Shanxi Library was founded in 1909, which is one of the few hundred-year-old libraries in China. It is a provincial public welfare cultural organization ran by the government. Shanxi Library has the functions of collecting, organizing, and preserving document information, providing inquiries, borrowing, carrying out social education, providing free public cultural services to the public.

Two sites, Reasonable layout. Shanxi Library has two sites: Changfeng new library and Wenyuan old library, which is a rational layout for the coordinated development of the new city area and the old. Changfeng new library, located in “Culture Island” in Changfeng Cultural Business District of Taiyuan, was officially opened to the public on July 1st, 2013. It covers an area of 60 acres and the building is designd 50,000 square meters so as to collect 7 million book stocks and accommodate 3,000 people to read at the same time. The library has 27 reading rooms, as well as lecture halls, multi-function halls, audio-visual rooms, digital multimedia experience area, professional exhibition halls and other facilities. Wenyuan old library is located at No. 1, Wenyuan Lane, Jiefang South Road with an area of 18,000 square meters. It is now undergoing renovation. When completed, it will be Shanxi Children's Library and Shanxi Ancient Books Protection Center.

Services complete, brands formed. Shanxi Library provides traditional services to the public, namely reading, borrowing, document copying, lectures, and exhibitions; as well as modern services, such as digital resource services, electronic newspaper reading, mobile library services, and network information services. Meanwhile, the library also provides special services, for example, restoration of ancient books, reference consultation, and visually impaired services. These services basically include the functions of the modern public library. In the practice of continuously improving service efficiency, Shanxi Library has gradually formed special cultural brands such as Jintu Series Issues, Wenyuan Lecture, and volunteer service.

Rich Collection Resources. Shanxi Library houses 3.74 million volumes by now. Among the collections of ancient and rare materials, the most valuable ones are the only existing copies whether at home or abroad like The Big Dipper Sutra, which was block printed in the third year during Emperor Yongxi’s reign of Northern Song Dynasty, and Cheng Wei Shi Lun Liao Yi Deng Chao Ke Wen, which was block printed in the eighth year during Emperor Fuchang’s reign of Fake Qi dynasty and regional rare, special materials like Shanxi Chorography from Ming dynasty during Emperor Jiajing’s reign and Liu Dapeng’s Tuixiangzhai Diaries. Aside from all these, Shanxi Library has rich digital resources, including 21 outsourcing databases, namely the CNKI, Wanfang data resource system, Fang zheng appabi e-books, Superstar Reader Knowledge Database, and the self-built Shanxi local Feature digital database.

Wide Range of Services. Shanxi Library offers a wide range of services. Basic services include literature resource services, literature resource digitization, local features digital resources construction, holding public welfare activities (lecture, exhibition, training) and reference and consultation services. Besides, as the leading library of Shanxi province, Shanxi Library is responsible for Shanxi general-branch library system construction and providing business coaching, team training, and technical support for basic-level libraries. Shanxi Library also plays a leading role in the construction and organizing of the state-led provincial information project, such as the provincial cultural information resources sharing project, digital library extension project, public electronic reading-room project, ancient book protection project, and the protection project of literature resources of the Republic of China.