual inspection of library cards, safekeeping for readers, use of reading rooms and lecture tickets, and considerably lowered charges for literature reproduction, transfer and retrieval, and CD recording. Before that, Zhejiang Provincial Library, Liaoning Provincial Library, Nanjing Library, Jinan Library and the public libraries in Hangzhou had already practiced free services, mainly including free card handling, reading, self study, lecture and safekeeping, but only collecting library card deposit (refundable in full amount upon card return). Some libraries also provided free retrieval of collected digital resources. A portion of public libraries in Zhejiang Province also cancelled library card deposit for free borrowing of books, becoming a zero-access public library of the country. Free access to public libraries gave birth to a new round of reading craze in the society. In the seven days during the 2008 Spring Festival, NLC received 25,600 readers and distributed 1,863 library cards, with year-on-year increase of 8.12% and 1% respectively. Among them, 9.3% were admitted to the library directly with 2 nd -generation ID cards, which simplified the procedure and increased reading time. From February 13 to 19, ,019 library cards were distributed, up to more than 50% over the same period last year. After its free opening, Zhejiang Provincial Library saw a sharp increase both in the number of readers and of books lent. Previously, the library lent over 50,000 books a month at peak, but the figure approached nearly 80,000 in October Implementation of major culture building projects as a new growth point for the development of public libraries In addition to the Culture Sharing Project and the construction project of National Digital Library of China, Ministry of Culture, together with other government 7

8 Chinese Journal of Library and Information Science Vol. 1 No. 2, 2008 departments concerned, has also organized the implementation of the following major culture building projects in recent years: Project of Presenting Books to the Countryside, jointly launched by Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Finance in With investment of RMB 20 million each year from the central government, the project has been implemented for consecutive five years so far, and has presented 8,798,500 volumes of books to 592 counties under the national poverty reduction efforts, and 6,000 towns located in central and western China. The grass-roots libraries and cultural stations have been replenished with large quantities of updated books which have greatly improved their service capability. Chinese Rare Books Reproduction Project, started by Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Finance in The project is intended to reproduce and publish precious ancient books massively and systematically with modern publishing technology, so as to make them available to both the academia and the general public. With investment of RMB 0 million from the central government, Phase I of the project was successfully completed in 2006, which reproduced and printed 8,990 volumes of 758 species of important rare books and specially collected works written in the Tang and Qing Dynasties. Program of Preserving Chinese Ancient Books, initiated in early 2007 by Ministry of Culture. To protect Chinese ancient books and pass on the splendid traditional Chinese cultures, the program is expected to, in a period of 3 5 years, organize and carry out the general survey and registration of ancient books nationwide, have a full knowledge of basic conditions about ancient books collected by libraries and museums at various levels and by individuals, establish a union catalog of Chinese ancient books, a repository of digital resources of ancient books and the National Directory of Precious Ancient Books, designate National Ancient Books Protection Units, improve collection conditions for ancient books, foster ancient books protection specialists, strengthen the sorting, publishing and research of ancient books, and gradually form a sound working system of ancient books protection, so that Chinese ancient books are protected and used in a scientific and regularized way. The implementation of these culture building projects has played an active role in raising the attention of governments at various levels to the cause of public libraries, bettering conditions of public libraries and improving their capabilities and service levels, thus becoming a new growth point for the development of public libraries. (Table 3) 2 Challenges Compared with the developed countries, China still lags far behind in its construction of public libraries to meet the needs of the public, which is mainly reflected in the following aspects. 8

9 Public libraries in China: Development and challenge Table 3 Major culture building projects of public libraries in recent years Project Construction period (year) Financial investment /RMB (x 6 ) Culture Sharing Project 2002~20 2,76 Chinese Rare Books Reproduction Project 2002~ Presenting Books to the Countryside 2003~ National Digital Library of China 2005~ Program of Preserving Chinese Ancient Books Launched in Total 3,151 The investment of 2007~20 The investment of 2007~ A weak foundation and unbalanced regional development Pursuant to provisions of the Public Library Standards of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), the general standard for books collection is that in the smallest administrative region (3,000 people), at least 3 volumes shall be provided for each resident, but this proportion may decrease with the increase of served population, to which the universal applicable standard is 2 volumes per resident. By the end of 2006, the collection of libraries nationwide stood only at 500 million volumes, equivalent to 0.3 volumes per capita. While it is only 0.1 volumes per capita for county-level libraries. The collection of township culture stations was 83 million volumes, equivalent only to 0.12 volumes per capita. This is far lower than the international standard and the levels of the developed countries. At present, in the developed countries, there is a public library for every,000 20,000 people, but, in China, it is about 500,000 people, indicating a rather low coverage of population. As seen by regions, eastern China and cities therein have witnessed fast development in public libraries, but public library development in central and western China and rural areas has obviously lagged behind. A noticeable gap exists in public library development between eastern and western China and between urban and rural areas. And in some areas, especially undeveloped and rural ones, it is still a serious problem for people to have access to books. 2.2 Insufficient funding Since 2001, public libraries have seen balanced income and expenditure each year, of which income was slightly greater than expenditure. But the portion of financial inputs was smaller than that of expenditure each year, showing a big gap (Table ). In 2006, financial allocations to public libraries throughout the country stood at RMB 3,19.79 million, while expenditure of public libraries was RMB 3,0.76 million, a gap up to RMB million, which had to be filled through various charges and incomes. As seen by the principal indicators measuring the financial input in public libraries, i.e. volumes held per capita and book-purchasing expenditures per capita, due to insufficient funding, the national book-purchasing expenditures per capita grew slowly, and volumes held per capita have since

