The opening of a special library in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou has attracted public attention by using facial recognition technology for people to borrow out books.

The Huashi branch of Guangzhou Children's Library located in the Affiliated Tianhe Experimental School of South China Normal University is the first library in the city to use facial recognition. The library is home to nearly 10,000 children's books and 28 terabytes of digital resources.

A staff member from the library shows the children how to use the self-service book borrowing and return machine. [Photo/ycwb.com]

According to Wu Cuihong, deputy curator of the library, the facial recognition system is integrated with the self-service book borrowing and return machine and allows children to borrow and return books by standing in front of the device without having to take their library card with them.

The library is also connected to the city's interlibrary loan system which means that children can share the resources from other libraries across the city through the library.

Liu Xinyao, sixth grade student from the Affiliated Tianhe Experimental School of South China Normal University was excited when using the facial recognition system to borrow books for the first time.

"Facial recognition has made it easier and quicker for me to borrow the books I want."

A girl borrows a book from the library using the self-service book borrowing and return machine. [Photo/ycwb.com]