This Beijing Subway Now Has A Library Of Free E-Books For Passengers

On the subway in Beijing, as in most cities with underground Wi-Fi connections, commuters regularly spend their rides mindlessly looking at their telephones, scrolling via emails or enjoying games. however now riders on one metro line have another option: With a scan of a QR code within the educate automobile, they are able to get admission to a library of free e-books.

The books are curated through the nationwide Library of China (NLC), which hopes to assist make individuals more more likely to read in everyday life. Working with subway operator Beijing MTR, the library launched the new “M Subway Library” in January.

the speculation used to be partly impressed by way of a a success e book-swapping experiment that passed off in Beijing metro stations a number of years ago. Passengers have been lining up to get books, and the library started considering the idea of a extra permanent venture that individuals might access on the educate.

Librarians make a selection from a collection of 70,000 e-books—ranging from basic literature to sci-fi and nonfiction—and slender the record right down to 10 books on a selected theme that adjustments each couple of months. Books are chosen in response to passengers’ reading preferences, and most occur to be college students or youthful workplace workers.

at the moment, the books are available through scanning a poster inside the train. The crew is considering including more posters on the platform itself, but because rush hour in Beijing train stations can get just a little crazy, they’ll skip that idea.

The Beijing subway is not the primary so as to add a library. A metro station in Bucharest briefly plastered station partitions with a giant print of library shelves, full with QR codes on e-book spines. On a metro line in Shanghai, a book place launched an unofficial library of actual books that passengers may choose up at one station and drop off at the next. however the program in Beijing may be in all probability to ultimate. this is hoping it evokes other public transit businesses.