Digital collection development and sharing on a national scale

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the resource construction mode of the Digital Library Promotion Project, so as to summarize the general characteristics of successful collaborative collection building for digital libraries. Digital Library Promotion Project (DLPP) is a digital culture boosting project launched by the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China with National Library of China as its implementing unit. The project aims to build a nation-wide library network that could support and guarantee resource development and sharing among public libraries all over China so as to achieve equalization in public culture service among people from different parts of the country. This paper is a case study of the digital library development in China. The present situation of Chinese public libraries is accounted in this paper, and the developing mode and mechanism in cooperation between libraries of different administrative ranking are discussed along with the future development of the project. This paper may provide references to countries and libraries in their efforts to pursue sustainable development. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a case study of digital collection development and sharing in a developing country where regional differences are large. The paper starts with the environmental scan of the resource situation of public libraries in China, which is the background and significance of the DLPP. The main part of the paper is the introduction and analysis of the collection developing method of the DLPP, including: union catalogue, co-construction of featured resources and joint procurement of databases. Through analyzing the mechanism in collection development and sharing, this paper discusses the measures that guarantees the success of the project. Findings Through analyzing the mechanism in collection development and sharing, this paper discusses the measures that guarantee the success of the project, these are: sustained financial support from the government, scientific mechanism for cooperation, flexible handling of copyright issues unified standards in resource development and targeted training programs. Originality/value This paper is a case study of the digital library development in China. The present situation of Chinese public libraries is accounted in this paper, and the developing mode and mechanism in cooperation between libraries of different administrative ranking are discussed, as well as the future development of the project. This paper may provide references to countries and libraries in their efforts to pursue sustainable development.