Ningbo Library received a total of 2.02 million visitors last year and lent out 4.097 million books, as per a recent report by the library.

Readers aged 30 to 40 made up the largest portion of borrowers, with more than 230,000 readers in the age range borrowing over 810,000 books from the library in 2019, followed by those aged 41 to 50, and then those aged below 18.

Readers aged over 50 borrowed 25 books per person last year, followed by 22 by readers under the age of 18 and nine by readers aged between 18 and 30.

Children's books proved the most popular, accounting for 53 percent of the total.

The report showed that the library had a collection of 2.84 million books as of the end of last year, an increase of 283,000 books year-on-year, and the number of registered readers at the library amounted to 213,000 people, 49,000 more than last year.

Meanwhile, the library's digital resources were viewed 92.5 million times and downloaded 12.69 million times.

The library has been actively exploring ways to promote reading among local residents.

In the past year, more than 1,100 reading-related activities including lectures and exhibitions were held in the library.

Ningbo Library also partnered with Zhima Credit of Ant Financial, Alibaba's financial arm, to launch "Tianyi Yueshu", an online book-lending service app.

Readers can borrow books on the platform which will then be delivered to their doorstep at a discounted delivery cost. Official data shows that the platform had accumulated nearly 30,000 users as of the end of 2019, with more than 250,000 books being lent out.