世界经济危机下英国公共图书馆的生存与发展

The Survival and Development of UK Public Libraries under the Global Financial Crisis

在经济危机的重创下,英国公共图书馆面临经费大幅缩减、图书馆关闭、馆员失业和服务质量大幅下降等困境。英国联合政府在拓展图书馆运营管理模式、加强与社区居民的融合、引领社会数字革新和引导馆员的角色转变四个主要方面做出努力和变革。英国的经验可为我国公共图书馆事业的健康发展提供借鉴。

This paper discusses the survival and development of the public libraries in UK under the current global financial crisis, as well as the severe problems of public funding cuts, public library closures, staff loss and significant decrease in service quality. Specifically, this paper discusses the emergence, development and current situation of UK library crisis from three main perspectives, namely, the UK government, the library community, and the general public. This paper aims to articu- late and provide useful indications and suggestions for the development of public libraries in China. This paper adopts an inductive interpretive philosophical lens and is developed based on systematic retrieval, critical re- view and analysis of the existing literature. The analysis was performed in four theoretical perspectives： the outburst of the global financial crisis, societal changes under the impact of the economic recession, political response and change, as well as the influences on UK public library and library service. In order to obtain both holistic and in-depth understandings, the literature review includes academic articles, statistics and official reports published by the UK government, public reports and announcement published by various professional associations （ such as the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals）, and relevant news articles and com- ments on major newspapers and web portals in UK. All articles selected were published since 2008 and were carefully screened. The literature review shows that public libraries in UK performed very active and positive roles in the financial crisis. The public libraries not only offered professional education and training sessions to the public, but also provided hope, courage and spiritual support to people. Furthermore, public libraries have become ＂shelter in hard times＂ and an indispensable foundation for the stability and recovery of the UK economy. Nevertheless, in order to respond to the financial crisis, the UK government has established and implemented a series of strategies, which aimed at reducing public investments and which included substantial public library funding cuts. There- fore, more than 600 public libraries have been forced to close and the number of library staff have been decreased by 5 300 approximately. Moreover, the library service quality has declined significantly and thus can barely satisfy users＇ require- ments and demands. In order to resolve the emerging problems in the public libraries, the UK government performed a wide range investiga- tion. In May 2013, the government published a reformation plan for the public libraries, entitled as ＂The Library of the Future＂. In this plan, the UK government proposes four priorities to be achieved in the following ten years. The four priori- ties are： exploring innovative library operation and management mechanisms, encouraging and reinforcing the collaboration with local communities, leading the implementation and adoption of digital technological development, and transforming the traditional roles of librarians. The public library crisis in UK indicates that the development of public libraries not just requires diligent and persistent contributions made by the librarians, but also needs constant supports from the general public. It is also important that gov- ernment should adopt a correct view on the core value of public libraries in the social, economic and technological develop- ment. Also, government should provide stable and consistent political supports to the development of public libraries. Mo- reover, public libraries should be able to identify and analyse external influences on the library operation and management, as well as should be capable of mitigating and resolving potential negative impacts from the external environment. 4 figs. 1 tab. 31 refs.