Soochow University¡¯s library(SUL) was formerly addressed as ¡°Cang Shu Lou (Book-treasuring Building) of Dongwu University¡±that was first built in 1906(the 3rd year of XuanTong Emperor in Qing Dynasty). After over one century¡¯ s development, now it has become a modern university library with a rich collection of books and periodicals and with a higher level of automatization, internetization, informationization and digitization.
By the end of 2007, the amount of books had been more than 3 million including140,000 traditional thread binding books among which rare books are over 820 kinds totally more than 7000 volumes. Periodicals and newspapers published before 1949 had been 2943 kinds and those published later in both Chinese and foreign languages 3385 kinds. Besides, the library also holds 320,000 e-books, 52 Chinese and foreign language databases (consisting of over 20,000 e-journals and 38 integration servers with total memory capacity of more than 40T. Digital projects such as the integration of information and special databases had been quite effective and the advanced information system promotes the building and development of the information center in the South of Jiangsu Province.
SUL consists of several libraries with a total building area of 640,000 square meters. The Main library is located in the center of the main campus, and others in the Eastern campus, Northern campus and Dushu Lake campus(the New campus). The library institutes and divisions include Library Office, Collection Development Division, Information Reference Division, Technology Service Division, Digitalization Division, Ancient and Special Collection Division and Reader¡¯s Services Division which can be found in every library.
The Main Library
The Main library is located in the center of the Main campus with a beautiful environment and a long history. The library contains plenty of books and could provide almost all the library services. The 5-storey building was reconstructed to extend its capacity and came to use in September, 2003. If looked above the whole building seems like the Chinese character ¡°¿Ú¡±. Collections in this library focus on science books and periodicals. The expansion of the World Wide Web has led to a chaotic state where the users of the internet have to face and overcome the major problem of discovering information.
Jingwen Library on the Eastern Campus
Jingwen library, located on the Eastern campus which is separated from the Main campus by the ancient city moat, was built with contributions from HK patriotic industrialist Zhu Jingwen and opened on 28th February, 1992. The 4-storey building is in the shape of Chinese character ¡°ÈÕ¡± with a cloister open to the outside. Surrounded by the building was two garden-like yards with unique features of Southern gardens and inside the building are bright and quiet rooms. The library could provide a great variety of library services. Books and periodicals in this library are mainly about arts, history, philosophy and economics. For the solution of this problem, many mechanisms were created based on crawlers who are browsing the www and downloading pages.
Binglin Library on the Dushu Lake Campus
Binglin library was built with contributions from Chinese-American industrialist Tang Zhongying and is named after his father¡¯s name Binglin. The whole building is like a ¡°crystal lotus flower¡± with 8 storeys above the ground level and one underground. The key collections here are about humanities and social science, art, ancient and special collections, chemistry, chemical engineering and bio-medical science.
Northern Campus Library
Northern Campus library, in the eastern of the Northern campus of SoochowUniversity, was before named Suzhou Institute of Silk Textile Technology library in 1978. The building was in a shape of £¢T£¢. Books collected in the library are about engineering science such as mechanical and electronic engineering, communication, textile materials and so on. And the dominating journals and periods are about silk, dyeing, garment design, electronic information and so on.
Opening Hours
| ROOM | MONDAY-THURDAY | FRIDAY | WEEKEND |
| Circulation New Books Reading Room | 8£º30. -17£º15 | 8: 30-11:45 | 8£º30. -17£º15 |
| Periodicals Reading Room | 8£º30-22£º00 | 8£º30-22£º00 | 8£º30- 22£º00 |
| Social Science Reading Room (Binglin Library) | 8£º30- 22£º00 | 8£º30-22£º00 | 8£º30-22£º00 |
| Science Reading Room (Binglin Library) | 8£º30-22£º00 | 8£º30- 22£º00 | 8£º30- 22£º00 |
| E-reading Room | 8£º30- 22£º00 | 8£º30-22£º00 | 8£º30- 22£º00 |
| Preservation Reading Room (Jingwen Library) | 8£º30-11£º45
14£º00- 22£º00 | 8£º30- 11£º45
8£º00- 22£º00 | 8£º30- 11£º45
14£º00- 22£º00 |
| Ancient Books Reading Room(Binglin Library) | 8£º30- 17£º15 | 8£º30- 11£º45 | 8£º30-11£º45
12£º45- 16£º45 |
| Other Departments and Divisions | In accordance with the university¡¯s schedule |
Note: For Public Holidays and vacations, please refer to library's notification
