Readers in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region will soon have access to the nation's latest books, journals, audio-visual materials and photographs.

A Chinese-Uygur digital publication platform was opened recently at the Xinjiang Library, which just celebrated its 80th anniversary.

Readers in Urumqi, the region's capital, can search 125,000 e-books, more than 4,000 e-journals, 900 hours of video material and 40,000 digital photos.

Affiliated to the National Digital Library of China, the system is the first of its kind in northwestern China. A quarter of the resources will soon be accessible to county libraries in the region.

The ethnic-materials section includes those in the Uygur, Kazak, Mongolian and Tibetan languages, while the book section includes 5,000 books published in the country over the past two years.

The video section offers 400 lectures on politics, economy, culture, education, industry, agriculture and medicine. Especially interesting is a series of videos featuring some 100 experts who reveal the stories behind some of the precious collections kept in libraries across the nation.

Readers interested in history, calligraphy and painting will find the photo section helpful, as they can browse through photos of oracle bones, New Year paintings, rubbings from ancient bronze ware and stone tablets and the mysterious written characters of the Western Xia Kingdom (1038-1227).

"The vast expanse of Xinjiang makes it difficult for people in some remote areas to keep abreast with the latest publications," says Li Li, vice-director of the Xinjiang Library. "The online system will definitely help overcome this."

The National Digital Library of China was launched last year under the leadership of the National Library of China (NLC). It aims to connect all provincial libraries, of which 16 branches have already been established.

Wang Zhigeng, director of the Digital Resource Department of the NLC, says the building of a search engine has been completed with the filling in of content and compiling of sources still pending.

"Copyright issues are one of the challenges (facing the project) as printed books are photocopied. Another challenge is to coordinate the branches, so there won't be repeat uploads," Wang says.

The NLC is also donating 200,000 books to Xinjiang, and a quarter of these have been distributed to county libraries.

"In public libraries, books for children and those about farming, sociology, education and literature are the most sought after. The donated books will help satisfy readers' demands," Li says.