An empirical study on integrated platform for public library services in rural China:Based on 'Pingqiao Model' in Xinyang,Henan province

摘要

Having been excluded from the category of public libraries in China for a long time,the functions and facilities of rural libraries were scattered in diverse cultural projects,thus presenting a separately constructed and multiply managed situation,in which rural libraries were low in efficiency,weak in professional quality,and difficult to continue their development.It is urgent to promote the construction of integrated platform for services in rural libraries.Pingqiao District in Xinyang has constructed 18 standardized rural libraries in villages and towns in accordance with the concept of public libraries,and tried to integrate the functions of public library previously decentralized in projects of rural public cultural services into these rural libraries,which has led to the initial formation of an integrated platform of services in rural libraries.Although there still exist some dilemmas in the system and the mechanism and difficulties in professional development,the experience suggests that the public library system in rural China will develop in the following directions,that is,led by the developmental concept of advanced culture,adhering to the principles of government leadership and overall urban-rural development,then to construct a regional library network service system,in which municipal libraries are positioned as the core of the system,the libraries at the county level as the center,the libraries in villages,towns and agencies as the sections,the libraries in community streets and farmers’ reading rooms as the branches,and book mobiles as the supplements.