Page 8 - Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.45, 2019

RAO Quan / The experience and transformation of Chinese librarianship 007

colleges and universities〇, as well as about 250,000 libraries in middle and primary schools〇. The
〇a ①
〇b ②
Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences have established
internally-operated documentation services at all levels of scientific and research institutions. The
publication administrations have set up 587,000 reading rooms in rural areas (“Ten ministries
issue paper to promote the reform of “Farmers’ Reading Rooms”: What are the solutions to
insufficiently-used resources”, 2019). Trade unions of all levels have built over 100,000 libraries
for employees of government organs, public service institutions and enterprises（“Over 100,000
worker bookhouses have been built nationwide”, 2018). National standards, such as The Service
Standards of Public Libraries, are successively issued in recent years. Rules for College and
University Libraries, and Rules for Libraries at Middle School and Primary Schools were revised
and issued in 2015 and 2018 respectively. The Public Library Law of the People’s Republic of
China entered into effect on January 1, 2018. The constant improvement of the legal system that
covers national statutes, departmental rules, local laws and regulations have effectively supported
the scientific management and standardized operation of libraries of all types.
An effective cross-sector coordinating mechanism has also been formulated among different
types of libraries. In 1957, the State Council passed the Coordinating Plans for Libraries in China.
Several central and regional library committees were established, with the national library, public
libraries, libraries for institutions of higher learning and special libraries as member institutions.
Established in 1979, the Library Society of China currently has 17 affiliated committees. Local
library societies have been set up in each province, autonomous region or municipality. Such a
system effectively enhances the exchanges and cooperation among different types of libraries.
Since the 1990s, the China Academic Library & Information System (CALIS), the National
Science and Technology Library (NSTL), the Alliance of Libraries in Beijing, and the Alliance
of Libraries in Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Anhui provinces have been set up, which has played a
significant role in promoting cross-regional and cross-sector library cooperation.

1.2 Promoting balanced development of librarianship under unified planning

China is a large developing country. The imbalanced social and economic development between
rural and urban areas and among different regions leads to the inequitable access to library

① This is based on estimated data. According to statistics of the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China (MOE), as
of June 15, 2019, there are 2,688 regular colleges and universities (independently-operated colleges included) in China (see http://
www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xxgk/s5743/s5744/201906/t20190617_386200.html). The Basic Operation Indicators for Regular Colleges
and Universities (Trial Version) issued by the MOE lists the indicator for books per student. Based on this, it is estimated that a
library system is established in every college or university.
② This is based on estimated data. According to Comprehensive Statistics of Technical Facilities for Education in China’s Middle-
and Primary Schools, in 2012 there are approximately 158,600 libraries (reading rooms) in primary schools, and 99,900 libraries
(reading rooms) in junior and senior middle schools. However, the data of this two categories are slightly declined compared with
that of year 2011.