Page 117 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2018 Vol. 44

116 Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.10, 2018

technology, our society has moved forward from the information age to the data age and begun
to embrace the computation age. Information resources have become digitalized in an all-round
manner and knowledge content has become media-rich, intelligent, and accessible for all (X.L.
Zhang, 2018). Reading habits have also undergone drastic changes. The traditional mode of public
product delivery relying on libraries and library collections can hardly meet needs of the public
for acquiring diversified information services at any time and in any places. County level public
libraries in some areas therefore are suffering double difficulties of “institutional malfunction”
under government failure and weak time-effectiveness and availability of information service,
which is demonstrated by a structural fracture between the supply side and the demand side of
public cultural product delivery.

1 Problems proposed: Balance between incremental investment and
〇a ①
performance in the construction of county level public libraries

Thanks to large-scale state fiscal investment, China’s public librarianship has made significant
progress over the past 15 years from 2001 to 2015, which conforms to the nation’s overall
expansionary economic and social development. The number of public libraries increased from
2,696 in 2001 to 3,139 in 2015, with an average annual growth rate of 1.09%. The total volume
of books from the collection of public libraries nationwide increased from 418.04 million copies
(pieces) to 838.44 million copies (pieces), with an average annual growth rate of 5.1%. The volume
of books per capita from the collection of public libraries rose from 0.33 copy to 0.61 copy, with
an average annual growth rate of 4.54% 〇b ②.

① The term “incremental investment” mentioned in the thesis refers to the continual increase of total public fiscal investment in
the cultural sector which has grown at a rate no less than the state’s total fiscal spending. Statistics indicate that cultural undertaking
funds nationwide increased from 7.099 billion RMB yuan in 2001 to 68.297 billion RMB yuan in 2015, with an average annual
growth rate of 17.55%, a figure higher than the average annual growth rate of national fiscal spending which registers 17.27%.
Comparing to the stock of public resources deposited in the cultural sector, the definition of “incremental investment” demonstrates
a dynamic process of state fiscal management and can help develop a theoretic basis for the revision and modification of fiscal
policies for the cultural sector.
② Data source: China Yearbook of Cultural and Cultural Heritage Statistics. National Library of China Publishing House, 2016.
The data about the number of public libraries and their total volumes of collections are cited from the China Yearbook of Cultural
and Cultural Heritage Statistics (editions of 2002 to 2016). The data about the number of countries is cited from the China
Yearbook of Civil Statistics (editions of 2002 to 2016). Please see explanations of corresponding indicators in the yearbooks and
data sources will not be repeated in following parts of the thesis. It needs to be noted that the National Bureau of Statistics divided
economic areas of the country into eastern, central, western and northeast areas in 2011, in accordance with Several Opinions of
the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Promoting the Rise of the Central Area, Opinions the State Council on the
Implementation of Several Policy Measures Concerning the Great Development of the Western Area, as well as in the spirit of the
16th National Congress of the CPC. Considering that regional social and economic development has significant impact on the level
of public cultural service, the thesis carries out regional research on county level public libraries in accordance with this regional
classification. Specifically, the eastern area includes Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong,
Guangdong and Hainan. The central area includes Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei and Hunan. The western area includes
Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang. The
northeast area includes Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang.