The years 2016 to 2020 will be an important historical period for library development which will present not only unique opportunities, but also risks and challenges, during which 'transformational' development becomes a common feature for libraries around the world. In China, however, libraries should adjust their way of development, according to the national goal of comprehensively constructing a moderately prosperous society, determine their direction for proper development, integrate themselves into the mainstream of social and economic development of the country, and be part of the national strategic planning. Using surveys, case analysis, policy research, and comparative analysis, the authors analyze libraries’ normalized trend from 2016 to 2020, propose the concept of library normalized transformation development. The authors identify expectations of the society for libraries in terms of serving economic growth, raising development quality and efficiency, promoting cultural and social construction as well as ecological civilization under the national goal of comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society. The authors believe that Chinese libraries should respond to challenges in the new normal: slowing growth of investment and budget, demographic changes, the increasing competition from other institutions and emerging technologies, library administration, library staff and new technologies. Facing new societal expectations, libraries must actively seek new models for development by initiating new and innovative management methods and services, which the authors believe will have the following characteristics: connotative development, balanced development, improvement for people’s wellbeing, law-based regulation, and innovative development.
