A Round Table Meeting on the Construction and Development of the OUC Library was held in Beijing on January 7, 2014. Professor Yang Peichao, Vice President of the Library Society of China and Director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Digitization Management Office; Researcher and Director Tang Gengsheng from the National Library of China Social Education Department; Researcher and Secretary-General Huo Ruijuan from the Library Society of China; Researcher and Deputy Curator Sun

Tan from the Chinese Academy of Sciences Library; Professor and Chief Engineer Wang Wenqing from the CALIS Management Centre of Peking University Library; Research Librarian and Deputy Curator Jiang Airong from Tsinghua University Library; all the members of the OUC Library Academic Committee, and relevant persons from the OUC library attended the meeting. The OUC Vice President Zhang Hui served as chairman.

Library Curator Zhang Ruilin introduced the current status of construction of the OUC Digital Library from six different aspects: platform construction, resources guarantee, special resource construction, resource sharing and coordination, the application of new technologies, and training. He also spoke about the OUC Library’s reading activities, the construction of the “Rural RTVU Bookhouse”, and the appraisal of rural youth reading demonstrations and the collection of reading essays.

The experts pointed out that by prioritizing the development of the digital library, the OUC meets both the requirements of the OUC user characteristics and the digital library’s own rules.

The experts believe that the OUC Library can detect and make up for weaknesses in its construction and services, and pinpoint the direction of improvements by making an overall appraisal of the library construction, literature guarantee capacity, service competence and results. Continuous effort should be made to strengthen the construction and sharing of digital resources as well as the resources guarantee, to demonstrate the advantages of the OUC’s distance education resources, and to intensify discipline service, such as course guidance construction. Furthermore, attention should be given to user experience to strengthen the application of social networking and new media.

With regard to reading activities, the experts believe that the OUC’s effort in integrating continuing education and social education demonstrates its strong sense of social responsibility. The OUC must successfully complete the construction of the Rural RTVU Bookhouse, emphasizing both upfront investment and latter stage management. They hope that the OUC Library will continue to utilize its advantages, extend social cooperation, and carry out its work against the background of the national policy of universal reading, which exerts a positive influence on local culture.

By Ye Chao, the OUC