Page 33 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2015 Vol. 41

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

Then how to rebalance the development of libraries in urban and rural areas? Drawing upon
international experience, China has been exploring ways to establish a central-branch library
system since 2000 (Qiu, L. Z. Yu, & Xu, 2008). Under the central-branch library system, one or
several bodies are responsible for building a cluster of public libraries that provide standardized
services for people within a specified geographical distance (Fan, 2008). The central library takes
a leading role in coordinating resource sharing among branch libraries. Library materials are
purchased, catalogued and distributed in a centralized way; policies and services are standardized;
circulation is allowed across the libraries (J. Zhang & Ni, 2011).
In January 2015, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the
State Council jointly issued the Views on accelerating the construction of modern public cultural
service system. It is made clear in the Views that “efforts should be made to establish the central-
branch library system with county-level culture centers and libraries as the center and to strengthen
the management of village libraries in a coordinated way, so as to integrate and connect the public
culture resources in rural and urban communities” and “to narrow the gap in basic public culture
services between rural and urban areas”(Xinhua News Agency, 2015). The Views pave the way for
universalizing the practice of the county-level central-branch public library system.

1 Counties: Suitable units for establishing the central-branch library system

“County” is the basic units of administrative divisions in China. A county is a market-oriented and
self-contained area where local characteristics are salient and resources allocation is optimized,
with the county-level administrative division as its geographic coverage and county-level
government as the governing body (Q. Wang, 2011, p.9). Taking counties as the basic units for
balancing the development of libraries in urban and rural areas best suits the national conditions of
China and meets the needs of building public libraries.
(1) In the network of administrative divisions in China, counties are important hubs and nodes
for promoting the balanced development between rural and urban areas
Most of the 2 853 counties in China cover both urban and rural areas, playing an important role
1①
in the interconnection and interaction between urban and rural areas. Statistics show that about
214 million households (50.7% of the total number) and 708 million people (52.6% of the total
population) are living in the rural areas of counties . Counties naturally become the basic units
2②
most suitable for balancing the development of public services in the integration of rural and urban
areas.
(2) County-level governments have the mandate to balance the development between urban and
rural areas in their administrative jurisdictions

① Data source: The Ministry of Culture of China. (2014). Chinese Culture and Cultural Relics Statistical Yearbook 2014. Beijing:
The National Library of China Publishing House, p.569.
② Data source: The Institute of Population and Labor Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. (2011). China
Population Yearbook 2011. Beijing: The Periodical Office of China Population Yearbook, pp.319-321.