本书放眼世界潮流，对21世纪图书馆的功能及业务做了比较全面的描绘；既反映了国际图书馆发展的一般动态，也阐述了作者在多年工作实践中形成的独到思考；对图书馆学情报学专业师生以及广大图情工作者不乏参考价值，也为一般读者了解现代图书馆的功能、更好地使用图书馆资源提供了有益的指导；本书初版于1998年，两次印刷旋即**，并先后在日本及台湾地区出版了日文版和中文繁体字版；本次重版根据近五年来国内外图书馆界的新变化，对**版的内容做了修订。

Part 1
Chapter One
Shift：From Book-oriented to User-oriented Service
Chapter Two
Shift：From“Backroom”to“Front-desk”Service
Chapter Three
Shift：From“One Size Fits All”to Tailored Service
Chapter Four
Extension：To All Forms of Media That Record Information and Civilization
Chapter Five
Extension：To the Networded Library and Information World
Chapter Six
Extension：To Communities and Families
Chapter Seven
The Library as a Center of Life-long Education and Entertainment
Chapter Eight
The Library as a Center for the Exchange of Information and Knowledge
Part 2
Chapter Nine
Librarianship and Information Work in East Asia
Chapter Ten
The Development of Public Libraries in China
Chapter Eleven
The Development of Academic Libraries in China
Chapter Twelve
Developing a Borderless Hybrid Library：The Shanghai Experience
Main Sources
Index