Explanation

To increase the scope of information available over the Internet and enhance preservation of the country's cultural assets, the NCL is participating in the National Digital Archives Plan by digitizing rare and valuable books. This work is helping industry, government, academia, and the research community, increasing public convenience, and boosting national competitiveness.

The NCL collection contains a wealth of rare books, including over 12,300 works and close to 126,000 volumes. There are 155 handwritten works from Dunhuang, 175 Song-edition books, six Chin-edition books, 272 Yuan-edition books, over 6,000 Ming-edition books, close to 3,000 codices, and approximately 500 manuscripts and pijiao documents. The collection includes exquisite works from past book collectors, several different editions of the same work, many duplicates, and a vast array of Ming Dynasty literary collections and historical materials, including many rare items not listed in the Complete Collection in Four Treasuries.

The NCL Rare Books Collection Digitization Subproject digitized approximately 6,000 important rare books in the NCL collection between 2001 and 2004. The NCL will continue to digitize rare books through 2006. Approximately 6,200 ink rubbings will be digitized as well.

Digitization will enable the sustainable preservation of the NCL's extensive collection for use by the academic community and cultural industries. The library also hopes that the project will promote exchanges with other domestic and foreign collecting organizations, and that such cooperation can result in the joint production of high-quality classical literature databases with consistent specifications and professional input.

Project Progress