Page 144 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2018 Vol. 44

Inspection and reflection on the free open policy of

public cultural venues in China: Centered on the public
libraries 〇a ①

*
CHEN Geng & BAI Haohui
National Institute of Cultural Development, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China

Abstract
Taking public libraries as an example, this study inspected and reflected the free admission policy of
public cultural venues in China applying the theory of cultural rights and policy process. The results
indicate that the free admission policy has achieved many important effects while many problems also
exists: constant funding subsidies are difficult to meet the increasing demand for supply and service
quantity generated by free admission policy, the funding apportionment mechanism has not been fully
implemented, the subsidy standard based on the hierarchical differences is difficult to fulfill the needs
of public libraries of different scales, the supervision and evaluation mechanism is lacking, the policy
incentives and restraints are insufficient. The causes of these problems are related to the lack of timely
adjustment of policy, the indeterminate division of central and regional cultural powers and expenditure
responsibilities, the mismatch between expenditure responsibilities and financial resources, the policy
costs are higher than benefits. Therefore, this paper suggests some solutions such as completing the
classified subsidy standard, designing multiple comprehensive standards, establishing a dynamic
adjustment mechanism of funding guarantee, innovating the mode of financial guarantee mechanism,
establishing a performance evaluation system, forming an incentive and restraint mechanism.

Keywords
Public culture, Public libraries, Free access, Policy assessment

0 Introduction

In 2011, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Finance issued The Opinions on Promoting
the Free Admission of National Art Museums, Public Libraries, and Cultural Centers (Stations)
(hereinafter referred to as The Opinions). In 2013, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of
Culture promulgated The Interim Measures for the Administration of Free admission Special Funds
for Central Subsidized Local Art Museums, Public Libraries, and Cultural Centers (Stations). These
two documents promoted the free admission of art museums, public libraries and cultural centers
(stations), thus the free admission of public cultural venues is becoming more normal, institutionalized
and standardized. As a public policy to promote the protection of citizens’ cultural rights and interests

① This article is an outcome of the major project “Study on the Financial Guarantee Standard and Method in the Construction and
Operation of Public Cultural Service System” (No.13ZD04) supported by National Social Science Foundation of China.
* Correspondence should be addressed to CHEN Geng, Email: chengeng127@126.com,ORCID: 0000-0003-3842-803X