Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Public Library

(Adopted at the 17th Session of the Standing Committee of the 16th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on November 28, 2024)

Article 1 With a view to promoting the high-quality development of the public library industry, advancing the construction of a bookish society, safeguarding the basic cultural rights and interests of the public, improving the scientific and cultural literacy and social civilization of the public, inheriting human civilization, strengthening cultural confidence, and promoting the construction of a socialist international cultural metropolis, these Regulations are hereby formulated in accordance with the Public Cultural Service Guarantee Law of the People's Republic of China, the Public Library Law of the People's Republic of China and other laws and administrative rules, and in the light of the actual circumstances of this Municipality.

Article 2 These Regulations apply to the establishment, operation, and services activities of public libraries within the administrative area of this Municipality.

Article 3 This Municipality shall adhere to the direction of advancing socialist advanced culture, put the people at the center, take the socialist core values as the guide, follow the principles of government leadership, social participation, systematic planning and coordinated development, equal service, high quality and efficiency, and thus to promote the development of public libraries.

Article 4 The municipal and district people's governments shall incorporate the development of public libraries into their respective national economic and social development plans, and incorporate the construction of public libraries into their national spatial planning.

Governments at all levels shall increase investment in public libraries established by the government based on the economic and social development situation, include the required funds in the local government budget, and timely and fully allocate them.

Article 5 The municipal and district cultural and tourism departments shall be responsible for the management of public libraries within their respective administrative regions.

The relevant departments of development and reform, finance, education, science and technology, civil affairs, planning and resources, housing and urban-rural construction management, human resources and social security, news and publishing, etc. shall jointly do a good job in the management of public libraries in accordance with their respective responsibilities.

Article 6 Natural persons, legal persons, and other organizations at home and abroad are encouraged to support the construction of public libraries in this Municipality by way of donating funds and equipment, building museums and facilities, etc. in accordance with the law.

Article 7 Industry associations, societies, and other organizations related to public libraries shall play a guiding, coordinating, and serving role, strengthen industry self-discipline, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of members, conduct academic research, exchanges, and training, and promote the improvement of academic level and professional ability of practitioners.

Article 8 This Municipality shall, by relying on the integrated promotion mechanism of cultural fields in the Yangtze River Delta region, strengthen cooperation in the exchange, protection, development and utilization of public library literature, information consulting and research, as well as reader services, thus to promote the high-quality integrated development of public libraries in the Yangtze River Delta region.

This Municipality's public libraries are encouraged and supported to strengthen communication and cooperation with public libraries in other provinces and cities, and carry out collaborative services such as cross regional literature borrowing, digital resource sharing, and joint reading promotion.

It is necessary to encourage international exchanges and cooperation in academic, literature, personnel, and other aspects of public libraries.

Article 9 This Municipality shall establish a convenient and practical public library service network that covers both urban and rural areas.

The municipal and district people's governments shall establish their own public libraries. Town/township people's governments and sub-district offices shall establish public libraries according to local conditions, taking into account factors such as population size, population distribution, environment, and transportation conditions. Town/township people's governments and sub-district offices with conditions may establish public libraries with independent buildings.

Citizens, legal persons, and other organizations are encouraged to establish public libraries in this Municipality in accordance with relevant laws and rules.

The establishment, change, and termination of public libraries shall be registered in accordance with relevant national provisions.

Town/township people's governments and sub-district offices can use comprehensive service facilities such as residential (village) cultural activity rooms to establish residential (village) libraries to serve urban and rural residents.

Article 10 The Shanghai Library established by the Municipal People's Government shall serve as the central library of the city's public libraries, playing the role of a local literature collection center, a joint cataloging center, an ancient book protection center, and a library coordination and collaboration center, and undertaking the following tasks:

1. draft and organize the implementation of relevant business standards and specifications for public libraries in this Municipality, provide business guidance and training;

2. organize the cataloging of public library documents;

3. construct, maintain, and manage a public library universal borrowing and returning service network;

4. guide the system construction and operation of the main and branch public libraries;

5. plan in an overall way the protection, development, and utilization of ancient books and other precious historical documents;

6. manage in an overall way the construction and operation of this Municipality's public library information management system, and promote the digital construction of public libraries; 

7. and promote academic research and international exchanges related to libraries.

Article 11 This Municipality shall establish a main and branch library system in accordance with national provisions, with district public library as the main library in the administrative area, and town/township (sub-district) public library and residential (village) library as the branch library or grassroots service point, to promote regional linkage and sharing of public book resources and extend high-quality services to the grassroots level. The main library should strengthen the business guidance and service training for the branch library or grassroots service point, as well as the resource allocation of literature information and reading promotion.

It is necessary to encourage urban study room, rural study house, staff study house, as well as libraries (rooms) of schools, research institutions, enterprises, etc. that meet the conditions to join the main and branch library system.

