PURPOSE: To realize the reading at a high speed, by providing an optical reading head so that it goes and comes back along the recording surface of the paper and at the same time setting oppositely to each other two paper discharging mechanisms which are alternately driven at both ends of the paper set in the moving direction the reading head.

CONSTITUTION: The information is recorded on the paper 2, and this paper 2 is put on a hopper 1. A reading 9 put on a sliding board 10 on the paper goes and comes back between C and D and along the board 10 to read the information on the paper 2 to the side D from the side C. When the head 9 reaches the point D, a roll brings the left edge of the highest paper 2 to a feed roll 4-1 to discharge it. Then the head 9 starts reading from the point D toward the point C. This enables the reading at a high speed and furthermore the floor area necessary for an optical reader is reduced.