Founded in 1909, the Shanxi Provincial Library is one of the few libraries in the country that have a history of one hundred years. It is a cultural venue supported by the government open to the public free of charge. 

On July 1, 2013, the new Shanxi Library was officially opened. The design of the new building is based on the traditional Shanxi local style, transmitting the cultural characteristics of the ancient Shanxi architecture and containing the deep Shanxi cultural heritage. Providing a comfortable, casual and quiet atmosphere is the pursuit of the new library building. There are free drinking water equipments, book bar, tea house, café, as well as green plants everywhere, creating a comfortable reading and relaxing environment. The new building uses RFID, mobile intelligence and other advanced technologies to help readers achieve such modern self-services as reader registration, book circulation, copying and mobile reading. With digital reading rooms, WIFI full coverage network and mobile new media, readers can easily search the library catalog and access 13 commercial databases and 21 digital library knowledge bases established by the library itself.

The new library received a total investment of RMB350 million. Covering 60 acres of land, it has a construction area of 50,000 square meters, a holding capacity of 7 million books, 27 reading rooms of various types, 3,000 reading seats, 6 compact stacks, 6 special-function spaces (auditorium, lecture hall, multifunctional room and exhibition halls, etc.), and 3 leisure reading areas. The library is equipped with 600 computers, 14 electronic newspaper reading machines, 35 multimedia bulletins, 17 self-service circulation machines, 4 self-service book return machines, 5 self-service copy machines, 3 electronic guidance platforms, 2 self-service registration machines and 37 special equipments for the visually impaired readers.

The new goals of the library is to build a public cultural venue integrating 7 functions, including the provincial knowledge center, intelligence information center, document support center, community education center, ancient books protection center, public digital culture center, and public cultural and leisure center.