Zhejiang Library was established in Hangzhou in 1900. It is one of the China’s public libraries having long history. In 1931, Daxue Road Branch was built. On December 26 1998, a new major building of Zhejiang Library preliminarily opened to public. and on the hundredth  anniversary, November 18th 2000, it officially came into service. At present, Zhejiang Library has four sites with total floor space of 42,000 m². The headquarters in a new building, is located on Shuguang Road, the other three branches are the Gushan Road Branch, Daxue Road Branch, and Jia Ye Tang Collection House in Huzhou City along. 7 branches and 29 circulation stations are distributed in different places in Zhejiang Province.

Zhejiang Library is the collection and service center of literature information in Zhejiang Province, Performs local collection and service functions. It is an important window through which the world could understand Zhejiang Province better. Now the Library has possessed more than 5 million volumes of library materials and super-mass digitized information resources, including all kinds of paper-media subjects: books, periodicals and newspapers of Chinese, English, Japanese, Russian, German, French, etc. The most precious collection here is the Wenlan Ge (book collection house)’Si Ku Quan Shu’(an Ancient Chinese Encyclopaedia) with more than 36,000 volumes, completed in 1787. Besides, “Dun Huang Jing Juan” (a transcript Buddha Bible Roll from Dun Huang County in Tang Dynasty), the block-printed-editions, manuscripts, transcripts, handwritten copies, etc. were separately handed down from Song, Yuan, Ming, to Qing Dynasties. Moreover, there are block-printed editions from ancient Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.

Zhejiang Library has been carrying out a policy of everyday service in a year, and provides 24 hours service a day for Internet users. The main contents in our service include: books and periodical reading and lending, reference service, network service, lectures, exhibitions, education and training, and audio-visual service, etc.

Zhejiang Library all along keeps the leading position, taking an active part in importing and applying the new high-tech to promote the construction of library materials digitalization and network service. It is the union member of “China Digital Library Project”. Today, Zhejiang Library is pushing forward the resources establishment and share among the same industry. Together with Zhejiang University Library and Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Information Research Institution, Zhejiang Library has built “Zhejiang Provincial Digital Literature and Information Navigation Network” to assist founding the stronger province in science and technology, in education and culture. Zhejiang Library has participated in the activities of resource establishment and share at Yangtze River Delta, and in organizing and implementing the network project of book loan and return among all libraries in Province. It has set up the provincial sub-center of China Library Union Catalogue Center and carries out the library catalogue resources establishment and share across the regions and professions.

 Zhejiang Library actively gets involved with the international communication and cooperation. In 1994, it became an institutional member of IFLA, and joined in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section, and the Regional Section for Asia and Oceania as well. In December 1998, Zhejiang Library set up the relationship of “sister libraries” with Fukui-ken Library, Japan. In 2000, Zhejiang Library was approved qualified as UN Depository Library.