The analysis of sampling data of the usage of the digital reading rooms of the public libraries in the central cities of China

Abstract

In China, most of the public libraries, especially the central libraries of large cities or megacity behemoths, have one or more digital reading rooms which have a lot of personal computers that open and free to the public. These digital reading rooms have been providing effective ways for the public to surf the Internet, retrieve information and browse the digital resources. They have become the most important means for the public libraries to improve the digital literacy of the public.Therefore, it is very important to fully understand the state of the usage of the digital reading rooms and the habits of the readers. Thus, we have been cooperating with 15 public libraries from nine large cities or megacity behemoths in China, and have obtained the data of the usage of the digital reading rooms of these public libraries over the past one year ( part of the data of several public libraries is less than one year for some technical reasons ). We analyzed the data and discovered some characteristics of the usage of the digital reading rooms and the habits of readers of different age and gender. All of these works and results have an important reference value for the public libraries to optimize individualized digital services to different kind of people and further promote the information literacy for the public.