The Study On The Construction Of China’s Library Foundation

The library funds are often from the government, users of libraries and social supports, inwhich the government funding is the main source of the library. The Unites Kingdom, theUnited States and other countries have reduced the financial supports because of the economiccrisis recently. Although China government increase the funding to help the libraries, still cannot meet the needs of libraries, especially the grass-roots library. The shortage of funds hasbecome a common problem that libraries in all countries. How to expand the library’s fundraising channels, in particular how to strengthen the ability of raising funds from society, allthese have become a major issue which libraries face. Library foundation is an effective wayto solve the problem of funds shortage. The practice has proved that the library foundationcan absorb effectively social resources and achieve diversification in the sources of funds.Raising and managing funds for libraries are the main purpose of a library foundation. Thelibrary foundation has been very professional and mature in foreign countries especially in theUnited States. The paper is on the base of learning from the successful experience of foreignlibrary foundations. It analyzes the development environment of library foundations at homeand abroad, and focuses on the organization mechanism, the capital operation mechanism andthe supervision mechanism of library foundations in China. It points some problems of thelibrary foundations in China and gives the corresponding suggestion through comparison. Andfinally, although there are some problems, as long as library foundations in China should beimproved the external environment and self-construction, the system of library foundationswill be mature eventually.