Abstract: 2020 will be the last year of China’s battle against poverty, and the year when the goal is achieved
to build China into a well-off society. From the fight against poverty in the past few years to the prevention
and control of the COVID-19 epidemic this year, libraries in China have been taking an active participation
in all, assuming their expected social role of alleviating digital poverty and providing precision services.
Rao Quan points out that China had made great contributions to the global cause of poverty alleviation, and
libraries at all levels and of all types have always played an active role in culture and information poverty
alleviation. This year will witness the completion of the fight against poverty. The library community must
improve the level of targeted poverty eradication, build an integrated poverty alleviation network, and
stimulate the endogenous motivation of the impoverished group. Entering the “post-poverty era”, libraries
should take an active role in improving the information literacy and scientific and cultural quality of the
people lifted out of poverty, so that they could truly have the capability to create their own beautiful life.
Gerald Leitner believes the United Nations 2030 Agenda-and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) it
contains-represents a roadmap towards stronger, fairer, greener economies and societies around the world.
He points out, as IFLA has been underlining for the past years, there is also a connection between the work
of the United Nations and that of libraries. Through achieving their missions, libraries are contributing to
the achievement of the United Nations’ mission. He concludes with his conviction that China’s libraries, of
all types, at all levels of government, have a major contribution to make, nationally, regionally and globally,

which will help build a more powerful voice for libraries globally. Sun Tan maintains that libraries will enter 

a new stage to assist in the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy. More attention must be paid
to providing high-quality public information and information services for the majority of rural residents. A
roadmap for libraries to help poverty alleviation in this regard is also proposed. Chen Chao regards poverty
eradication as part of public libraries’ responsibilities. It is proposed that libraries should set up an alley-oop
as an assist in this protracted battle against poverty. Wu Jianzhong points out that libraries have taken actions
ever since 2016 when General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed “targeted poverty alleviation and eradication”,
making contributions to accurate identification, targeted assistance, and targeted management, while
providing targeted digital services to millions of households and providing vigorous information supports
for comprehensive poverty alleviation strategy. He also recommends making efforts on three forefronts in
the short future: promoting the transformation and upgrading of public digital cultural services, developing
interconnected cloud platforms, and innovating the models and methods of digital cultural services. Ren
Jing describes how Chongqing Library, as a chief member in the Chinese Library Association’s Poverty
Alleviation Work Committee, organized, mobilized and guided public libraries over the nation, as well
as forces from all walks of life, to explore advantageous resources and potentials of regional alliance.
Aiming at the goals of assisting local government to fight the poverty battle, lifting regions out of poverty,
and promoting cultural development, the library has made gradual achievements in universal equality of
access to public culture services, improved balance of cultural resources between urban and rural areas, and
the protected basic cultural rights and interests of the people. Ma Yanxia advocates that cultural poverty
reduction, as an important part of the nation’s poverty alleviation efforts, plays a unique role. Henan’s
public cultural system has taken a series of measures on cultural poverty alleviation, such as sending books
to the countryside, helping “left-behind children” with education, and adding basic cultural infrastructures,
and all have achieved positive results. She proposes strengthening the government’s role as the leader
in poverty alleviation in future, while innovating a variety of supplying models, and promoting crosssector
collaboration to continuously contribute cultural strengths to China’s Central Plain’s fight against
poverty.

Key words: Targeted poverty alleviation, Targeted poverty eradication, Poverty alleviation, Poverty alleviation and wealth creation, Rural prosperity, 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), Library, Information service