Article 12 The construction of public libraries should comply with relevant national standards and design specifications; among them, those built together with other facilities should have independent partitions that meet the functional and environmental requirements of public libraries.

Article 13 Public libraries shall be, in accordance with the provisions of the State and this Municipality, equipped with reasonably job positions and professional personnel.

The director of a public library established by the government shall possess corresponding cultural knowledge, professional knowledge, organizational management ability, and work experience.

Article 14 Public libraries shall establish and improve management systems, strengthen professional management, and carry out daily operational management work such as document information resource management, personnel management, facility and equipment management and maintenance.

Town/township (sub-district) public libraries can introduce social forces to participate in operation and management in accordance with relevant provisions. Relevant social forces shall provide services in accordance with relevant standards and norms, improve efficiency and service levels.

Article 15 Public libraries shall extensively collect literature information and strengthen the collection of literature related to red culture, Shanghai style culture, and Jiangnan culture. They shall optimize the allocation of library collections based on readers' reading needs, deepen the research and organization of library collections, and form themed and distinctive collections.

The municipal and district public libraries shall systematically collect local literature information in their administrative areas, preserve and inherit the local history, urban and local culture of their administrative areas, and gradually form a systematic collection of local literature information.

The total collection and newly added collection of literature in public libraries established by the government should comply with the implementation standards of basic public services in this Municipality.

Article 16 Public libraries shall purchase literature and information in accordance with relevant provisions of the State and this Municipality. Public libraries are encouraged to establish a consultation system for literature information procurement, and solicit opinions from the general public and relevant industry organizations on the types, quantities, and other aspects of literature information procurement.

Article 17 Publishing units registered in accordance with the law in this Municipality shall deposit one volume (set, document) of official publications such as books, newspapers, periodicals, audio-visual products, etc. with the Shanghai Library within 60 days from the date of publication. The Shanghai Library shall issue a deposit voucher and properly preserve, manage, and use it in accordance with the law.

The Shanghai Library shall regularly compile a catalog of official publications and publish it to the public.

Article 18 Citizens, legal persons, and other organizations are encouraged to donate official publications, valuable literature materials, manuscripts, and other literature information to public libraries.

Public libraries that accept donations shall provide donation vouchers.

Article 19 The municipal and district public libraries shall establish a graded and classified protection system for ancient books and other documents of significant historical value in accordance with the provisions of the State and this Municipality, take corresponding technical protection measures, and strengthen the organization, publication, and research and utilization of such information.

Public libraries are encouraged to collaborate with universities and research institutions to conduct research on the protection and restoration of ancient books, cultivate talents in ancient book protection, and inherit the skills of ancient book restoration.

Article 20 Public libraries shall properly preserve their collections of literature and shall not dispose of them arbitrarily; if it is really necessary to dispose of them, the handling should comply with the relevant provisions of the State and this Municipality.

Article 21 The public libraries shall establish and improve the safety management system, and be equipped with safety protection facilities and personnel in accordance with the law, and conduct regularly inspection and maintenance for the facilities and equipment to ensure their normal operation.

Public libraries shall establish emergency response mechanisms for sudden incidents, develop emergency plans, and conduct regular drills; in the event of an emergency, emergency response measures such as restricting the use of facilities and equipment, closing or restricting the use of relevant places should be taken in accordance with the law.

Article 22 Public libraries shall provide equal, open, and shared services to the public in accordance with relevant national and municipal provisions. The specific service content should be announced on its service location, relevant websites, and new media platforms.

Public libraries shall annually disclose to the public such service information as the use of literature resources, social education implementation, etc. It is necessary to establish a mechanism for receiving and actively soliciting feedback and suggestions from readers, and regularly conduct reader satisfaction surveys.

Readers shall comply with laws, rules, and relevant provisions of public libraries, and shall not disturb the order of public libraries.

Article 23 Public libraries shall be open to the public free of charge and shall have fixed opening hours. Public libraries are encouraged to provide delayed and staggered services based on public needs and their own conditions.

Public libraries shall be open on public holidays. There should be opening hours during national statutory holidays, and the opening hours and service scope can be arranged according to the actual situation.

The opening hours of public libraries established by the government should comply with the basic public service implementation standards of this Municipality.

Article 24 This Municipality shall provide public library universal borrowing and returning service, and achieve the co-construction and sharing of public library literature resources through the construction of digital, networked, and intelligent service system and distribution system.

Public libraries are encouraged to offer online booking services for borrowing and returning books, and rely on logistics systems to deliver books offline.

Article 25 Public libraries established by the government shall provide mobile services tailored to local conditions for areas such as parks, industrial zones, farms, and construction sites; in public places with high personnel turnover, self-service facilities should be equipped to provide full-time borrowing services.