10 Chinese Journal of Library and Information Science Vol. 1 No. 2, 2008 lingered around 0.2 and 0.3 (Table 5), almost unchanged. As far as regional difference is concerned, financial inputs into public libraries are in positive correlation with the level of economic development, and there is a big gap in financial inputs between eastern and western China. Take book-purchasing expenditures per capita as an example. In 2006, the national book-purchasing expenditures per capita was RMB 0.5; and it was RMB 5.89 in Shanghai, which was above RMB 0.5 in five eastern regions including Beijing, Tianjin, Zhejiang Province, Guangdong Province and Jiangsu Province, and below the national average in all the other 25 provinces (Table 6). In the same year, the average book-purchasing expenditures of public libraries at county level across the country was RMB 67,000. Among which, Beijing had the highest book-purchasing expenditures per library, with RMB 1,121,000 on average, while Qinghai Province had the lowest, with RMB 2,000 on average (Table 7). In the same year, 733 libraries across the country, mainly in central and western China, had no book-purchasing expenditures, including 709 county-level libraries, accounting for 30% of the total quantity of county-level libraries (2,391). Table Income and expenditures of public libraries nationwide for the past 3 years [1] Year Grant from State/RMB (x ) Total expenditure/rmb (x ) Gap/RMB (x ) ,11 275,03 36, ,88 312,571 3, ,79 3,076 2,597 Table 5 National book-purchasing expenditures per capita and volumes held per capita by years [1] Year Book-purchasing expenditures per capita Volumes held per capita Table 6 Book-purchasing expenditures per capita in provinces of 2006 [1] Province Book-purchasing expenditures per capita/rmb Shanghai 5.89 Beijing 2.65 Tianjin 2.1 Zhejiang Province 0.88 Guangdong Province 0.87 Jiangsu Province 0.50 Shanxi, Shaanxi, Qinghai Provinces 0.13 The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region 0.12 Anhui, Guizhou 0. Hainan 0.08

11 Public libraries in China: Development and challenge Table 7 Book-purchasing expenditures per county-level library in province of 2006 Province Book-purchasing expenditures per county-level library /RMB (x ) Beijing Shanghai 93.6 Tianjin.1 Zhejiang Province 2.3 The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region 0.9 Shaanxi Province 0.8 Gansu Province 0.6 Qinghai Province Lagging legislation Currently, the legal documents in China regulating the work of public libraries are still the Working Rules for Libraries at Provincial, Autonomous Region and Municipal Levels issued in 1982 by Ministry of Culture, which are obviously inadequate to provide legally effective guarantee for the development of public libraries. The lag in legislation led to the absence of long-effective guarantee mechanism for the development of public libraries, particularly in terms of investment, making it difficult to radically change such contradictions as a weak foundation and unbalanced development of public libraries. 2. Shortage of professionals The status quo of staffing of public libraries throughout the country still doesn t fit in with development requirements of the time, featuring the shortage of senior personnel, especially academic leaders, a less reasonable personnel structure and a lack of interdisciplinary talents. In 2006, among 51,300 workers at public libraries nationwide, only 3,631 [1] had a senior title of professional post, accounting only for 7%; 20% of county-level libraries had no professionals holding a senior or medium title of professional post. The above-mentioned problems weaken the service function of public libraries in China and restrict them to bring social benefits in a normal way, making them unable to meet an ever-increasing need of the general public. It is an imperative task to strengthen the construction of public libraries, allow them to bring into full play of their social benefits and make them important places for the public to acquire knowledge and enjoy their cultural rights. 3 Trends It is clearly pointed out in the IFLA/UNESCO Public Library Manifesto in 199 that the public library is the local gateway to knowledge and it is the responsibility of national and local governments to run and manage the public library. Functioning as the school for lifelong learning of citizens, public libraries play an important role as 11

