A ceremony was held in Beijing Sunday to present awards to the 10 "readers of the year" selected by The National Library of China.
It is the fourth time that the library has awarded readers with the title. Their selection was based not only on the frequency of their visits to the library, but also on the effectiveness of their use of library resources.
Professor Wang Shujiang, from the University of Political Science and Law, and another nine readers from other universities and research institutions were named the winners.
The selection of the top readers is part of a campaign to promote reading nationwide initiated by the library at the beginning of this month.
Founded in 1909 with the original name of Capital Library, the library boasts more than 22 million books, with its earliest collection dating back 700 years. The largest library in Asia, it is home to the world's fifth largest book collection.
The library is used by nearly 10,000 readers every day. Annual visits to its website, www.nlc.gov.cn, exceed 100 million.
(Xinhua News agency December 23, 2002)
