Residents borrow books from a book cabinet in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/cnnb.com.cn]

"Tianyi Yueshu", an online book-lending service launched by the Ningbo Library, won the 2020 IFLA PressReader International Marketing Award, according to local media reports.

Founded in 1927 in Edinburgh, Scotland, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the most authoritative and influential non-governmental professional international library body in the world. 

The IFLA PressReader International Marketing Award is presented by the IFLA Section on Management and Marketing in collaboration with the award sponsor PressReader. The award, in now its 17th year, honors organizations which implement creative, results-oriented marketing projects and campaigns.

Submissions were received from 29 countries all around the world, including China, the United States, Russia, Singapore, Germany and France. Tianyi Yueshu made the top 10 list.

The award is the first influential international award to be won by the Ningbo Library.

In 2017, the library launched "Tianyi Yueshu", an online book-lending service app, by partnering with Zhima Credit of Ant Financial, Alibaba's financial arm. 

Readers are able to borrow books on the app without any deposit as long as their personal Zhima Credit score is high enough. The books will be delivered to their doorstep at a discounted delivery cost.

Official data shows that, as of now, more than 363,000 books have been lent out via the platform. 

Meanwhile, in a bid to make the service more user-friendly, the city has also constructed 17 self-help book cabinets, enabling readers to return or pick up books directly after placing an order.

Despite the COVID-19 epidemic, which broke out in China in January, the online book lending services have not been suspended. The app saw an increase of 5,000 users, with more than 90,000 books being lent out amid the epidemic.