Shanghai Library East will open to the public officially this Wednesday, September 28, 2022.
It has an area of 115,000 square meters. It is currently the largest library building in China. It aims to create a "knowledge exchange community" that inspires wisdom, exchanges innovation, shares resources and advocates inclusiveness. It will become a smart hybrid library in the reading era that integrates library resources, social science think tank research resources and the Shanghai local conditions research resources, as well as the "library, living room and working studio" of the general public.
The Beauty of Jade
The Shanghai Library East looks like a piece of rough jade, "floating" on the urban forest. It is located at the junction of the prosperous urban area and the Century Park. It is a hub connecting human civilization and natural ecology. This readable building presents the aesthetic symbols of Chinese culture, and the interior spaces are interconnected like Taihu stones, demonstrating the beauty of art. Ten teams of contemporary artists from all over the world have created a number of customized public art works, displayed inside and outside the library building, making the library a more open cultural and artistic space.
Knowledge is Power
Tower of Knowledge
City of Quest for Knowledge
Public Reading
After the official opening on September 28, the Shanghai Library East will provide 22 subject reading service areas and a smart innovation space, as well as group study rooms, lifelong learning rooms, and quiet reading cabins scattered on each floor, offering Inclusive and equal, and at the same time, precise and personalized public cultural services, which will help to create a warm atmosphere in this readable building. The service model of borderless integration of reading and book loan, exhibitions, activities and all-media services is the first in the domestic library community, conveying the idea of "reading people, reading the city, and reading the world", "reading texts, reading art, and reading technology", using art, science and technology to implement national reading promotion, popularize art and science through reading, and improve the public’s cultural, scientific, art and information literacy.
The Light of Truth over Shanghai
——Marx and Engels Manuscripts and the Revolution in Shanghai
This exhibition focuses on the great history of the spread of Marxism in China in the last century, and displays the manuscripts of Marx and Engels collected by the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam and the manuscripts of the Comintern representative Marin, combined with the collection of modern documents, old photos, records, prints, posters and other special resources in the Shanghai Library collection to verify each other, and demonstrate the inheritance and development of the revolution in Shanghai, the birthplace of the Chinese Communist Party. At the same time, "Greetings from Trier - Karl Marx's Life Exhibition" is being held at the Shanghai Social Science Museum, giving an introduction to Marx's ideological development and theoretical achievements, and reproducing the extraordinary life trajectory of this great man.
The Permanent Exhibition of the "Treasured Library Collection"
The "Treasured Library Collection" is the first long-term exhibition of the Shanghai Library collections, displaying the process of cultural dissemination from writing on paper to stone monument inscription rubbings, from ancient wood engraving, movable type printing, to modern technology such as lead printing and lithography. It leads the audience to unlock the inheritance code of civilization from the perspective of classics, presents the long-standing development of Chinese culture, and outlines the long development of human civilization. The current temporary exhibition displays the old rare books collection donated by the Jinshan Yao's family, an important donor of books at the beginning of the library's establishment, to express high respect to the many donors represented by Mr. Yao Guang.
The All-media Era
The subject reading service space in the Library East combines reading services with multimedia interaction to create a reading experience in the all-media era, give full play to the advantages of the library collection, focus on red culture, Shanghai culture and Jiangnan culture, so as to better demonstrate the brand identity of "Shanghai Culture".
The Music Library is a multi-dimensional space integrating the reading area, audio-visual room, music production room, music appreciation room, performance room and independent exhibition area. Base on the collection of records, it offers such special services as music appreciation, creation, and performance recordings.
The Local History Library relies on the huge collection of modern resources of the Shanghai Library, based on the organization and research of the Shanghai Memory project, and jointly working with the scientific research teams of various universities to use visualization technology, somatosensory interaction technology and hyperspectral image reconstruction technology for a single image to feature digital displays, so that readers can acquire an immersive reading experience.
Readers can also experience the intangible cultural heritage of inscriptions rubbing skills and VR interaction in the Art Archives where technological innovation and humanism are integrated, and receive aesthetic education in the public library.
The opening exhibition of the Genealogy Library showcases the family trees of celebrities such as Confucius, Gui Youguang, Qian Zhongshu, I.M. Pei, Sir Yue-kong Pao, etc. The multimedia interactive exhibits present the research results of digital humanities based on the "Chinese Genealogy Knowledge Service Platform" developed by the Shanghai Library.
The Manuscripts Library holds its first exhibition the "Rhythm of Shanghai - Xia Yan's Manuscripts". With the manuscripts of Xia Yan's "Blessings" and "Lin’s Shop", the library will carry out a series of reading promotion activities such as reader orientations, lecture salons, and interactive reading and writing. The event will bring the special library collection of manuscripts to the front of the stage, making the unique library professional services more popular and closer to ordinary people.
