Staff members of Shaanxi Library reportedly provide free Internet access to help migrant workers book train tickets online. The library should be praised for helping migrant workers operate the online booking system in the library's public e-reading room, says an article in China Youth Daily. Excerpts:

To make it easier for migrant workers to travel back home for Spring Festival, the library has offered free, safe and eco-friendly access to train ticket booking. The library staff members have given free training lessons on basic Internet knowledge and skills to migrant workers so that they can operate a computer to book tickets online.

When we speak of libraries, the first thing that comes to mind is a place from where you can borrow books and magazines or read online. By providing this additional service to migrant workers, the Shaanxi Library is doing a truly noble job.

The online ticket booking system saves people a lot of time and harassment. But for most migrant workers, the online booking system hasn't changed anything because they don't know how to operate a computer. Even the ones who can operate a computer find it very risky making payments at Internet cafes.

Migrant workers have made great contributions to China's economic development but find it extremely difficult to even go back home after a year of back-breaking labor.

So all social sectors should follow the Shaanxi Library's example and take measures to make their life easier. If conditions permit, computers and free network should be made available to migrant workers so that they find it easier to return home for Spring Festival.

(China Daily 01/18/2012 page9)