Taicang Library During the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty, Mu Chaoquan founded the Dongcang Library, which is located on the west side of Baiyangqiao in the city. It has a collection of tens of thousands of rare books, making it the largest collection of books in the county. In the summer of the 6th year of the Republic of China, a library was established in what is now Taicang Park, with a collection of 806 kinds of books and 16,000 volumes, most of which are ancient books. The 12th year of the Republic of China. The collection of books has increased to 28,000 volumes, including 327 books, 4,049 volumes, and 1,570 volumes written by local people. In the 18th year of the Republic of China, it was merged into the County People's Education Center and a library and museum section was established. It became independent in the 25th year of the Republic of China. The following year, the Japanese army invaded Taicang and the building was burned down. It was reestablished in February of the 28th year of the Republic of China. It is located at Cause and Effect Bridge and has a collection of 21,000 books. In the 37th year of the Republic of China, the park was relocated to its former location and has a collection of more than 20,000 books.
At the beginning of liberation, the library was closed and all the books in the collection were handed over to the Suzhou Municipal Cultural Relics Preservation Committee for storage. In 1954, the county cultural center set up a reading room with a collection of more than 6,000 books, subscriptions to 32 newspapers and periodicals, and 4,000 books loaned out throughout the year. In 1958, the county library was established with one employee and the collection of books gradually increased to 10,000 volumes. In 1962, it was merged into the Cultural Center and a library was set up. Later, the book collection increased to 15,000 volumes. After the "Cultural Revolution" began, the library ceased to open. Since 1970, it has been placed under the management of Xinhua Bookstore and reopened to the outside world. In 1972, it was still classified as the Library Group of the Cultural Center. In 1976, the library was rebuilt. In 1979, a new building was built on Renmin North Road in a new location, covering an area of ??906 square meters. It has a library, loan office, offices, adult and children's reading rooms, etc., with 160 seats. At the end of 2000, it moved to Xinhua East Street (opposite the Bank of China) and merged with the Taicang Museum and Song Wenzhi Art Museum to establish the Taicang Art Museum, which is an important window for spiritual civilization in Taicang City. With a total area of ??8,000 square meters, it has a loan department, a multimedia reading room, a newspaper and periodical reading department, and a children's department. The total book collection is 160,000 volumes and 575 kinds of newspapers and periodicals. It implements full open-shelf borrowing and computer automated management. The library has 13 staff members.