Abstract
Chinese government publications constitute a significantly large portion of print and digital information output in China. This material genre is critical to the operation of the country, to people’s lives, and therefore, is important to research and scholarly work. Overseas scholars rely heavily on libraries to access and use Chinese government publications, however, collecting this type of materials has been a challenge since the scope of Chinese government publications has not been clear, and the collecting channels have been limited. This paper intends to discuss the scope of Chinese government publications, its availability in digital format, the types of publications library normally collects, and opportunities and challenges in collecting them.
Highlights
For many years, there has not been a clear definition for “government publication” in China
Combining findings from various official government websites and comparing to the list from the Regulation, this paper intends to discuss the scope of the Chinese government publications and its increasing availability in digital format, the types of publications libraries normally collect, and the opportunities and challenges in collecting them
The development of digital government information since the 2008 Regulation has direct impact on libraries in several aspects. Opportunities provided by this new trend benefit both libraries and users: First, the Regulation makes it clear what the scope of government information is and what types of documents or information are openly available; second, individual government offices are required to compile and publish a catalog of their information, which provides a useful tool for library to view and select; third, major types of government publications are required to be published through official government websites, which provides great convenience for library to aggregate those documents; last but not least, the visuality and browsability of government information make it easier for librarians to provide research consultation to scholars
Summary
There has not been a clear definition for “government publication” in China. In the Chapter Two of the Regulation, twenty-three types of government information produced by national, provincial, city, county and township governments are required to be disclosed to the public. Combining findings from various official government websites and comparing to the list from the Regulation, this paper intends to discuss the scope of the Chinese government publications and its increasing availability in digital format, the types of publications libraries normally collect, and the opportunities and challenges in collecting them.
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