An Unbalanced and Inadequate Development of the Chinese Public Libraries’ Public Culture Services: An Investigation of 31 Senior Library Specialists

Abstract In response to the new principal contradiction between people’s growing needs for a better life and the inadequate and imbalanced development in different social fields in China, Chinese public libraries have fast developed Public Cultural Services (PCS) to meet users’ needs. This study investigates senior library specialists’ perspectives on unbalanced and inadequate development of Chinese public libraries’ PCS. The study collected data from 31 senior library specialists from 10 provinces or municipalities through online survey. In addition, eight experts from public libraries were also interviewed. The data reveals that the main roles of public libraries providing PCS include ensuring equal access to cultural resources, protecting cultural heritage, developing unique cultural products or service, and promoting public cultural products to ensure cultural diversity. Provincial and prefectural libraries take most of the PCS’ responsibilities while county, township, and village libraries’ responsibilities are less. Moreover, there is unbalanced development and inadequate development of library PCS in China. External factors such as economy development, government expenditure on cultural activities, and education development, and internal factors such as internal management weakness and libraries’ investment on cultural service are the top factors. This means that if Chinese public libraries want to better improve PCS, they should try to seek financial resource support and improve their internal management. This study is valuable for public library management and policymakers at different bureaucratic levels to understand issues of PCS in China. It also helps public libraries better learn their strengths and weaknesses in PCS.