Page 224 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2018 Vol. 42

Extended English abstracts of articles published in the Chinese edition of Journal of Library Science in China 2016 Vol.42 223

of the unique Japanese membership library.
This study may have a reference value to the development of the private library in China. Unlike
the Japanese membership libraries, the private libraries in China often target children, students
and women as their potential users and many of those libraries are still struggling to survive
economically. It is worth considering questions as: what kind of libraries do the young and middle-
aged Chinese white-collar workers need? Do the conditions that nourish the development of the
membership libraries in Japan exist in China? Is there a role for the membership libraries to play
in the urban public space or the “Third Space” being discussed among the library professionals in
China?
Evidently, membership libraries are not public libraries or business libraries, or bookstores, or
cafes, or community centers etc., but they possess certain characteristics of all of these facilities；
they are more like a new facility, or new species created to meet the new social needs. Membership
libraries provide their users with not only a public space, but also a private space, where users can
talk, relax, work, eat and drink accordingly and switch freely between public space and private
space. This singles membership libraries out of other libraries or facilities in satisfying the needs of
their targeted customers: the Japanese white collar class. This kind of space did not exist in the past
and has its unique niche.

No. 6

On accelerating the renaissance of public libraries in central China

LI Guoxin & ZHANG Yong
①a *
Since the implementation of the 12th Five-Year Plan in 2011, compared with the continuous
growth of public libraries in Eastern China and the rapid development of public libraries
in Western China, public libraries in Central China have been slow-growing in the “central
lowland”. There are four main manifestations: 1) The disproportionate resources to the population
served. Central China accounts for 37.4% of China’s population, but none of its main indicators
of public library development has reached the corresponding level. 2) The development speed is
relatively slow. In comparison with the growth rate of public libraries in Western China, Central
China appears to lag behind. 3) The level of equalization is low. This is the most distinctive
character of “central lowland”. Both the per capita investment and the output in Central China’s
public libraries are lower compared to Eastern and Western China. 4) The comparable service
costs are rising. In the past five years, the per capita service costs in Central China have been
showing an upward trend, while per capita costs have been declining in Eastern China. At the
* Correspondence should be addressed to LI Guoxin,Email:ligx@pku.edu.cn,ORCID:0000-0003-0616-0438