Overview

The purpose of this work is to draw a firsthand picture of libraries and information services at the end of the 20th century, a time when China is poised to assume leadership of Asia and perhaps the rest of the world in the new millennium. It is an in-depth introduction to the libraries and information services of the People's Republic of China, with particular attention to the present situation with regard to the way in which library services are structured and the types of activities in which they engage to meet the growing appetite for information throughout the country. The book is broken up into seven chapters. The first two cover the history of China and provide a general overview of its libraries. Chapters three to seven look at each of the principle types of activity in which libraries engage and offer a concluding reflection on where China's libraries seem to be heading. The final chapter is an abbreviated directory of principle libraries in China. Together, the discussion of these topics should provide information professionals, as well as students of comparative librarianship and sinologists interested in China's evolving institutional infrastructures, with a better understanding of the situation and likely prospects for libraries and information services in the People's Republic of China.

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9780810837829

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Gong and Gorman provide a substantial and useful record of the historical path supplemented by six appendices, a bibliography and index. Australian Library Journal

Author Information

Gong Yitai is the former librarian of the Shanghai Documentation and Information Centre of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and currently serves as research fellow and editor in the same institution. A scientist and information specialist by training, he has been active for many years in library and information science organizations and is the author of numerous articles in both Chinese and English. He is currently a member of the editorial board of Asian Libraries. G.E. Gorman is senior lecturer of the School of Communications and Information Management at Victoria University of Wellington, editor of Asian Libraries and associate editor of Library Collections, Acquisitions and Technical Services. He is a member of the Regional Standing Committee for Asia and Oceania of IFLA and involved in a number of research projects in Asia.

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