Haidian district of Beijing plans to put 100 new sharing bookshelves in Zhongguancun Science Park in the first half of 2018.

A total of 2,000 books introducing Haidian district will be allotted to the new shared bookshelves. Best-selling books featuring technology, finance, and literature will be available.

The intelligent shared bookshelf project, initiated in Zhongguancun Innoway last year, opened its first outdoor demo shop, providing a 24/7 self-help book lending service.

Li Bing, the starter of the sharing bookshelf project, said that with a height of approximately two meters, the bookshelf is rotatable and has a capacity of around 160 books. The books are categorized by genres such as novels and history.

Book-lovers look for books in a sharing bookshelf in Zhongguancun Innoway. [Photo by Guo Junfeng/ tuku.qianlong.com]

As a borrower all you need to do is open the door of the little library via WeChat, pick up a book you are interested in, and scan the bar code on its back; you can then take the book home, said Wang Jinbo, a manager of the bookshelf.

In regard to the development of the sharing bookshelf, Li said that fees will be charged to borrow the books and people will also be able to buy books from the self-service shelf.

The book sharing service is free to the public for five days; otherwise each book will be charged 0.2 yuan per day.

Information such as book reviews will be offered to users and offline reading activities will also be organized.

"I am not worried about losing books and I think the important thing is the bookshelf can serve people with real reading needs," said Li.

Two readers look over books in the sharing bookshelves in Zhongguancun Innoway. [Photo by Guo Junfeng/ tuku.qianlong.com]