According to information from the library’s official website in September 2015, the Shanghai Library has a collection of more than 54 million volumes (items) of Chinese and foreign documents, including rare ancient books, inscriptions, manuscripts of famous people, family trees and local chronicles, rare books in Western languages, and records and music scores. , modern newspapers and patent standards are particularly distinctive. The total construction area is 127,000 square meters, with various reading rooms, academic activity rooms, lecture halls, exhibition halls and other spaces.
The collection of documents reaches 50.95 million volumes (items), of which historical documents are the most distinctive, including 1.7 million volumes (items) of ancient books, 150,000 rubbings of inscriptions, and about 100,000 celebrity manuscripts. The ancient books include more than 25,000 rare books and 170,000 volumes, including more than 300 types of engravings from the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and more than 224 types of scriptures written before the Tang and Five Dynasties. In terms of special collections, there are about 5,400 kinds of local chronicles compiled before 1949, more than 18,000 kinds of family trees (342 surnames), and more than 8,000 kinds of Zhujuan (including examination papers, rural examination papers and tribute papers). Among these precious collections, there are 700 kinds of national first-class cultural relics and 1,300 kinds of second-class cultural relics. The earliest collection of "Vimalakīrti Sutra" has a history of 1,400 years. The China Celebrity Manuscripts Museum also collects more than 50,000 letters, diaries, inscriptions, pictures, and rare documents from cultural celebrities since the late Qing Dynasty. Among them, the manuscripts of Ba Jin and other cultural celebrities are being gradually digitized. 1. Chinese newspapers: 1,508 kinds, 1,235 kinds are currently available (Chinese newspaper reading room 4108 on the first floor).
2. Chinese periodicals: 19,915 kinds, 8,574 kinds currently published (3202 Chinese Social Science Journal Reading Room on the second floor and 3302 Chinese Science and Technology Journal Reading Room on the third floor).
3. Chinese books: 2,420,050 volumes (Chinese Social Science Books Reading Room 4202 on the second floor and Chinese Science and Technology Books Reading Room 4302 on the third floor).
4. Thread-bound Chinese ancient books: ***approximately 1,700,000 volumes. Among them, there are 25,000 kinds of rare books and 170,000 volumes, and 2,256 kinds and 13,526 volumes are national first- and second-level collections. There are also more than 90,000 volumes of local chronicles in more than 5,400 categories, and more than 10,000 volumes of Qing Dynasty scrolls in more than 8,000 categories. (Ancient Books Reading Room 1210 on the second floor).
5. Tablets and inscriptions: There are approximately 150,000 pieces, including 2,182 kinds and 3,142 volumes of rare books, and 44 kinds of Song rubbings included in national collections. Nearly a hundred rare books were also found.
6. Chinese genealogy: There are more than 12,000 species and nearly 100,000 volumes. It involves 22 provinces and cities and 329 surnames. (Genealogy Reading Room 1213 on the second floor)
7. Old paperback books: 140,000 kinds and 330,000 volumes have been cataloged, including more than 28,000 unique ones nationwide, and 510,000 volumes are yet to be cataloged. (Modern Literature Reading Room 1110 on the first floor)
8. Modern newspapers: 1,850 kinds in Japan, 3,543 kinds of newspapers published before October 1949, including 92 kinds of foreign language newspapers in Shanghai . (Modern Literature Reading Room 1110 on the first floor)
9. Modern magazines: 1868 cataloged; various magazines published before October 1949, about 18,733 categories and 350,000 volumes (19,530 bibliographic data ). Among them, the most distinctive literary journals such as "Yinghuan Trivia", pictorial publications such as "Yinghuan Pictorial", and social science journals such as "Oriental Magazine" are all well collected. (Modern Literature Reading Room 1110 on the first floor)
10. Old foreign language books: ***There are more than 500,000 foreign language books published before the end of December 1949. The languages ??include Latin, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English, French, German and more than 10 kinds. There are also more than 80,000 unique old Japanese books.
11. Maps: *** There are nearly 10,000 types and more than 14,000 maps. Among them are many unique copies and treasures, such as the land planning map of the British Concession in 1855, the British and American Concession Maps of Shanghai in 1864 and 1865, and the "Complete Map of Kunyu" personally commissioned by Nan Huairen in the late Ming Dynasty.
12. Shanghai local literature: There are 8,454 volumes of Shanghai-themed literature published after 1985, and 21,429 historical pictures of Shanghai. (1102 Shanghai Local Literature Reading Room on the first floor)
13. Foreign language newspapers: 377 types, 77 types are currently available. (Foreign language newspaper reading room on the fourth floor)
14. Foreign language periodicals: 19,564 types, 6,131 types currently in issue.
(Foreign language journal reading room on the fourth floor)
15. Foreign language books: 561,165 volumes (end of 2000). (Foreign language books and conference proceedings reading room on the fourth floor)
16. Digital literature: 65 types of CD-ROM databases; 11 types of online databases. (Room 3402 on the fourth floor) 17. Braille materials: 41 kinds of Chinese books for the blind, 107 volumes; 157 kinds of cassette tapes (comprehensive reading room on the first floor)
18. Patent documents: Collection of American and French books , British, Japanese, Swedish, Russian, Chinese, European, world patents and 29,014,546 patents in Taiwan (at the end of 2000) (1315 Patent Search Tool Reading Room on the third floor).
19. Technical standard information: Collection of standards from Germany, France, Britain, Russia, Japan, Australia, the United States and some institutions, associations, industries, International Electronics Association standards, international standards, Chinese international standards, 313,314 pieces of industry standards (end of 2000) (1315 Patent Search Tool Reading Room on the third floor)
20. Science and Technology Reports: Collection of 1,884,570 American PB reports, AD reports, NASA reports, and DE reports (2000 end of the year). (1315 Patent Standard Science and Technology Report Reading Room on the third floor)
21. Product sample information: There are 11,540 boxes (volumes) of product sample information. (Exterior design sample reading room on the fourth floor)
22. Audio and video materials: 196,814 boxes (sheets) of audio and video materials are collected (at the end of 2000). (Second audio-visual room 1315 on the third floor)
23. National Chinese Newspaper Index: "National Newspaper Index" book: (monthly, divided into philosophy and society edition, science and technology edition), data collected from China's domestic public publications 8000. A variety of periodicals (including some Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan periodicals), more than 200 newspapers, and approximately 36,000 article titles are updated monthly. "National Newspaper and Periodical Index" database: 5.6 million items (end of 2001), with approximately 500,000 items updated annually. The "Domestic Professional Conference Titles Database" has approximately 350,000 entries (at the end of 2001), with 400 new reports and 30,000 entries added annually. The Shanghai Library has special collection columns such as Shanghai Years, World Expo Information, Anti-Japanese War Gallery, United Nations Information, and Study Abroad Guide.