Reading is now becoming an indispensable part of life for Deng Chao, a resident living in Wangcheng district, Changsha. A mini library in the place where he lives has definitely helped shape his reading habit.

Deng said that he enjoys spending leisure time reading in this library a lot. "Now I can walk into a library simply by crossing a street. It's really convenient," he said.

In a bid to bring into full play the social benefits of public libraries, the Library of Changsha adopted the development model of multi-layer library system to facilitate local residents' reading needs.

The capital city of Central China's Hunan province officially started building its library service network in 2012. So far, the city has opened 76 mini libraries, 75 mobile library stops, three self-service libraries, and 15 reading machines.

The Fulin Mini Library was established in the Comprehensive Cultural Station in Fulin town, Changsha county, in 2013. It's now becoming a collecting and distributing center for the town's reading service and cultural activities.

Local resident Jiang Zhengying is a regular visitor to the library. Jiang said that the town is quite far away from the Changsha Library and it usually takes him half of a day for a trip to the main one in the city. Now he could visit the mini library everyday as it's only five minutes' walk from where he lived.

According to Wang Ziyang, the director of Changsha Library, they are working on a reasonable layout of new libraries in densely-populated areas to realize an effective coverage of public library services to meet the growing demands.