In 1923, Beiyang Government announced the notice of donating books for Qingdao Public Popular Library, making preparation for the Library.
In August 1924, the predecessor of Qingdao Library, Qingdao Public Popular Library, opened to public, located at 2, Juxian Road.
In April 1929, Qingdao Public Popular Library was replaced by Qingdao Party Headquarter Library.
In June 1930, Qingdao Municipal Library opened at He’nan Road.
In 1932, Qingdao Municipal Library merged with Qingdao Party Headquarter Library, managed by Qingdao Party Headquarter and Qingdao Education Bureau jointly.
In July 1939, puppet Qingdao Library opened to public under the leadership of puppet Qingdao Education Bureau. There was almost nothing in the reading room, because only one news publication left, Qingdao Xinmin News. As a result, the Library only maintained book loan service.
On December 20th 1945, Qingdao Municipal Library reopened at 2, Juxian Road. Before reopening, a series of books supporting the enemy and the puppet regime were destroyed.
On June 2nd 1949, with the liberation of Qingdao, Qingdao Municipal Library was taken over by Qingdao Military Control Commission, with all of the original employees.
In 1953, the Library was renamed as Qingdao Library, moving to 37, Yushan Road.
In December 1986, the foundation stone of the new library building was laid by then Secretary of Qingdao Municipal Committee Liu Peng, with an area of 22 acres located at the intersection of Shandong Road and Yanji Road. On November 11th 1991, with the completion of the first-stage project, the new Qingdao Library opened to public. There were newspapers and periodicals reading room, Chinese books reading room, catalog searching room, foreign collections room, lending room, with 400 seats and 15,000 registered readers. What’s more, there was an automobile library.
In 1994, Qingdao Library and Automobile Library were rated as “national civilized library”. In December 1997, Qingdao government decided to expand the library at the original location, investing 80 million yuan totally.
On July 6th 2002, the enlarged Library opened to public, with a floor space of 26,000 square meters, 7-storey high. The huge frame in the front side of the building symbolizes the door of knowledge, making the building become one of the cultural landmarks of Qingdao.
