Children aged 7 to 9 among most active users at public libraries

Children between the ages of 7 and 9 were the most active young users at public libraries in Shanghai, followed by those in the age brackets of 10 to 11 and 5 to 6, respectively, according to a report released on Tuesday on the World Reading Day.

There were altogether more than 284,000 active users aged below 16 at such libraries in the municipality, which provides library service at 257 institutions for minors at sub-district, district, and city levels and includes reading as an indispensable part as its efforts of building a child-friendly society is quickly gathering pace.

The 2023 Shanghai Public Library Children's Reading Report, which was jointly released by several institutions, including Shanghai Children's Library and Shanghai Library, said young readers borrowed books for a total of over 15 million times from the public libraries in the city.

The report stated that literature books were most frequently borrowed by minors, followed by art and language books. It also calculated that expat readers at the libraries hailed from 47 countries and regions.

Moreover, the report showed that more than 80 percent of the minor readers in Shanghai spent half an hour or more on reading on a daily basis.

A big move regarding children's library service in the city was that Shanghai Children's Library launched an online book borrowing service in January during students' winter vacation.

The platform provides a home delivery option that makes book borrowing and reading more convenient for children. Next-day delivery for orders placed before 4 pm is guaranteed.