China's Ministry of Culture on
Tuesday set building standards of public libraries to ensure
that they can meet the demands of the country's booming
urban population.
Population size would be the major reference for the size of
new libraries from Nov. 1, the ministry said in a circular.
In the
past, the size of public cultural facilities was usually
decided by local administrations, but in some counties and
villages, especially in eastern China, communities had
expanded quickly, beyond the scale of their libraries, said
a ministry official.
Under the
new rules, a library in an area with up to 200,000 people
should be a minimum of 800 square meters and a maximum of
4,500 square meters.
The
specific size could be decided by the local government in
accordance with practicality.
A
community with up to 1.5 million should have a library
ranging from 4,500 square meters to 20,000 square meters;
while libraries in areas with up to 10 million people should
range from 20,000 to 60,000 square meters.
"If local
governments want to build a library, they should follow the
standard, which was based on field surveys and reference to
international levels," said the official, who declined to be
named.
He said
local populations would include all residents living in an
area for at least six months, which would allow rural
migrant workers to use the facilities.
The
ministry started to draft the construction standard under
orders from the Construction Ministry in 2002. (Xinhua News
2008-10-21)
