Promoting Library Development

Guangming Daily December 20, 2017

The Law of the People’s Republic of China on Public Libraries came into effect on January 1, 2018. At a scheduled time, the Ministry of Culture, together with relevant departments, will inspect the implementation of the law. The inspection will focus on the performance of duties of local governments at all levels and public library services.

In recent years, new forms of libraries such as the “digital library” and the “24-hour library” have sprung up. But, development of public libraries in China is far from satisfactory. Statistics show that at the end of 2016, China had 3,153 public libraries, holding 902 million books, which means one public library for every 438,500 citi- zens and one book per 1.534 citizens.

The law on public libraries specifies the responsibility of local governments and provides a legal guarantee for the building of a public library service system. Some local governments will need to learn from scratch how to provide such professional services.

Through inspection of implementation of the law, the Ministry of Culture should not only spot practices not in compliance with the law, but also collect experiences based on advanced practices. The inspection is of great significance for encouraging public libraries nationwide to improve their facilities, managerial standards, and service efficiency.

However, inspection is only a top-down approach to improve the law’s implementation. Public library administrators should deliberate more on responding to the needs of the public and providing a better service for readers.