• 2024-07-03

The "2023 Taiwan Reading Landscape and National Reading Power Annual Report Release Press Conference" was held amid fanfare in the International Conference Hall at National Central Library on March 27, 2024. The meeting analyzed the reading power and reading interests of the people of Taiwan in 2023. On the basis of the operation service statistics of public libraries, the reading ability of the whole people was analyzed, and "cities with excellent performance in overall reading ability" and "cities with excellent performance in reading ability sub-categories" were commended in respect of a total of 142 items. 

Deputy Minister of Education Min-Yie Lin expressed his gratitude to publishing and cultural circles for their joint efforts to promote reading culture among the people. He also expressed his gratitude to county, city, township and city library directors, township mayors and other distinguished guests for attending the event. The Ministry of Education continues to promote the construction and development of public libraries, fight for public construction projects, assist in improving the hardware and equipment of public libraries in counties and cities, and enrich collection resources. Analysis of various statistical data on the use of public libraries across the country this year shows that the reading performance of the public in terms of the total number of visits to libraries, the total number of books borrowed, and the number of e-books borrowed has hit new highs repeatedly. This is positive. Because reading can open the skylight of the human soul. The skylight allows one to see not only the starry sky, but also the free and unrestrained side of the soul. Reading can also be said to be everywhere, allowing readers to express their talents freely and use their imagination. We thank again all walks of life for their strong support, through various means, to help promote reading culture among the people, so that Taiwan's reading style will turn a new page in history, so that readers can obtain more spiritual nourishment from reading.

National Central Library Director Han-Ching Wang analyzed "the people of Taiwan's reading ability" and reviewed each aspect of their reading ability in 2023. In 2023, people across the nation visited public libraries throughout Taiwan more than 18.37 million times (an increase of 22.06 million or 25.55 percent), and the average Chinese person entered a library 4.62 times. The total number of borrowers and the total number of books borrowed also grew significantly. In 2023, the total number of borrowers was 35.28 million (an increase of 5.3 million, or 17.67 percent), and the total number of books borrowed exceeded 127.23 million (an increase of 34.79 million, or 37.63 percent), with an average of 5.43 books borrowed per person nationwide. Also in 2023, many new friends joined the ranks of library users, and the cumulative number of library cards issued nationwide reached 21 million (an increase of 980,000, 4.89 percent). In addition to actually visiting libraries to use their resources, people also use various library services through the Internet. In 2023, national e-book borrowing increased by 580,000 volumes, or 6.21 percent, and a total of more than 9.91 million e-books were borrowed. The instances of use of various website resources reached a total of 841.4 million (an increase of 136.22 million or 20.39 percent).