Page 181 - Journal of Library Science in China 2020 Vol.46

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180 Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.12, 2020

States and China. The objective evidence for the rise of the arrival rate can be found through the
empirical research and the empirical rules about the library events and the arrival rate may also be
summarized for the library science theory. Therefore, this paper uses continuous time, nationwide
library data from South Korea to conduct an empirical research on public library events and library
arrival rate based on the panel data model.
As the explanatory variables of the regression model, the empirical research measures the
demand equilibrium of public libraries by the arrival rate. The main explanatory variables focused
on three types of library events, including user guidance program, cultural program and reading
program. Other explanatory variables include economic level, education level, average age,
industrial structure, urbanization rate, number of libraries, budget, number of librarians, book
collections and non-book collections. Two statistical laws can be deduced through the statistical
inference of static and dynamic panel data model. First, the cultural programs and the reading
programs affect the arrival rate positively. Second, the positive effect of cultural programs and
reading programs is greater than other factors. Therefore, two conclusions can be drawn from the
empirical research. First, in the Internet era, hosting public library events is the main reason for
the rise of arrival rate. Second, among the library events, cultural programs and reading programs
are specific reasons for the rise of the arrival rate, and the effect of cultural programs is more
prominent.
The practical implication of conclusion lies in pointing out the possible path to increase the
arrival rate for public libraries. Since the practical experience of South Korea is independent of
social and economic conditions, the public library arrival rate in less developed areas could also
be promoted through library events. The main originality of this study lies in the perspective and
method. Specifically, this study explains the arrival rate of public libraries from the perspective
of library events, and conducts an empirical research based on the combination of static and
dynamic panel data model, which ensures the novelty of the perspective and the robustness of the
conclusions. However, due to the limitation of datasets, the conclusions of this paper on public
library events and arrival rate are still slightly insufficient in extrapolation and generality. More
practical laws may be found if the panel data at the library level in China is available.

Review and reflections on little free libraries
CAO Lei〇
〇a*
Since 2009, Little Free Libraries (LFL for short) started in the United States and set off a wave
of book sharing around the world. The rise of this movement is directly related to the tradition of
American charity culture and the spread of book desert. In more than 10 years of development,

* Correspondence should be addressed to CAO Lei, Email: caolei@pku.edu.cn, ORCID: 0000-0001-9674-2823.