"Can the library show a film in our neighborhood?"

 

"Is the training class still recruiting students?"

 

Yuan Xiaoyu, Harbin Library’s office director, answers these sort of phone calls every day. They are just part of his job.

 

"The Harbin Library is open every day, and receives about 1.5 million readers every year," said Li Dongmei, the library's curator.

 

"Although we have achieved a great deal in developing the library, we still need to improve in some areas, for example in the scope of our services,” Li said.

 

"We plan to enhance services in remote areas and send more books to remote villages."

 

Liu Sijia's family is in a constant state of financial struggle, and cannot afford fees for her children to take lessons after school. She registered in the library as soon as she heard that it had started a free cramming class during the winter holidays, which her son attended every day.

 

Harbin Library runs free training classes for children of migrant workers and from poverty-stricken families. The children can do an range of subjects, such as Chinese, English, mathematics and painting. Over the past five years, more than 60,000 young people have studies there.

 

Meanwhile, the library established seven book circulation libraries where the children of migrant workers can get books to read. The library also holds regular activities such as reading competitions.

 

In recent years, Harbin Library also started classes for senior people on topics such as computers, mobile phones and music.

 

"The most popular class among senior people is the WeChat class. It's always full," said Wo Xiufeng, a training teacher at Harbin Library.

 

In April, 2006, the library launched the Harbin Lecture for locals to learn about government policies and science. The lectures have become a cultural brand in the city.

 

By the end of 2016, the library had given more than 400 lectures to 100,000 attendees.

 

In March 2012, Harbin Library launched a website that provides services such as information retrieval and book loan renewals. 

 

Recently, Harbin Library was building a government information publicity service platform together with the National Library. After it is built, people could give their advice on the government on the platform.