Haining Library

Foundation and early development The Library's history can date back to 1904, when Haining Zhou Library () was founded as the first county-level library to use the Chinese term "图书馆/圖書館" in China. In 1915, Haining County Public Library () was founded, using the buildings of Haining Zhou Library, Old Academy (), Anlan Shuyuan (). Zhu Zonglai (), who was educated in Japan, was appointed as the president of the Library by the county government, with a public fund of 200 Silver Yuan annually. The Library then set up a room for epigraphic collections. In 1918, the Library set up a department for collection of popular books whose themes included politics, literature and arts, technologies and techniques, etc. In 1930, the local government of Haining founded the Public Education Centre of Haining, and made the Library the Book Department of the Centre. From August 1931 to August 1932, four libraries affiliated to the Public Education Centre were set up in four towns under Haining (Xiashi, Yuanhua, Chang'an, Xieqiao). In November 1931, Haining Public Library became independent from the Centre, yet Bi Fuyun () remained president of both the Centre and the Library. After Japan occupied Haining in 1937, the Library ceased to operate. The Library, covering an area of 8 mu, had a 4-storey main building containing a stack room with a mezzanine, and 2-storey subsidiary buildings. The buildings were encompassed by trees. Zhou Gucheng, Vice Chairman of NPC Standing Committee, and the calligrapher Sha Menghai inscribed the name of the Library as a calligraphic, which is still used in the logo of the Library now. On 23 March 1989, the Library set up the readers' service. On 23 May, the Library began to operate until late night after the improvement of the indoor illumination. In June 1991, the old buildings of the Library was recommended as an National Outstanding Cultural Facility by the Department of Culture of Zhejiang Province. On 28 August 1992, the Library set up a hall for speedy checkout. On 21 December 1994, the Library was ranked as National Civilized Library and National Class 1 Library by the Ministry of Culture. In May 1995, the Workers' Association of Haining Library was formed. In June 1999, a national engaging system was introduced to the employees of the Library. In June 1999, the weekly closing day of the Library was cancelled. The plan was later listed in the 11th 5-year plan of Haining City. The construction began on 16 March 2012. In the New Year's Day of 2015, the new buildings with a total floor area of 19,900 square metres, came into use. During the construction of the new buildings, Haining Library was ranked as one of 10 Most Beautiful Basic-Level Libraries of 2014 across China by the 2014 Annual Symposium of China Libraries hosted by the Ministry of Culture. In January 2016, the Library Council was formed, which was the first council in a public cultural service in Haining. Haining Library was also the first library to form such an organisation in Jiaxing. == Architectures ==

Main Building The main building of the Library is located at 60-62 Xuelin Street, The floor area of the building is 19,900 square metres with the area of basements included. The cost of the construction of the building is 135 million RMB. The building is designed to store at most 800,000 books open to access on the shelves and contains 1,000 seat. Branches Since 2008, the Library has been engaged in the urban-rural integration of the public library services, using various methods to promote the collection and use of local literature. As of August 2018, there are 11 branches of the Library located in every town under Haining City. Besides, the Library is also in charge of three theme libraries, three libraries within local companies, eight village libraries, 13 community libraries, five automatic community libraries. As of September 2016, there are 179 farm reading room across Haining supported by the Library. In May 2016, the Library set a "mobile library" called Yuelu (). The library is located within a 10-metre-long bus. With the bookshelves inside of the bus, it can carry over 2000 books and over 100 journals. The library also has space for readers by providing tables and chairs. The library runs on eight routes like a public bus.The library also set up a community library at the old site of Xiashi Railway Station in Xishan Park, which is located inside an old train car. The style of its decoration mimics that in the Republican period. Since the Library was located upon Xishan in 1963, this library was regarded to memorize the history of both the old train station and the library itself. == Services ==

As of August 2018, the library contains 1.7 million items, with over 27 thousand ancient books included. In the financial year of 2016, the Library had 28 employees as civil servants, with an income of 16,766,874.91 RMB and an outgoing of 17,880,009 RMB. Haining Library is affiliated to Haining Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sport. The Library Council, consisting of 13 members, is the supervisor and policy maker of the Library. Digital services The website of the Library opened in January 2002. Since 3 June 2006, the Library began providing a service called "Digital Library", where the digital books of Jiaxing Library can be accessed online, digital journal articles can be accessed in reading rooms. The digital reading room of the Library opened on 13 June 2001, equipped with 31 computers and related accessory devices, costing and a government fund of 310,000 RMB. Free access to online database such as CNKI etc. became available on 15 October 2007. The local Federation of Disabled Persons donated a smart reading device embedded with 96 books in braille. The Library provides free Wi-Fi access viaHilib-wifi, after login in with China Resident ID number and the number of Haining Citizen Card (previous registration needed) or the number of the reader card. ==See also==