Page 43 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2018 Vol. 42

042 Journal of Library Science in China, Vol. 8, 2016

2011, and the Outline of the National Program for Cultural Reform and Development during the
12th Five-Year Period in February 2012, both put forward “to further develop national reading and
national fitness programs”. “To develop national reading program” has also been mentioned in the
Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China in November 2012, and the Report
on the Work of the Government in 2014 and 2015, respectively. This shows that national reading
has been promoted to be a targeted, organized and planned social culture project nationwide, and
the national strategy to improve the reading level and ethical qualities of the whole nation, heighten
the national soft power and strengthen the international competitiveness.
National reading programs have been carried out for several years in China. The infrastructure
has been improved, and the reading atmosphere of the society is increasingly strong. However,
it is difficult for the organizers and administrators to fully grasp the development of national
reading, lacking the comprehensive and systematic assessment standard. Setting up the integrated
assessment standard of national reading, enhancing the dynamic tracing of the development,
and strengthening the quality supervision, are the inevitable requirements for the sustainable
and intensive development of national reading. Based on the evaluation experience of reading
promotion in foreign countries and the conditions in China, the paper explores the framework,
structure and promoting strategies of the national reading assessment standard from the dimensions
of organization, resource, and user.

1 Literature review

There is not a unified definition on national reading, concerning its wide range and rich content.
For the subjects, national reading not only refers to “reading for all”, but also “reading throughout
the whole life” (Y. Xu, 2011, p.2). It includes both print and electronic materials in terms of
the objects. It could also be classified into reading for leisure and for professional learning
based on its function. By our definition, reading is an act in which readers get information from
texts, illustrations or audio materials disseminated through print or electronic media. National
reading can be seen as the reading of all the citizens, and the national reading programs mean
various reading facilities and services provided for the citizens by government agencies, social
organizations, etc. The national reading assessment aims at evaluating the achievements of national
reading scientifically, and playing the role of guidance and supervision in the cause of national
reading. Centered on reading resources, this paper reviews prior researches and practices of the
evaluation and assessment on national reading in 3 different dimensions including production
dimension, transfer dimension, and usage dimension as follows.

1.1 The assessment on reading resources production

In the national reading system construction, reading resources production refers to the creation