WITH a population more than five times that of San Francisco, Shanghai spends 40 per cent less than its American counterpart on its public libraries.

Another comparison: in northern European countries, 70 per cent of the population has a library card, while only 5 per cent of Shanghai citizens have one.

However, as China's most dynamic city, Shanghai is still better off in its public library system than any other city or region in China, according to Jin Rongbiao, an official with the Shanghai Society for Library Science.

"But people in the city really have less recognition on how to use libraries and not many have acquired a reading habit, maybe because the city has such a fast life pace," Jin said.

Inadequate funding

Shanghai has 256 public libraries on three levels - city, district and neighbourhood.

The two city libraries are: Shanghai Library and Shanghai Children's Library. Thirty are district libraries and the remainder are neighbourhood ones.

Shanghai Library, the largest public library in the city and one of the 10 largest in the world, has 80 million yuan (US$9.64 million) allocated to it every year out of Municipal Government funds.

"This amount of money is not enough for a library that serves not only the general public but also scientists and professionals dedicated to research and study," Jin said.

And few Shanghainese know that every permanent resident in the city is allotted one yuan each year from the library fund. The money actually goes to the 30 second-level libraries spread around the city's 19 districts and counties.

For instance, the Huangpu District has about 1.05 million permanent residents, so that the Huangpu District Library 1.05 million yuan (US$126,000) each year for purchasing new books and maintaining facilities.

But the allocation to libraries in "less wealthy" districts and counties is lower while the "richest" (Pudong) gets three yuan per head.

"We have five-year plans as the country does. We have raised the library fund from 0.6 yuan to 1 yuan per capita in the last five-year plan, and we hope to increase it to 1.5 yuan by the end of 2005," Jin said.

According to regulations, the public libraries are forbidden to make profits by hosting exhibitions or other events not related to library activities.

However, it's almost impossible for district libraries that live on the annual allocation to make ends meet and in fund-raising work, Jin said, there has to be a "grey area".

If libraries are forced to exist on government funds only, the staff could only be given a basic payment, about 1,000 to 2,000 yuan (US$120 to 240) a month, Jin said.

"We have to hold some exhibitions or rent some room for events to make money," said Yin Meihua, the Huangpu District librarian.

Today, fewer qualified applicants are willing to work as librarians. "All the library management departments in local universities have been cancelled but we are 'hungry' for professional librarians," Jin said.

Local paradise

Cai Xiaoyuan, 25, a computer engineer, has lived in the Meiyuan Neighbourhood in Pudong for four years. On the way to her metro station every day, she could not help noticing the variety of shopsalong the road selling all kinds of commodities but she never found the neighborhood library.

Almost all the seats in the 50-square-metre reading room in the Meiyuan Neighbourhood Library were taken by elderly people, who were the library's major users.

Every neighbourhood in the city has a library stocked with newspapers, magazines and novels.

"Like many other young people, I never knew that our neighborhoods have such libraries," Cai said.

However, to Li Xiulin, 67, the library was a paradise. "I come here every day to read newspapers and I don't have to subscribe to them by myself. The library has enriched my life in my retirement."

The neighbourhood libraries also depend on government's investment, about 10,000 yuan (US$1,210) each annually. They also have to take on the responsibility of providing workers in outlying districts with reading materials to entertain and educate themselves.

Some libraries have regular events aimed at these workers where volunteers help to introduce them to suitable and easy books and give lessons in how to use a library.

"They also send books to construction sites for the labourers who otherwise would have dull lives," Jin said.

The main problems facing university libraries are rising book prices which has resulted in fewer books being purchased and the ban on making photocopies of foreign-language books.

The library director of a local key university, who wanted to remain anonymous, said the ban was a sensitive issue. "As a WTO member, we should abide by intellectual property rights and we cannot photocopy foreign books as before which was 10 to 15 times cheaper than buying an original edition, but our budget for book-buying has not gone up," she said.

Prison libraries

Rising book prices in recent years has also made her worried. "In the 1980s, we could buy 80,000 books on a 1-million-yuan (US$1.2 million) annual allocation but now, it's 60,000 books on a 10-million-yuan allocation," she said.

All public libraries in Shanghai have helped to set up libraries in the city's prisons.

"We choose books about sociology, job-seeking or teaching professional skills that may help them in their future lives," said Yin, the Huangpu District librarian.

The books are kept in the prisons for three months and then swapped for other batches so as to keep offering a wide selection.

"Prisoners can even buy books when book exhibitions are held inside the jails," said Zhang Gufeng, an official with the Municipal Prison Administration Bureau.

Libraries in Pudong District have also sent books and VCDs to the Chinese scientific base at the South Pole, where scientists haven't a lot of opportunities to entertain themselves in their spare time. Other libraries have helped to provide books for sailors on long ocean voyages.