April 23rd is "World Reading Day". On this day, National Library of China donated E-books to grass-root libraries, and held a symposium named "Promoting Knowledge Acquisition and Initiating Online Reading", so as to promote the construction and development of grass-root libraries, discuss the establishment of efficient solving mechanism for network copyright in digital era, and advance knowledge acquisition and promote nationwide reading.

First, donating thousands of titles of E-books to grass-root libraries

In the morning of April 23rd, Zhang Yuhui, deputy director of National Library of China, made a speech in the symposium, and denoted thousands of titles of E-books to grass-root libraries in Beijing, Henan, Hebei, Jilin, Gansu, etc. on behalf of National Library of China. It is one of the activities in "World Reading Day" held by NLC. The denoted libraries will be extended to more than 2000 county-level libraries.

E-books denoted in this activity are converted from 1029 titles of books in the Delivering Books to Villages Project, which have already got electronic copyright, covering politics, history, law, economics, medicine and health, cultural education, literature, rural applied technology, etc., so as to relieve the embarrassment of grass-root libraries, improve their service levels and promote their construction and development.

Second, holding a symposium named "Promoting Knowledge Acquisition and Initiating Online Reading"

In the morning of April 23rd, a symposium named "Promoting Knowledge Acquisition and Initiating Online Reading" was held in National Library of China, which discussed the network copyright of digital resources.

Zhang Yafang, NLC deputy director, delivered a speech on behalf of National Library of China. She expressed that NLC, under the presupposition of ensuring knowledge dissemination and sharing, is willing to build a straightway knowledge dissemination and communication platform, and seek an ideal integrating point of users and creators by communicating with authors, readers, and publishers, and by drawing on the wisdom of the masses.

In the symposium, authors, readers, and the delegates from publishing field and library field, discussed the topics that people concern in the network environment, i.e. how to ensure the rights and interests of obligees as well as provide high-quality digital works for the readers through promoting knowledge acquisition and initiating online reading, so as to improve civil knowledge attainments.

The attendees expressed that library field, publishing field, authors and readers should work together hand in hand, and provide services for the standardization construction of digital contents, public cultural service system construction, development of publishing industry, and the development of National Digital Library of China.

It has been the fifth propaganda activity held by National Library of China in "World Reading Day", i.e. April 23rd, since 2004, which produced great response in the society. It played important roles for propagandizing NLC social service functions, improving the recognition of the public for NLC, attracting more readers to use NLC, and attracting more readers to attend various cultural education activities held by NLC.