China, one of the four great ancient civilisations, is a country five thousand years old and with a splendid national culture. The history of Chinese libraries can be traced back thousands of years. The development of Chinese libraries, especially their current situation, is gaining more and more attention among the international community. In present‐day society globalisation also means the rapid exchange and sharing of information between different countries. Libraries, with their rich resources and valuable services, can serve as important bridges connecting different cultures and peoples.
For a long time communications between Western libraries and Chinese libraries were suspended for political reasons, and by cultural, linguistic and geographical factors. Most Western libraries know little about the past and present development of libraries and information services in China. Although it is still backward compared with the West, Chinese librarianship is striving to catch up with Western librarianship in theory and practice; the gap seems to be being narrowed. Gong Yitai and G.E. Gorman help us to know more about Chinese libraries in a general and thorough introduction to their book.
Gong Yitai, a famous scholar as well as librarian and information specialist in China who works at the Shanghai Documentation and Information Centre of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been very active for many years in the library and information community; he has numerous writings on the theory and practice of library and information services. Professor G.E. Gorman is a senior lecturer in the School of Communications and Information Management at the Victoria University of Wellington. He has published some 20 books and more than 100 papers, many with a focus on the developing world. This book is a joint venture with their individual perspectives of personal experience and critical outsider respectively.
The book consists of eight chapters and six appendices. Chapter 1 presents a broad historical overview of libraries in China from their origins to the late 1980s, reflecting the changing process of thousands of years, with an emphasis on present‐day librarianship. Almost all the momentous events concerning libraries are described in the book. Chapter 2 gives the present‐day scenario of libraries and information services in China, composed of such sections as library principles of modern China, structural profiles of library and information systems, professional organisations, career structure and education, and research in library science. From this chapter we get a clear picture of what libraries and information services are engaged in.
Chapters 3 to 6 look at the main professional library practices in China, including collection development and resource sharing (Chapter 3), cataloguing, classification and universal bibliographic control (Chapter 4), readers and information services (Chapter 5), and automation and information technology (Chapter 6). In these fields the authors discuss the present level of development from theory to practice. Due to the unique characteristics of Chinese culture as a whole and of Chinese character as a specific issue, many questions such as cataloguing rules, classification schemes, fee‐charging and Chinese character processing are distinct to China and may be more difficult than those of English‐speaking countries. Through common efforts by hundreds of thousands of Chinese librarians, increasing numbers of library practices are keeping in line with advanced levels elsewhere in the world.
The concluding chapter makes a brief introduction to a number of major libraries in collection features, services provided and contact methods: these are the National Library of China, national documentation and information centres, special libraries, public libraries, academic libraries and institutes of scientific and technical information. The appendices are useful for details of various topics.
The book’s publication is significant in three respects. First, it summarises the successes and failures of Chinese libraries in the past. This is a difficult job, requiring wisdom and deep thinking by the authors. Only by drawing on experience and lessons can an enterprise make progress, and this is also true for librarianship. Second, it provides a readable and useful reference tool through which one can learn systematically about the past and current development of Chinese libraries, presenting a clear picture of libraries and information services in China which will help strengthen mutual understanding and more exchanges between the West and China. It is indispensable reading for those interested in Chinese libraries or making a comparative study. Third, it serves as a bridge to seek more coordination or cooperation between China and the West in standardisation of library and information services. There is a long way to go in this respect, but the trend is clearly certain. As a teacher of library science in China I hope that more librarians in the developed countries will read this book and learn more about present‐day libraries in China.
