Page 13 - Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.45, 2019

012 Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.11, 2019

1978, accounting for nearly 16% of world economy, ranking 2nd globally. The state revenue
totaled over 1.8 billion yuan, which is 162 times that of the 1978 and growed at an annual rate
of 13.6%, serving as a solid foundation for China’s drive for building a moderately prosperous
society〇. Accordingly, state financial input into the culture, education and science and technology
〇a ①
sectors is constantly increasing, and the library community thus receives continued and strong
financial support from governments of different levels.
In 2018, China’s cultural funding reached 92.833 billion yuan, an increase of 208 times over
1978, and annual growth rate was 14.3% (“Statistical communiqué of the Ministry of Culture and
Tourism of the People’s Republic of China on cultural development in 2018”, 2019). Total financial
allocation for public libraries above the county level increased nearly 350 times. Funding per
capita for books purchase rose from 0.022 yuan in 1979 to 1.77 yuan, growing annually at 11.6%.
In terms of area of library premises, it increased from 866,000 square meters in 1979 to nearly
15.96 million square meters, with an average annual increase of 7.6%. According to incomplete
statistics, in 2017, the average building area of college and university libraries in China was about
25,000 square meters, an increase of 44% over 2006; the average collection acquisition cost was
about 5.64 million yuan, an increase of 45.4% over 2006 (Secretariat of Steering Committee for
Academic Libraries of China, 2019).
In the meantime, a new round of world science and technological revolution and industrial
transformation is on the rise, bringing profound influence on the world economic order and
industrial patterns. The global supply chain is further adjusted. Chinese economy is also gradually
transforming towards a new normal that is featured with middle and high speed growth rate, as
well as high-quality and innovation-driven development. Scientific and technological innovation is
playing a increasingly more important role in supporting and driving social and economic progress.
Library services are bound to shoulder more important responsibilities and missions in terms of
offering high-quality knowledge and information service to meet people’s increasing demands
in entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as in supporting the transformation of economic
development.
The library sector itself also faces intrinsic requirement for transforming towards high quality
development. Previously, constant increase in financial input has facilitated the rapid growth in
the size and number of libraries. Currently, the task of building a network of libraries has basically
been fulfilled, and the extended development model of libraries is in need of transformation. In the
future, Chinese libraries should further focus on the changes of public needs. Library practitioners
should work towards offering services that meet the demands of patrons and promote the scientific
and intensive management and operation for better service performance based on modern
performance concepts.

① Calculated based on data from National Bureau of Statistics of China, see http://data.stats.gov.cn/easyquery.htm?cn=C01.