Article 26 Public libraries established by the government shall strengthen the construction of digital resources, utilize digital and networked technologies and carriers to promote the creation of application service scenarios, and thus to provide readers with online literature information retrieval, inquiry, borrowing, and intelligent recommendation services, improving readers' information literacy.

Public libraries are encouraged to establish digital reading service platforms, increase the variety and quantity of digital resources such as e-books and electronic audio-books, and equip them with corresponding digital reading facilities and equipment. Public libraries are encouraged to strengthen their digital transformation and application services for ancient books and other documents of significant historical value.

The municipal and district public libraries shall provide digital resource services and technological support to town/township (sub-district) public libraries.

Article 27 Public libraries established by the government shall, in accordance with national provisions, set up reading areas for children and adolescents, equip them with corresponding professional personnel and facilities according to their characteristics, provide literature suitable for children and adolescents to read, and carry out borrowing services, reading guidance, and social education activities for children and adolescents.

The children's library established by the Municipal People's Government shall have independent building and facilities and be responsible for guiding the children's reading services of public libraries throughout the whole Municipality. District people's governments may establish libraries for children and adolescents with independent buildings and facilities based on their actual situation. During winter and summer vacations, children's libraries shall extend their opening hours.

Public libraries are encouraged to provide professional support for public library information literacy education for primary and secondary schools.

Article 28 Public libraries shall provide convenient services for the elderly and disabled by such ways as equipping them with accessible facilities and equipment and providing necessary manual services.

The municipal and district public libraries shall set up dedicated reading areas or seats for visually impaired individuals, and such areas shall be equipped with audio books and Braille books.

If public libraries provide published works to people with reading disabilities in an accessible manner that they can perceive, such publications shall comply with the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China and relevant national provisions.

Article 29 The municipal and district public libraries shall set up foreign language identification guidelines that comply with translation and writing standards or common practices.

Public libraries with conditions are encouraged to increase the collection of foreign literature, provide multilingual reader consultation services, and enhance the level of multicultural services.

Article 30 Public libraries shall answer readers' inquiries about literature information and guide readers in searching for literature information.

Public libraries can provide consultation and research services for citizens, legal persons, and other organizations, such as collecting specialized information and compiling reference materials, based on their own conditions and combined with their collection of literature resources.

Article 31 Public libraries are encouraged and supported to strengthen cross system collaborative development and interconnection with school libraries, scientific research institution libraries, professional libraries, and other types of libraries, and carry out joint services through inter-library borrowing, document transmission, and joint reference consultation.

School libraries, research institution libraries, professional libraries, and other types of libraries are encouraged to provide reading services to the public without affecting daily education and scientific research order.

Article 32 Public libraries shall provide free reading promotion services to the society through reading guidance, recommendation of excellent reading materials, book exchange, lectures and exhibitions, speech recitation, book exchange and sharing, and other means.

Public libraries shall carry out reading promotion activities in a centralized manner during major exhibitions and events related to national reading in this Municipality.

Public libraries are encouraged to carry out reading promotion activities during major festivals and exhibitions period, combined with their themed and distinctive collections.

Article 33 Public libraries are encouraged to cooperate with schools, museums, art galleries, cultural centers, industrial parks, commercial buildings, scenic spots, etc., to open up facilities and venues to each other, and expand the types and forms of reading promotion activities.

Trade unions, Communist Youth League, Women's Federation, Disabled Persons' Federation and other organizations are encouraged to cooperate with public libraries based on the characteristics of their respective work targets to carry out various forms of reading promotion activities.

Article 34 Public libraries are encouraged to form distinctive reading brands based on their collection characteristics and resource advantages.

Organizations and individuals with professional skills and practical experience can collaborate with public libraries to carry out public welfare reading promotion activities and jointly build reading brands.

News publishing, cultural tourism and other departments shall strengthen their support and guidance for public welfare reading promotion activities.

Article 35 Citizens, legal persons, and other organizations are encouraged to participate in voluntary services in public libraries.

Public libraries shall do a good job in recruiting, training, and evaluating volunteers, strengthen the construction of volunteer teams, and improve the quality of volunteer services.

Article 36 The municipal cultural and tourism department shall carry out the assessment and evaluation of the municipal and district public libraries in accordance with the national deployment.

The municipal cultural and tourism department shall formulate assessment and evaluation standards for public libraries in town/townships (sub-district) of this Municipality, and organize and carry out service quality and level assessment work with public participation. The assessment results should be made public to the society and used as a basis for improving work, enhancing service and operational quality, and providing subsidies or rewards to public libraries.

Article 37 Any act that violates the provisions of these Regulations shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Public Cultural Service Guarantee Law of the People's Republic of China, the Public Library Law of the People's Republic of China, and other relevant laws and rules.

Article 38 These Regulation shall be effective as of January 1, 2025.