John Barclay

This work on libraries, archives, and information services traces the emergence of Chinese libraries from ancient times until 1949, but concentrates on the post-revolutionary period, detailing the development of underground Communist librarianship and tracing the vicissitudes of libraries through the tumultuous forty year period until 1989. As a comparative study, the work provides considerable contextual information of cultural, historical, and ideological value, and as such, interprets Chinese practice for the Western reader. The bibliography itself is a comprehensive listing of over six hundred works in English. The book provides an especially valuable addition to material in the field of comparative and international studies in library, archives, and information studies, and provides unique insights into the dramatically emerging Chinese library renaissance.