Towards equal and universal access to public library services in China:Consolidation of local public library systems in the context of cultural services for all

This paper reports on a LSC(Library Society of China) funded project 'Library Service Network Development' and its major findings.The primary objective of the project was to investigate the work that Chinese local governments and the library profession has devoted to consolidating regional and local library systems for equitable access since the beginning of this Millennium.The study shows that in the past few years,local governments and library professionals have proactively sought ways to establish community based libraries,build contract based main-branch relations and develop regional library service networks.The study also shows that although these endeavors have produced visible improvement to local public library systems and have accumulated valuable experience for promoting equality of access,a true and sustainable equality of public library access requires radical changes to the governing structure of Chinese public libraries:it requires a redefinition of their development agents and administrative unit.