12 Chinese Journal of Library and Information Science Vol. 1 No. 2, 2008 in promoting socio-economic development, passing on the excellent cultures of the Chinese nation, improving the qualities of nationality and cultivating modern citizens. To expedite the development of public libraries is an objective requirement to improve the national quality and promote the building of a harmonious society in the era of knowledge economy, an imperative to build a public cultural service system and realize the cultural rights of citizens, and the joint responsibility of the government, the library community and the society as a whole Promote legislation to improve the public s awareness of the public library Legislation is the foundation to promote the development of public libraries. It will eventually establish the legal status and public-welfare attribute of public libraries, and help improve the scientific, legal and standard levels in the construction of public libraries, further enhance the public s awareness of the public library, especially the governments at various levels, and eventually lead the public libraries to a sustainable development. Local public library legislation has been developing rapidly since Local laws or regulations were introduced and implemented one after another in Shanghai (1996), Shenzhen (1997), the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (2000), Hubei Province (2001), Henan Province (2002) and Zhejiang Province (2003). In recent years, progress has also been made in relevant legislation. The Regulation on Public Cultural and Sports Facilities, promulgated in June 2003 by the State Council, specifies such aspects as planning, construction, use and service, management and protection of cultural facilities in public libraries, making the construction of libraries have a law to follow. In May 2006, the State Council published the Regulation on the Protection of the Right to Network Dissemination of Information, giving explicit provisions on the rights and obligations of libraries and the provision of services to readers through information networks; it is the legal basis for libraries to provide services in network environment. Ministry of Culture initiated the drafting of the Library Law at the beginning of 2001, and to expedite the process of legislation, took the lead to set up a working group responsible for overall planning and coordinating the drafting of the law. In 200, the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee published the Suggestions on Developing a Ten-Year ( ) Plan for Cultural Legislation of China (No.20, Z.X.F. [200]), suggesting that laws be developed within years and that the Library Law be included in the first five-year planning. Ministry of Culture now is actively working to promote the early introduction of the Library Law. 3.2 Increased funding to promote sustainable development of public libraries National funding serves as the fundamental safeguard for the fast development of public libraries. In recent years, the government funding for the construction of public libraries has reached to an unprecedented level, which not only has ensured the implementation of major construction projects of the country, but has fueled the

13 Public libraries in China: Development and challenge local funding and provided an effective financial guarantee for strengthening the public-welfare services of public libraries, leading to a considerable change of libraries. To accelerate the development of public libraries, efforts should be made to carefully summarize the successful experience of project construction driving funding increase [2]. For the present, Ministry of Culture works mainly in three aspects to seek national financial support: 1) Based on the existing work, making active efforts to having in place the government funding, expediting major construction projects including the Culture Sharing Project, the Project of Presenting Books to the Countryside and the Program of Preserving Chinese Ancient Books, and promoting local funding; 2) Researching and devising new major projects with significance; and 3) To address the problem of inadequate funding of grass-roots libraries, working with relevant departments to explore long-effective mechanisms. 3.3 Give an impetus to the service system of public libraries covering both urban and rural areas, with an emphasis on solving the issue of Difficult to Read Books for grass-roots people, particularly farmers Building a public cultural service system covering both urban and rural areas is the top priority of cultural building in China. The service system of public libraries is an important part of the public cultural service system, intrinsically containing at least three aspects: 1) The government paying the bill, that is, the government serves as the principal body of the construction of the service system so as to reflect the public and public-welfare attributes of public libraries; 2) Completeness of system, requiring that the service system covers urban and rural areas throughout the country to benefit all the people; and 3) Good service efficacy which enables fast and convenient services as well as satisfaction of people served. Directing at the unsound and low coverage of service networks of public libraries as well as Difficult to Read Books for people in some regions, especially undeveloped and rural areas, in a certain future period, Ministry of Culture will, as required by the overall strategy for building the public cultural service system, advocate extended services of public libraries, encourage the establishment of a central and subordinate library system in each region according to their real conditions, and make efforts to develop a public library network system in which the central libraries serve as the core and the sub-district, community, township and industry libraries as toeholds. Grass-roots libraries are always the key area of the construction of the public library service system; To build a library service system covering the entire society, the main point and difficulty both lie in construction of grass-roots libraries [3]. It is clearly stated in the Outline of Cultural Development Planning for the Period of 11 th Five-Year Plan ( ) that libraries at county (municipal) level should gradually carry out the central and subordinate library system. While giving publicity the achievements in central and subordinate library system made by libraries of such cities as Tianjin, Shanghai, Suzhou and Shenzhen, Ministry of Culture will attach high importance to summarizing and disseminating the experience in building the central and subordinate library system for grass-roots libraries represented by the 13

