Chinese Newspapers: 1,508 titles published between October 1949 and now and 1,235 current titles collected (Available in Room 4108, Chinese Newspapers Reading Room) 

  Chinese Journals: 19,915 titles published between October 1949 and now and 8,574 current titles collected (Journals in social sciences are available in Room 3202, Chinese Social Sciences Periodicals Reading Room. Journals in science & technology are available in Room 3302, Chinese Science & Technology Periodicals Reading Room). 

  Chinese Books: 2,420,050 volumes collected since October 1949. (Books in social sciences are available in Room 4202, Chinese Social Sciences Books Reading Room; books in science & technology are available in Room 4302, Chinese Science & Technology Books Reading Room) 

  Ancient Chinese Books: This collection consists of over 1,700,000 volumes, among which 25,000 titles and 170,000 volumes are rare books, 2,256 titles and 13,526 volumes are classified as national-level collections. In addition, there are 5,400 titles and 90,000 volumes of local gazetteers and over 8,000 titles and 10,000 volumes Zhujuan from Qing Dynasty. These books are available in Room 1210, Ancient Chinese Books Reading Room.

  Epigraphs and Rubbing: This collection has 150,000 pieces in total, among which 2,182 titles and 3,142 volumes are rare materials, and 44 volumes of rubbings from Song Dynasty are classified as national-level collection. There are also an additional 100 volumes of newly discovered rare books.

  Chinese Genealogy: This collection has over 12,000 titles and over 100,000 volumes of Chinese family pedigrees, covering 329 family names from 22 provinces. They are available in Room 1213, Genealogy Reading Room. 

  Old Paperback Books: This collection has 140,000 titles and 330,000 volumes of cataloged items, among which 28,000 titles are national unique books. There are also 510,000 volumes need to be cataloged. These books are available in Room 1110, Modern Document Reading Room.

  Modern Newspapers: This collection consists of 3,543 titles of newspapers published between 1850 and October 1949,among which 92 titles are in foreign languages published in the Shanghai area. They are available in the room 1110, Modern Document Reading Room. 

  Modern Periodicals: This collection consists of cataloged journals published between 1868 and October 1949 in a total number of 18,733 titles and 350,000 volumes (19,530 entries in the catalog index). It features a complete collection of such valuable literature journals as Yinghuan Suoji, Yinghuan Pictorial, and Oriental Magazine. They are available in Room1110, Modern Document Reading Room.

  Old Books in Foreign Languages: This collection has over 500,000 volumes of books in foreign languages published by the end of 1949. These books are printed in Latin, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English, French and German. There are 80,000 volumes of antique Japanese books in collection as well.

  Maps: This collection holds over 14,000 pieces of maps. Quite a few of them are exclusive or rare, such as the layout plan of the British Concession in 1855, the Map of Shanghai American and British Public Concession (1864-1865), and the Kun Yu Quan Tu edited by Nan Huai-ren in late Ming dynasty. 

  Shanghai Local Collection: This collection features 8,454 volumes of historical documents on Shanghai published after 1985, and 21,429 historical photographs of Shanghai. They are available in Room 1102.

  Newspapers in Foreign Languages: This collection has 377 titles of newspapers (77 current) in foreign languages. They are available on the forth floor, Foreign Newspaper Reading Room.

  Journals in Foreign Languages: This collection has 19,564 titles of journals (6,131 current) in foreign languages. They are available on the fourth floor Foreign Periodicals Reading Room.

  Books in Foreign Languages: This collection holds over 561,000 volumes of books in foreign languages by the end of 2000. They are available on the fourth floor, Foreign Books & Proceedings Room.

  Electronic Publications: There are 65 databases on CD-ROM and 11 network databases in this collection. They are available on the fourth floor, Room 3402.

  Braille Materials: There are 41 titles and 107 volumes of Chinese Braille books and 157 titles of audiocassettes in this collection. They are available on the first floor, General Reading Room Braille area.

  Patents Documents: By the end of 2000, this collection has 29,014,546 pieces of patents from countries and regions such as the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, Switzerland, Russia, China and Taiwan as well as European and International patents. They are available on the third floor, Room 1315, Patents Standards & Technical Reports Room. 

  Technical Standards Documents: By the end of 2000, this collection holds over 313,314 pieces of documents covering industrial standards from Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, Japan, Australia and the United States and those from select international organizations and trade associations, the International electronic Standards, International Standards, Chinese International Standards and trade standards. They are available on the third floor, Room 1315, Patents Standards & Technical Reports Room.

  Science & Technology Reports: By the end of 2000, this collection has a total number of 1,884,570 copies of American PB, AD, NASA, and DE reports. They are available on the third floor, Room 1315, Patents Standards & Technical Reports Room. 

  Product Stylebook: This collection holds 11,540 volumes of Chinese and foreign product stylebooks. They are available on the fourth floor, Arts and Design Product Catalogs Room.

  Audio & Video Materials: This collection has 196,814 pieces of Chinese and foreign Audio & Video material by the end of 2000. They are available on the third floor, Room 5315, No.2 Audio-visual Reading Room, Audio-visual Auditorium, and Musical Material Reading Room.