The Phase II construction and the China Digital Library project of the National Library of China (NLC) had their cornerstone laid at 10 o'clock on Tuesday morning. The project will formally begin construction at the beginning of next year and it is expected to be completed and become operational in October of 2007.

The total construction area of the second phase project is 80,000 square meters, with total investment of 1.235 billion yuan, funded by the government. The goal of this library is to build the largest collection of Chinese literature and become the base for Chinese digital resources and the most advanced information network services.

Once completed, 2,900 seats for readers will be added and daily capacity will increase to 8000 readers. Its capacity will be able to house its book collections for the next 30 years. After the new facilities are integrated with the existing facilities, the total size of the National Library of China (NLC) will be 250,000 square meters, ranking third in the world. 
 
(Chinanews.cn December 29, 2004)