Abstract: ［Purpose/Significance］Reading trace refers to the original signs with specific implications preserved in the process of reading. Research on reading trace will be helpful for improving libraries’reading promotion activities, building an interdisciplinary subject between bibliography and reading education so as to propose a new academic hot spot, as well as deepening and expanding the research field of library science.［Design/Methodology］This paper discussed the definition, characteristics, types, functions and research value of reading trace so as to consider how to construct the reading history through reading trace and how the extension space of research on reading trace is.［Findings/Conclusion］Reading trace can be divided into direct reading trace and indirect reading trace according to the location of preservation, individual reading trace and group reading trace according to the subject of reading, paper reading trace and electronic reading trace according to the form of carrier, etc. Reading trace has the functions of recording reading behavior, individualizing semantic preservation, providing reference, and appreciating text in value. Reading trace may provide hunting clues, discover social network relations, reflect social reading environment and even cultural transition. Through the research on reading trace, people can have full understanding of social individual reading history and its spiritual development process, figure out readers’ perception about some literature and the reading social networks constructed based on the literature, as well as establish the social reading history within readers, authors, family members, friends and even descendants in a certain period.［Originality/Value］A new concept“reading trace”has been proposed, and its theoretical construction has been provided in various aspects.

Key words: Reading trace, Social reading history, Reading theory, Library reading promotion