Page 86 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2018 Vol. 43

086 Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.9, 2017

competent and have their own ideas and customs in serving readership, while in the central-
branch library construction, it is to bring together the libraries that run independently within the
area, and centralized management is only carried out in the unified procurement, delivery, Borrow
Anywhere, Return Anywhere (BARA) service of literature resources. The central and branch
libraries adhere to the same service standards, while main libraries provide branch libraries with
service instruction and technological support instead of personnel appointment. The central and
branch libraries in Dongguan, Qaramay, and Tongchuan are the examples. If the administrative
departments of the branch libraries insist in not accepting personnel appointment by the main
libraries, or the main libraries fail to appoint staff in time, the main libraries can propose other
plans and try to reach an agreement with the construction bodies involved, so as to make up for
deficiency and ensure the service quality of the branch libraries by strengthening management on
them. For example, to ensure the normal opening and service quality of the loose-type branches,
Changsha Library has conducted regular inspection on its branches. For those failing in the annual
inspection, they will be exempted from being the branch libraries of Changsha Library with their
branch certificate cancelled (two were removed from the branches in 2016). Also, Changsha
Library is in charge of the annual funds of its branches (RMB 20,000), which will be allocated
in accordance with the branches’ performance in the annual inspection, so as to encourage the
branches to open normally and abide by the service standards. However, this is just a flexible case.
According to the objective laws of main-branch libraries and the requirements in the Guidance, we
should try our best to implement centralized management in those advanced areas.

2.2 About “County Level”

In the Guidance issued by the five ministries, including the Ministry of Culture, it is clearly aimed
at “county level”. This does not mean that it is unnecessary to build central and branch libraries
in the provincial capital or prefecture-level cities, while the document mainly emphasizes the
following points.
1) To build county libraries stronger. Since the new century, China has basically achieved
the goal that every county has two libraries at least. In 2015, there were 2,734 county libraries
nationwide, with the number of readership received reaching 3.2249 billion and the number of
book loans 2.5368 billion. Even though the financial allocation to these libraries occupies less
than 26% of the overall budget for public libraries, the percentage of the readers they have served
accounts for 55%, with 50% of the books loaned, which makes the county libraries the main force
of public library service (see Table 2).
Table 2 demonstrates that the financial allocation and performances of the county libraries are
rather imbalanced in various places. Comparing the county libraries in the East and those in the
Mid-West, the gaps in financial allocation, readership reception, and book loans are 4 times, 4.5
times, and 4 times. Comparing Shanghai and Liaoning, which are both in the East, the gaps in