This paper performs a questionnaire survey on the reading tendency of 518 college students atGuangzhou Medical University,and analyzes the differences of publication type,the way of reading,reading timeand reading purpose in gender,major and education level. With a further analysis of the data and the interviews of60 college students,the author comes to the conclusion that there are the knowing-acting contradictions in collegestudents’ reading: Although they realize the importance of reading,college students do not take the time thatmatches their reading value cognition to read. College students are pressured to read the books which they are notinterested in. College students feel like to do a closer reading on the materials derived from previous digitalreading,but they can’t do. Therefore,the author recommends that university libraries should try to eliminate theknowing-acting contradictions in college students’ reading by arousing their interest in reading,fostering theirreading literacy, enhancing the development of digital resources, and strengthening the guidance of digitalreading.