The Shanghai Social Science Library is the first social science library in the country open to the public, realizing the union of scholars, societies and academic achievements in the social sciences. The exhibition wall of social science masters not only shows the research ideas, spirit and personalities of Shanghai social science masters, but also presents the achievements of Shanghai social science research as a whole.
Shanghai Local History Exhibition Library, as a new type of local history library with the idea of "five functions in one", including professional library, land information exhibition library, development and utilization library, learning and education library, and talent training library, will offer better services to the public and better tell the Shanghai story to the world.
This year, the Shanghai Library East will also build the first reading forest in the country together with Pudong New Area, creating a high-quality "reading +" public space in the city, making the Shanghai urban space more accessible and the reading experience more attractive.
Opening Hours
9:00-20:30
(Closed on Monday, open as usual on October 3)
1F General Information Desk
9:00-18:00
1F Children's Area
13:00-19:00 (Tuesday-Friday)
10:00-19:00 (Weekends, winter and summer vacations)
1F Barrier-free Reading Room
10:00-16:00 (Tuesday-Saturday)
4F-5F Subject Libraries
6F Social Science Library
7F Treasured Library Collections
9:00-17:00
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Please long press the code to identify the Applet
Enter to make a reservation
Reservation System Operation Guide
1. After entering the Applet, please click "My" in the lower right corner to log in, using your mobile phone number or reader ID number. Readers without a reader ID card can register online first before making a reservation;
2. For book loan and reading, visiting exhibitions and etc., please click "Reservation for Admission", select the date of admission, and you can move freely in the open areas of the building after entering the library;
3. Readers who will participate in the special event, please click "Event Reservation"; readers who choose the guided library orientation, please click "Library Orientation Reservation"; readers who need to use the seats in the Reading Plaza on the third floor, please click "Seat Reservation". All special activities require a reservation code to participate. Click "My Reservation" on the first page to view your reservation code. Exhibitions do not require separate reservations and can be visited upon entering the library.
1. The reservation system is open for all types of reservations beginning at 24:00 7 days in advance.
2. Readers who have succeeded in “Special Event Reservation", "Library Visit Reservation" and "Seat Reservation" do not need to make "Admission Reservation" again.
3. If you need to make a reservation for parking, a pop-up box will remind you to make "Parking Space Reservation" after your successful reservations for admission, visit, special event or seat. You can also find the “Parking Space Reservation” in the upper right corner of each reservation card. The number of reserved parking spaces is limited, and we encourage readers to use public transportation for green travel.
4. If you need to cancel the reservation, please cancel the "Special Event Reservation" 4 hours before the event; "Admission Reservation", "Visit Reservation" and "Seat Reservation" can be cancelled at any time in "My Reservation" before the reservation expires
5. For "Event Reservation", please find the sign-in librarian in the event venue to scan the QR code to sign in; for "Seat Reservation", please scan the QR code to sign in at the reserved seat; you can sign in 30 minutes before and after the designated reservation time.
6. Those who do not sign in within the specified time will be marked for a breach of contract, and those who have breached the record three times will not be able to use the reservation system within the next 30 days.
7. With an "Admission reservation", each adult can bring up to 3 minors into the library, and readers with children's reader cards cannot bring minors into the library. If minor readers want to use the "Event Reservation", "Visit Reservation" and "Seat Reservation", they need to make a separate reservation.
8. After making the reservation, you can enter the library multiple times within the same day with the same reservation code and the Shanghai QR code. Please be reminded there is no restaurant for dine-in at the moment.
1. In order to ensure a smooth library operation, readers are required to enter through the South Gate (near Metro Line 2 Shanghai Science and Technology Museum Station Exit 3) and the North Gate (near the intersection of Hehuan Road and Hanxiao Road, near Metro Line 18 Yingchun Road Station Exit 4) );
2. During the normalized epidemic prevention and control period, readers must provide the reservation information after arriving at the library, and verify the green "Shanghai QR Code" and a negative nucleic acid test certificate within 72 hours before entering the library (you can also show your offline Shanghai QR code or original ID for verification). Readers entering the library should follow the signs or follow the directions of librarians, and abide by the rules of the library. During your stay in the library, please wear a mask, keep a certain distance from each other, and avoid group gatherings;
3. Readers are not allowed to bring any kinds of food or soft drinks into the library;
4. Readers who do not conform to the latest epidemic prevention policies and those who have abnormal symptoms such as fever, cough, shortness of breath, etc., are not allowed to enter the library.
