P.(2004). Evaluation of public libraries: the 2001 IFLA standards and the 2003 standards for provincial libraries

stitutions (IFLA), guided by the interests of UNESCO in as-sisting libraries to improve their services, continues to devel-op statements on standards for public libraries. The most re-cent statement was adopted in 2001. IFLA, while working tirelessly at the international level to develop standards, also recognizes the importance of national, regional and local standards. The diffusion world wide of knowledge and in-formation about library standards development has been use-ful in the preparation of standards at the regional and na-tional levels. This paper summarizes and compares the com-ponents of the current IFLA standards for public libraries, adopted in 2001, and the new standards for provincial public libraries in China, adopted in 2003. The comparison attests to the similarities in the evaluation of library services around the world. The continuing work on library standards at the international level is very important as it identifies the crit-ical variables needed in evaluation of library services. While setting the general direction for such standards work, it also enables the important issue of values, and the consideration of those values in the evaluation of library services, to be made at the local, regional, and national levels