A Pilot Survey on the Applicability of the IFLA School Library Guidelines in South China: Eight School Libraries Cases in Guangdong Province

The 2nd revised edition of the IFLA School Library Guidelines (hereafter the Guidelines) was endorsed in June 2015. In order to make the Guidelines be adapted and implemented in ways that suit local contexts, the research group investigated 8 school libraries in Guangdong Province of South China to assess the applicability of the Guidelines. A semi-structured questionnaire consisting of questions corresponding to the Guidelines is designed and used to interview the curator and the principal of each school. The findings are: 1) the differences mainly occurs between the secondary school and elementary school, other factors do not find a significant impact on the applicability, 2) the secondary school libraries have higher applicability, 3) the Guidelines has higher applicability for future plan, 4) the universal value affirmed by IFLA does not consequentially be accepted or recognized universally, 5) different types of recommendations have different levels of applicability. With the survey findings, several issues are discussed: 1) the Guidelines’ applicability or inapplicability for assessing and for guiding in South China, 2) the immanent and external cause for the Guidelines’ inapplicability, 3) in what ways can the Guidelines be used to support the development and improvement of Chinese school libraries, and 4) in what ways can IFLA Standards act more effectively locally.