As we all know, the main duty of the library is not how much tax to pay and how much income to create for the country and society, but to spread knowledge and civilization and benefit the public. During the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, its library also consciously pursued the public welfare principle of "anyone borrowing without taking a penny". However, in the market economy era of "money is king and interests are paramount", the National Library is indifferent to the principle of public welfare.
The international community has listed access to library services as one of the basic human rights. As early as 1949, the United Nations issued the Declaration of Public Libraries, which was recognized by his death: "Free and unrestricted access to knowledge, ideas, culture and information is the basis for individuals to exercise their democratic rights and obtain equal opportunities for development"; "Public libraries are the gates of knowledge and should provide free services to everyone regardless of age, race, sex, religion, nationality and social status"; "All people in society must really enjoy the services of the library, including providing special services and materials to those who cannot use their normal services and materials for various reasons, such as language minorities, disabled people or hospitalized patients and prisoners."
According to this standard, the service provided by the National Library to readers is really poor. The library is not like a place to provide knowledge to the public, but more like a museum to collect basic books and preserve books.
To read the basic books (although there are still many people who haven't read them), the price you pay is at least half an hour's waiting; Reading the preserved books, you need to pay the cost of each 3 yuan, what's more, once the books join the ranks of preserved books, the copying fee becomes a 2 yuan per page. What's more, most of the good books are made into micro-movies, which cost ten yuan per page. The "hidden weapon organ" in the collection reading room is equally scary: reading fees are 5 yuan per volume, and copying (scanning) 5 yuan per page. The branches of the National Library are not far behind, and the main items are ordinary ancient books, local chronicles and genealogy books. Take the books of Qing Dynasty as an example, the data fee is 6 yuan per page, and the copying fee is 0.6 yuan per page. Copy yourself too slowly; Make a copy. It's too expensive. Even if you bite your teeth and stamp your feet, there is still a rule waiting for you: you can only copy one-third of a book. And some documents can't be copied, only photos can be taken, one is more than 2 yuan. A document can only be shot one page at a time, and a document is as few as a few pages, and more than a hundred pages! Even the prices of photocopied materials in ordinary reading rooms are colorful: the price of one page (A4 paper) in 0.5 yuan, the price of one page (B5 paper) in 0.6 yuan, and even higher. Copying newspapers in the newspaper reading room is also very expensive, ranging from a few cents to a few dollars. In the electronic reading room, it costs RMB 1 yuan to print one page (also A4 paper).
On the one hand, the National Library accepts a large number of official publications and donations, and they are all free; On the other hand, it is a fact that books become "commodities" when they enter the library and are "sold" to readers at high prices. What about these turnover? The outside world is unknown
The price threshold indirectly acts as a "roadblock" for knowledge dissemination, and this "roadblock" does not stop others, but only students, teachers and scholars who are short of funds and eager for knowledge. The trampling on the concept of public library by the National Library will only mislead the librarianship in China and even hinder the progress of civilization.
I hope that the competent price department will pay attention to it and urge it to carry out rectification as soon as possible. The best reform measure is to introduce competition. You can investigate readers' opinions on national map fees, invite relevant people to hold price hearings, and finally put forward appropriate rectification plans according to actual conditions, including clearly marking the right to operate service facilities and places (such as copying, printing, scanning, etc.). ) to increase competition, thus avoiding the emergence of price monopoly. In order to achieve the purpose of facilitating readers, serving readers and spreading knowledge in a real sense.