Ancient Book Department
The ancient book department of NL mainly houses various materials written or printed prior to the foundation of People’s Republic of China in 1949. So far there’re 2.3 million volumes of historical books and periodicals among which 1.6 million are ancient books including 10,000 rare books made up by 200 sets of prints in the Song and Yuan Dynasties 1000 years ago and 7000 sets in the Ming dynasty 600 yeas ago, as well as official documents of the Republic of China in the late 19th century. Additionally the department stores copies, microfilms and electronic publications of historical archives, as well as current publications related to the research of historical documents.
Aimed Users: Any person is welcome to use the readingrooms in the Historical Archives Department of NL free of charge no matter you’re a scholar, teacher, student, or businessman. You need to provide your valid proof of identification with your photo attached such as you citizen ID, employee card, student card, and driving license etc. And if you read the rare books or preserved books you need to show one reference letter from your company or institute.
Reading Rules:
As a provincial public library and a main storeroom of literary materials, we have the duty to protect the ancient collection from being damaged or stolen. We will very appreciate your support and understanding if you obey these rules:
1. Register at the circulation desk after showing your valid proof of identification and fill up the call slips.
2.Wait for the librarians to take the books. ( It may take some time for the librarians to get the books from the stacks.)
3. There is a limit of 8 sets or 80 volumes of books including no more than one rare and two preserved books for each user in one day. If you want to continue reading the same books the next day you may tell the librarians not to put the books back into the stacks in two days.
Please notice that no ancient books are allowed to take out of the library.
Reproduction Services:
We provide reproduction services such as xerography, microfilm, copy, scan, photograph, printing, and transcription. But for rare books, only microfilm and scan services are available for the purpose of protection. (Please notice that NL may charge you the fee of copyright for the reproduction of its collections.)
