Abstract: [Purpose/Significance] The establishment of citizen night schools by public cultural institutions represents a successful service practice targeting the youth demographics. Analyzing the behavior of the young people's participation in these night schools can facilitate innovation in youth-oriented public cultural services. [Design/Methodology] By collecting the comments of participants and data from survey questionnaire, through conducting coding, statistical description, and cluster analysis, this study reveals the behavioral motivations, participation intentions, in-process behaviors, and outcomes of the youth group's engagement in citizen night schools. [Findings/Conclusion] The participation of young people in citizen night schools is driven by four intrinsic motivations: learning, leisure, social interaction, and self-actualization. The service mode and content design of citizen night schools provides conditions for young people to transform their intrinsic motivations into participation actions; their participation intentions of the courses can be divided into five categories: life skills, physical fitness and beauty, digital creation, skill enhancement, and calligraphy and painting art. There are differences in participation intentions among young people with different professions and ages; participating in citizen night schools helps young people construct a new order for their amateur life in the digital era, changes their perception of public libraries and cultural centers, generates more expectations for libraries and cultural centers' services and also helps them integrate into urban life. Public libraries and cultural centers should promote the sustainable development of citizen night schools, reflect on the innovation boundaries of public cultural services, and improve their targeted service strategies. [Originality/Value] This paper reveals the behavior of young people's participation in citizen night schools, proposes innovative development strategies for public cultural institutions to provide targeted services through citizen night schools, and provides reference for improving the quality and efficiency of public cultural services.

Keywords: Citizen night school, Youth-oriented services, Public cultural services, Library, Participation behavior