NOTES AND QUERIES
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Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, and other Western-language books from the former Haiguang tushuguan. In the 1950s catalogs were published of certain holdings in some of the constituent libraries.*
With over 6.7 million volumes, subscriptions to 5,000 foreign journals (predominantly in the natural sciences), and an estimated daily clientele of 3,000 readers, the library operates several specialized branches in various parts of the city. Its central facility, located in the former administrative building of the Shanghai race track, is maintained primarily to serve research needs.
[This extract is taken from Frederic Wakeman Jr's Ming and Qing historical studies in the People's Republic of China. Berkeley, Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California. 1980]
* Xujiahui cangshulou suocang difangzhi mulu chubian [First list compiled of books held in the Xujiahui Repository] (n.p., 1957); Shanghai tushuguan cang qian Haiguang tushuguan shumu [Catalog of books from the former Haiguang Library now held in the Shanghai Library], 2 vols. (n.p., 1959); Qian Yazhou Wenhui tushuguan tushu mulu [Library catalog of the former Asia Literary Association], 2 vols. (n.p., 1955).