On May 25, 2013, the Shanghai Library officially launched "2012 Shanghai Public Library Reading Report," which summarizes the Shanghai readers’ ecology. This is the first library reading white paper oriented towards the general public.

This Read report summarizes the coverage of the Shanghai Central Library’s "One-Card-Through" service system, providing the statistical data for reader registration and demographic distribution in 2010, 2011 and 2012. As of the end of 2012, the total membership of the Shanghai Library and the Shanghai Central Library has reached 1.9 million. Male readers accounted for 52% and female readers 48%.

Data show that in the "One- Card-Through" adult readership, the 20-40 year-old age group is the majority, accounting for 62%. Of children under 14 years old, the largest number is elementary school students, accounting for 64%.

Interestingly, readers of the Shanghai Library and the Shanghai Central Library come from more than 100 countries, including Japan, South Korea, Russia, India, Canada, USA, UK, France, Germany, Australia and so on.

In 2012, the Shanghai Central Library has a total circulation of more than 37.71 million items, with an increase of 23.5% than the previous year. In 2012, 505,000 readers borrowed books from the Shanghai Library and the Shanghai Central Library, of which 78.6% borrowed books from a single library, while one reader visited over 41 libraries and the other checked out 3,134 items ine one year, ranking number one.

According to reports, by the end of 2010, the “One-Card-Through” of the Shanghai Central Library has achieved a full coverage of districts (counties) and neighborhoods (towns). Currently, the “One-Card-Through” service system of the Shanghai Central Library comprises 249 institutions, with 283 service outlets.