Page 131 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2018 Vol. 44

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

-0.75. It shows that the growth of the number of books borrowed from county level libraries in the
western area primarily depends on the growth of local population and library employees. Fiscal
subsidy has minor impact. Library development is not closely linked with regional economic
development.
4) The elasticity index of fiscal subsidy to the number of books borrowed from county level
libraries in the northeast area is 0.46; that of fiscal subsidy to permanent resident population by
the end of that very year is -24.35. It shows that in the northeast area, growth of fiscal subsidy can
increase the number of books borrowed, but with weak influence. Meanwhile, population growth
did not affect the number of books borrowed.

3.1.3 “System idle” (L.S.Wang, 2014) and “introverted development” of county level libraries
〇a ①
The period of 2001-2015 saw rapid growth of county economy in China. However, regression
analysis of circulation person-time and the number of books borrowed from county level libraries
indicates that relationship of positive impact was not developed between the growth of person-time
and changes in the number of books borrowed on the one hand and growth of county economy
on the other hand. To some extent, the development of county level libraries deviated from the
general context of socio-economic development and primarily depended on ever-increasing public
investment by the government. Moreover, “system idle” emerged along with ever-declining
performance. An introverted management structure featuring “accepting resources from higher
levels, internal circulation of resources, and introverted management” has taken shape in grassroots
cultural institutions.
“System idle” has led to ever-declining importance and development potential damage to
grassroots cultural institutions. Calculation results indicate that from 2001 to 2015, the rate of
contribution of investment in county level libraries to total investment in the sector of public
libraries nationwide remained between 0.3 and 0.6. While contribution varied among different
areas, the rate kept constant over the period of 15 years. However, there existed significant
fluctuation with respect to the rate of contribution of total output of county level libraries to the

① “System idle” refers to enclosed operation of cultural institutions that can barely have links with external environments outside
the sector or even have no links at all, thus giving rise to a self supply based management and operation mechanism relying on the
sector’s own resources. Liu Shangxi, director of the Institute of Fiscal Science of the Ministry of Finance proposed the definition
of “reform idle” at the 2015 China Reform Forum. “Reform idle” is like “driving on the ice” during which “wheels are running but
the car is not moving.” Wang Liesheng, fellow researcher of Chinese National Academy of Arts, also put forward the definition
of “institutional idle” (Wang Liesheng: Keeping Alert on “Institutional Idle” during Cultural Construction. Reference Journal for
Cadres, issue 18 of 2014). The National Institute of Cultural Development of Wuhan University carried out residence investigations
of township cultural stations nationwide in 2012 and 2016 respectively (62 cultural stations investigated in 2012 and 53 cultural
stations investigated in 2016). Investigators carried out residence observations and documentations for 30 consecutive days at
these stations. Observations show that the number of station visitors per day reduced from 22 person times in 2012 to 15 person
times in 2016. There were 9 stations which had 50 daily visits on average in 2012, accounting for 14.5% of the total surveyed.
The figure dropped to 4 in 2016, which made up only 7.5% of the total surveyed. Average daily visits of 66.7% of the total stations
surveyed are lower than the average figure of 2012, among which 47.1% have only less than 5 daily visits. This shows that there
exists enclosed “institution idle” in some cultural stations (see A Survey Report on the Development State of China’s Township Level
Comprehensive Cultural Stations: Based on Surveys of 54 Township Cultural Stations from 20 Provinces of China. The research
team of the National Institute of Cultural Development of Wuhan University, December 2016).