14 Chinese Journal of Library and Information Science Vol. 1 No. 2, 2008 Integrated Urban and Rural Public Library Service System of Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, and lay emphasis on strengthening the service system construction of public libraries at municipal and county levels. In addition, based on the development plan of the Culture Sharing Project, full efforts will be made to push the construction of the project to, by 20, establish sub-centers of the project in more than 2,800 counties (cities) across the country as well as grass-roots service points in over 600,000 administrative villages. By then, the problems of unsoundness of massive grass-roots and rural public library service networks and of Difficult to Read Books for farmers will be considerably mitigated. The latest progress is the approval and announcement of the Indexes of Land Used for Public Library Construction made, in April 2008, by Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Ministry of Land and Resources and Ministry of Culture. The Indexes proposes the principle of constructing public libraries based on population served and with a view to form a service network, introducing the concept of service radius and refining the principle for site selection of public libraries. Besides, the Public Library Construction Standards will also be published soon, which will specify the principle of determining the building size of public libraries based on population served, form a far-sighted system of indexes which systematically reflect the actual development of public libraries in China, specify the types and area proportions of functional rooms of public libraries, and raise directive opinions about setting of rooms of public libraries. The highlight of both national standards is the change in library setting standard from previously focusing on administrative division to on population served. This will help improve the present situation in which the service network system of public libraries is unsound Strengthen public library services by adhering to the human-oriented principle The basic attribute of public libraries is for the public good. In November 199, IFLA and UNESCO worked out the Public Library Manifesto, pointing out that the public library is the gateway to knowledge and shall in principle be free of charge; the public library is the responsibility of local and national authorities and must be supported by specific legislation and financed by national and local governments. Article 22 of the Constitution of the People s Republic of China specifies that the state promotes the development of literature and art, the press, broadcasting and television undertakings, publishing and distribution services, libraries, museums, cultural centers and other cultural undertakings, that serve the people and society. With the deepening of reforms in China, the cultural undertakings originally under the traditional planned economy have gradually developed in two directions: the public-welfare cultural undertakings and the for-profit cultural industry. Often known as the cultural and entertainment industry, the for-profit cultural industry aims mainly at profits, the production and circulation of which is organized by market. The public-welfare cultural undertakings refer to cultural products and services the government offers free of charge to satisfy the spiritual and cultural needs of the public and to promote morality and knowledge levels of citizens. Public libraries no

15 Public libraries in China: Development and challenge doubt belong to the category of public-welfare cultural undertakings. In the context of current market economy, the public-welfare nature of public libraries cannot be weakened, but must be enhanced continuously. The fundamental purpose of a public library is to serve readers and the general public by sticking to the human-oriented principle. To improve their services, public libraries ought to strengthen the following aspects of work in the future. The first is to stick to the principle of public welfare, promote the free access to public libraries, pay attention to the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, and provide sound services for migrant workers, the disabled and children to allow them to enjoy cultural and information rights and interests on an equal basis. The second is to strengthen service capacity building in an all-round way. For example, revising and introducing public library assessment and rating standards in line with the status quo and development requirements of the undertaking, and organizing the assessment and rating; researching and developing public library service standards specifying such aspects as service content, form, object, standard and charge of public libraries, so as to promote the improvement of service level of the entire sector. The third is to innovate in service form and means. The modern information technology, represented by computer, the Internet and digital technology, has brought about a revolutionary influence on the construction and development of public libraries in China; it is an important component of strengthening public library services to innovate in service form with modern information approach, in addition to relying on digital libraries and the Culture Sharing Project. The fourth is to actively develop grass-roots service activities, mainly targeting at grass-roots people, especially farmers, and combining locality-based and mobile service to carry out various service activities. And the fifth is to intensify public dissemination via news media, giving broad publicity the measures taken to improve services, and enhancing communication and interaction with readers, so that public library services benefit more people. China now is committed to building a more sustainable and harmonious society between economy and society, between man and nature, and among people. As an important base of education, informa tion and knowledge innovation, public libraries play a significant role in improving the knowledge and IT levels of the entire society and promoting the socio-economic development. It is expected that the public library in China will gradually narrow the gap with that of the developed countries and develop greatly in the future. References 1 Bureau of Plan and Finance, Ministry of Culture of P. R. China. China Culture And Cultural Relic Statistical Yearbook (2007). Beijing: Beijing Library Press. 2007:22;23;5;51;72;6;7. 2 Zhou, H. P. Give energetic impetus to extended library services to contribute to building a harmonious socialist society. China Culture Daily (in Chinese). May 2, Zhan, F. R. An unusual 2007 for library cause of China. China Culture Daily (in Chinese). January 20,