Abstract:

In May 2025, the General Office of the Ministry of Education and the General Office of the Central Publicity Department jointly issued the Notice on Further Implementing the National Youth Student Reading Initiative (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"). Based on the 2023 National Youth Student Reading Initiative Implementation Plan, the Notice outlines five key projects to be implemented. These projects aim to promote nationwide reading, support the strategies for building a strong educational country and a strong cultural country, and establish a solid cultural foundation for the growth of young people and the development of the nation. This journal has invited five experts to conduct in-depth discussions on the core requirements and practical paths of the Notice from perspectives including strategic positioning, campus practice, the role of libraries, and home-school-community collaboration. The experts have thoroughly analyzed the key issues and implementation strategies of the National Youth Student Reading Initiative. 1) Strategic Positioning and Systematic Construction of the Youth Reading Initiative: Professor Ping Ke points out that this initiative is the core of nationwide reading and a pillar of the national strategy for building a strong nation. Reading should be integrated into the teaching of all disciplines, not just Chinese language courses. With "improving reading efficiency" as the core focus, efforts should be made to cultivate young people's interest in reading and their ability to think critically, in order to optimize their knowledge structure and values. He proposes a "trinity" reading system in which "schools are the core and libraries and families are the two wings". This system connects multiple parties to form five chains, including those responsible for resource production and dissemination, so as to promote nationwide collaboration. He also suggests ensuring the initiative's sustainable development through legal revisions and long-term planning. 2) Revitalization Path of Rural Primary and Secondary School Libraries: Professor Jianhua Wu points out that rural libraries face several problems, including poor infrastructure, a shortage of professional talent, and insufficient funding. In line with the "Rural School Library Revitalization Plan" mentioned in the Notice, he proposes that each county should build two model primary school libraries and one model junior high school library. He also proposes improving reading spaces and intelligent systems, and allocate full-time staff at a ratio of one staff member to 500-1,000 students. Drawing on Israel's experience, he suggests establishing library service centers, combining public welfare resources to address resource issues, and organizing college student volunteers to return to their hometowns and provide companionship and reading assistance, with the goal of transforming rural libraries into centers that offer high-quality services. 3) Professional Advantages and Empowering Role of Libraries: Professor Junling Zhao emphasizes that academic research on library-based reading promotion provides a theoretical foundation for the initiative. The core advantage of libraries lie in providing high-quality reading materials, organized collections, and free reading spaces. She suggests strengthening research on young people's reading behavior, reading therapy, and activity evaluation, promoting the development of practical toolkits based on the results of this research, and improving the scientific level of practice. 4) Precise Resource Supply through Home-School-Community Collaboration: Professor Beini Yan analyzes the current resource supply contradictions and clarifies the roles of families, schools, and communities. Families should foster a love of reading and provide personalized resources; schools should implement systematic reading programs; and social institutions should offer professional services. To meet the personalized needs of young people, she proposes establishing a hierarchical resource pool, building a circulation network with "internal circulation + external circulation", and using big data to optimize resource matching. 5) Positioning Return and Development Path of School Libraries: Professor Peng Xiao points out that school libraries are one of the "three pillars" of modern library initiatives and are essential to implementing the youth reading initiative. However, they are facing problems such as the "five imbalances" in development, a lack of research discourse, and insufficient innovation vitality. He calls for school libraries to be placed back at the core of China's library initiatives and suggests that future research should focus on five key issues, including clarifying the functional value of school libraries. This will help compensate for the deficiencies in the nationwide reading infrastructure and contribute to building a strong educational country and a strong cultural country.

Key words: reading initiative for adolescent students, primary and secondary school libraries, reading promotion, home-school-society collaboration, provision of reading resources, national reading, reading literacy