Shenzhen Library

Shenzhen Library

The predecessor of Shenzhen Library was Bao’an County Library. The new building of Shenzhen Library is a large-scale modern cultural facility invested in and constructed by the Shenzhen Municipal Government. It is located in front of the scenic Lotus Hill within the city’s administrative and cultural center district. The new library covers an area of 29,612 square meters, with a total construction area of 49,589 square meters, a designed book capacity of 4 million volumes, 2,000 reader seats, 3,000 network nodes, and can accommodate up to 8,000 readers per day.

The architecture of Shenzhen Library features a unique design, ingenious conception, and a strong sense of modernity. Its architectural model has also shifted from traditional styles to a fully open, large-space, partition-free “modular” layout. Its completion adds a uniquely distinctive cultural landmark to this young and vibrant city. Shenzhen Library emphasizes the application of new technologies and was the first in China to adopt the DILAS system and RFID technology. ILAS is a system independently developed by the library, with proprietary intellectual property rights, and was recognized by the Ministry of Culture as a major scientific and technological achievement promotion project, with nearly 3,000 users nationwide. DILAS (Digital Library Architecture Research and Application Platform Development Project) is a national key science and technology project assigned by the State Planning Commission and will be put into use at Shenzhen Library.

Shenzhen Library will also be the first library in China to adopt RFID technology. The use of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) will bring about a comprehensive transformation in the business management model of libraries and will provide strong technical support for readers to efficiently utilize library resources and ensure the security of books against theft. As the center for the collection and utilization of books and documents in Shenzhen, as well as the center for the development of documentary and information resources, the library currently houses over 3.13 million volumes of books and periodicals, and nearly 2.67 million items of various electronic and online documents, serving over 3 million readers annually. After the completion of the new building, it will continue to function as the city’s documentation and information center and regional library network hub. It will also be developed into a large-scale, modern public library that integrates mass services, research functions, and digital resources, reaching the level of top-tier libraries in China and ranking among the world’s advanced libraries.

In line with the economic, social, and cultural development of the Shenzhen region, Shenzhen Library focuses on building a distinctive collection featuring resources in high-tech, commerce, fashion, law, as well as local Shenzhen literature, and documents from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. All books and periodicals in the reading areas of Shenzhen Library are available through an open-shelf service. The library is divided into six service floors: the first floor is the periodical service area, mainly offering Chinese newspapers and magazines for reading and borrowing, along with a dedicated reading room for visually impaired visitors; the second and third floors are book lending areas, providing borrowing services for both Chinese and foreign language books; the fourth floor is the information service area, offering multimedia audiovisual services, electronic reading, information consulting, and internet services; the fifth floor is the thematic service area, divided into sections such as commerce, law, fashion, ASEAN information center, and foreign language periodicals, mainly serving research-oriented readers with specialized document reading and consulting services; the sixth floor is the special collection service area, offering access to Shenzhen local literature, Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau literature, reserved core collections, microforms, and ancient texts. Shenzhen Library adheres to the public service mission of maximizing the satisfaction of readers’ needs, providing convenient and efficient services. Except for Mondays when it is closed, the library is open daily from 9:00 to 21:00, operating 72 hours per week. The service approach follows principles of “full openness, no-entry card required, tiered management, and one-stop service,” open to all citizens. General reading requires no documentation, most services are entirely free, and only the actual cost is charged for printing and photocopying.

As one of the city’s most fundamental cultural facilities, Shenzhen Library serves not only as a knowledge temple for lifelong education for its citizens but also as an important symbol of the city’s cultural essence and taste. At the same time, it will further strengthen its information reference functions, providing high-level knowledge support and information services for government decision-making, economic development, technological innovation, academic research, and other activities in Shenzhen. It plays a key role in implementing Shenzhen’s cultural strategy of building a “City of Libraries” and serves as the central hub of the city’s library network.