Resource Sharing and Mutually Beneficial Cooperation: A Look at the New United Model in Public and College Libraries

Introduction to the Beilun District

Beilun District is located in Ningbo City, Zhejiang province, and it is named for Beilun Port, a deep-water port that is known as the “Crown” of China’s ports. Bordered by the East China Sea, Beilun District lies in the easternmost end of Zhejiang province in eastern China, near the center of the coastline. The district has a land area of 585 square kilometers and an oceanic area of 258 square kilometers, and it is just 260 kilometers from Shanghai, its location seen in Figure 1. Beilun is an important center for shipping, logistics development, manufacturing, and trade. The current population of Beilun is about 930,000, among which roughly 400,000 are registered homeowners while 530,000 are considered floaters (“Map of Beilun District,” 2016).

Figure 1.

Map of Beilun District in Ningbo

Map data ©2016 Google

Beilun District is positioned as an important part of the international shipping center in Northeast Asia, functioning as an important base of manufacturing industry in eastern China, the regional center of modern logistics, and a modern coastal city. Beilun combines traditional local and port features to form an industrial infrastructure that caters to a variety of industrial categories, including machinery, electronic and electrical appliances, textile and costumes, stationery, gymnastic commodities, food processing, metal products, lamps and lanterns, fishing tools, chemical industry, shipbuilding, electronic power, iron and steel manufacturing, and more.

Introduction to Ningbo Polytechnic

Ningbo Polytechnic is a full-time vocational college, established in 1999, with the approval of the Ministry of Education. In 2006, the College became one of the demonstrative vocational colleges under construction in China. The College is located in the Beilun District of Ningbo. There are thousands of joint-venture enterprises, among which 38 are the world's top 500 enterprises. Ningbo Polytechnic enjoys unique geographical advantage. The major programs offered by NBPT are closely tied with local industries, such as mechanical and electrical, molding engineering, computer, electronic information technology, biochemical, and logistics. There are over 8,000 full-time students and more than 16,000 part-time students and training students of all kinds. The employment rate of graduates is as high as 99% and the satisfaction rate from the evaluation of the enterprises surpasses 90%. Ningbo Polytechnic has been continuously exploring the cooperation mechanism among government, industry and college in the field of school-running, education and employment, which is praised as “Ningbo Beilun Mode” representing China's modern higher vocational education by the experts from the vocational college personnel training level assessment group of the Ministry of Education and Guangming Daily.