Hebei Provincial Library

Hebei Provincial Library

Hebei Provincial Library is a provincial-level comprehensive public library established by the government. It is an important part of Hebei Province’s socialist scientific, educational, and cultural endeavors, serving as an academic institution that provides the public with book and periodical reading services and knowledge consultation. It is also the hub for book collection, cataloging, interlibrary collaboration, coordination, and professional research. After ten years of development, Hebei Provincial Library has achieved computerized management, allowing readers to access the library’s website via the internet to search, retrieve, and browse electronic documents and the library’s catalog database. The establishment of the Hebei Cultural Information Resource Sharing Project Center in 2002 has enabled the general public to conveniently access a wealth of high-quality cultural and artistic resources online.

The current building of Hebei Provincial Library was constructed in 1983, covering a total area of 38,254 m², with a total construction investment of 9.6 million yuan and a building area of 28,605 m². It houses a collection of 1.46 million volumes, with approximately 150,000 registered readers. The library has 12 types of reading rooms, 1,200 reading seats, and 4 document lending sections. It offers a wide range of services to the public, including borrowing of Chinese and foreign books and periodicals, in-house reading, information consultation, audiovisual materials, digital document borrowing and processing, internet browsing, professional training and guidance, as well as public lectures and exhibitions. The library is open 365 days a year.

Book Overview

The book collection of Hebei Provincial Library is characterized by its comprehensiveness, covering a wide range of disciplines aligned with economic priorities. It focuses on agriculture, machinery, chemical engineering, medicine, light industry, local literature of Hebei Province, as well as various reference and retrieval tools, legal documents, economic literature, and library and information science materials. The current collection includes 1.3 million volumes (items), with over 20,000 types and 40,000 volumes of new books added each year.

Electronic Publications

The Non-Book Materials Center is one of the largest centers in Hebei Province for digital periodicals and electronic database retrieval. It houses full-text CDs of over 5,000 academic journals, 1.2 million full-text CDs of Chinese patent specifications, as well as more than 30 types of full-text or bibliographic databases, including the China Periodical Index, Renmin University Reprinted Newspapers and Periodicals Database, Chinese and Foreign Science and Technology Periodical Databases, Chinese Corporate Product Databases, Chinese National Standards, and People's Daily.

Paper Periodicals

Hebei Provincial Library collects over 1,400 types of domestic social science periodicals published in the current year, with a focus on core journals in various disciplines, national-level key publications, local periodicals, and some high-quality periodicals.

Science and Technology Periodicals

The library holds over 1,900 types of science and technology periodicals, covering general natural sciences, mathematical and physical sciences, chemistry, astronomy, earth sciences, biological sciences, medicine and health, agricultural sciences, industrial technology, transportation, aerospace, environmental sciences, labor protection science (safety science), and more.

Hebei Provincial Library subscribes to over 300 types of current newspapers. The collection emphasizes national-level newspapers, party newspapers and official publications from provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, locally published newspapers in Hebei Province, core newspapers in various disciplines, and various high-quality newspapers.

Electronic Periodicals

The Full-Text Electronic Periodical Database is part of the resource development under the China Cultural Information Resource Sharing Project. It has received strong support from the periodical department dedicated to public cultural initiatives. The Cultural Information Resource Construction Management Center of the Ministry of Culture has commissioned the Hebei Cultural Information Sharing Center to produce full-text periodicals obtained free of charge through public welfare efforts, making them available to the public free of charge via online systems.

The Full-Text Electronic Periodical Database is categorized, processed, and cataloged by the library center according to the Chinese Library Classification (CLC) and relevant national cataloging standards. The processed data includes over 70 types of periodicals and nearly 8,000 records.

Rare Books and Local Literature

The Ancient Books and Local Literature Reading Room primarily houses ancient books and local literature from within the province, with a collection of nearly 70,000 ancient volumes, 500 volumes of inscriptions and letters throughout the dynasties, and ancient texts such as the Gujin Tushu Jicheng (Complete Collection of Illustrations and Writings from the Earliest to Current Times), Sibu Beiyao (Essentials of the Four Branches of Literature), facsimile editions of the Siku Quanshu (Complete Library in Four Branches of Literature), Siku Quanshu Cangmu Congshu (Catalogue of the Siku Quanshu), and Xu Xiu Siku Quanshu (Continuation of the Siku Quanshu). It also includes important ancient texts such as the Zuoyinzhai Qipu (Chess Manual of the Secluded Studio) from the Ming Dynasty's Wanli era and the Chonghou Shifa Riji (Chonghou’s Diplomatic Diary) from the Qing Dynasty.