Efficiency Evaluation and Influencing Factors of Chinese Public Libraries: On the Information Construction and Four-Stage Super-SBM DEA Model

Analyzing the efficiency of public libraries is an important prerequisite for realizing the rational allocation of public library resources and balanced regional development. Based on the four-stage Super-SBM DEA model, this study takes 31 provincial public libraries in China from 2006 to 2022 as samples, considers the impact of external influence factors on the efficiency measurement of public libraries, and analyzes the impact of information construction on the efficiency. The results show that the overall efficiency of public libraries in China presents a trend of “high in the east and low in the west.” The urbanization and cultural literacy are the main factors affecting the redundancy of investment in China’s public libraries. Meanwhile, the information construction can effectively promote the improvement of the efficiency in China’s public libraries. Besides, the structure of professional technical personnel and activity level in public libraries, and the information construction all significantly influence the efficiency of public libraries.