The Ningbo City Library was founded in 1927 and although it holds a collection of approx. 1.7 million books it can only hold half its collection in the current library. This includes the largest collection of historic and ancient books in the region. The new 30,000m² library will house the entire collection under one roof, with expansion to over 2 million books.
The current library attracts 3-4000 visitors per day (similar to that of the Royal Library in Copenhagen) and the aim is that with the new library this will increase to 7-8000 visits per day. To deal with this increase in visits the new library will contain 3000 permanent workspaces and seats.