Page 221 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2015 Vol. 41

220 Journal of Library Science in China, Vol. 7, 2015

carefully screened.
The literature review shows that public libraries in UK performed very active and positive
roles in the financial crisis. The public libraries not only offered professional education and
training sessions to the public, but also provided hope, courage and spiritual support for people.
Furthermore, public libraries have become“shelter in hard times”and an indispensable
foundation for the stability and recovery of the UK economy.
Nevertheless, in order to respond to the financial crisis, the UK government has established
and implemented a series of strategies which aim at reducing public investments and include
substantial public library funding cuts. Therefore, more than 600 public libraries have been forced
to close and the number of library staff has been decreased by 5 300 approximately. Moreover, the
library service quality has declined significantly and thus can barely satisfy users’ requirements
and demands.
In order to resolve the emerging problems in the public libraries, the UK government performed
a wide range investigation. In May 2013, the government published a reformation plan for
the public libraries, entitled as“The Library of the Future”. In this plan, the UK government
proposes four priorities to be achieved in the following ten years. The four priorities are: exploring
innovative library operation and management mechanisms, encouraging and reinforcing the
collaboration with local communities, leading the implementation and adoption of digital
technological development, and transforming the traditional roles of librarians.
The public library crisis in UK indicates that the development of public libraries not just requires
diligent and persistent contributions made by the librarians, but also needs constant supports from
the general public. It is also important that government should adopt a correct view on the core
value of public libraries in the social, economic and technological development. Also, government
should provide stable and consistent political supports to the development of public libraries.
Moreover, public libraries should be able to identify and analyze external influences on the library
operation and management, as well as be capable of mitigating and resolving potential negative
impacts from the external environment.

Theory, practice and inspiration of green library in USA

Xu CUI1 ∗

Currently, most of the libraries are not fully recognized as green libraries yet. The green library
is not equivalent to the green building. People generally ignore the internal energy saving
management and the environmental accomplishment education of the public. Misunderstandings
and superficial practice are two major problems currently exist in green library construction.

* Correspondence should be addressed to Xu CUI, Email: cu525.student@sina.com