National Central Library 國家圖書館 Taiwan

Overview

The National Central Library (NCL; 國家圖書館) is Taiwan's national library and the pre-eminent library institution of the Republic of China, affiliated with the Ministry of Education. Located in the Zhongzheng District of Taipei, it functions as the legal deposit library for Taiwan and provides extensive services for scholars, researchers, and the general public.

History and Founding

The National Central Library was established in 1933 in Nanjing, then the capital of the Republic of China. Following the relocation of the ROC government to Taiwan, the Library re-established itself in Taipei. In 1940, the modern NCL in Taiwan was formally constituted. The current library building in Zhongzheng District opened in 1986 and underwent significant expansion in subsequent decades.

Collections and Holdings

The NCL maintains a broad range of print and digital resources, including books, e-books, periodicals, government gazettes, ancient books, manuscripts, genealogical records, and Sinological materials. It has constructed approximately 60 databases, among them the NCL Taiwan Periodical Literature (PerioPath), the National Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations in Taiwan (NDLTD), the Taiwan Memory portal, the DAVA digital audio-visual archive, and the National Central Library Gazette Online. Beginning in 2002, NCL digitized historically significant audio-visual materials including daily news broadcasts from Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV) covering 1962–2011, as well as recordings of political and economic figures from the 1910s to the 1980s.

Services and Access

Library cards are issued to Taiwan citizens and foreign nationals in person. Reading rooms are open Tuesday through Saturday, 9:00–21:00, and Sunday, 9:00–17:00. On-site access is required for subscribed commercial full-text databases. Rare books may be consulted on Saturdays by prior reservation.