Changsha Library (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Library’) was established in 1960. It is a comprehensive public library at the prefecture-level city and a National First-Class Library. The Library has been honored with titles including ‘National Reading Demonstration Base’, ‘National Family Parent-Child Reading Experience Base’, ‘Hunan Provincial Model Unit of Civility’, and ‘Changsha Foreign Communication Demonstration Base’.

The Library places high priority on building its collection resources. By October 2025, the total number of physical documents in the collection reached over 3.08 million volumes (items). It subscribes to 22 purchased databases and maintains 16 self-built specialized resource databases, with a digital resource storage capacity of 198TB. A dedicated ‘Changsha Literature Reading Room’ has been established, housing over 88,000 types of local documents related to Hunan people. It has set up the ‘East Asian Cultural Cities Documentation Resource Center’ to continuously collect cultural classics from East Asian cultural cities. The library has implemented the National Library Reference Consultation Alliance and the Changsha Promotion Plan of the Hunan Provincial Documentation and Information Resource Collaboration Network to build a public knowledge service platform for the city. In 2024, the total circulation patronage reached 1.75 million, with approximately 2.74 million items borrowed, and digital resources accessed 11.52 million times.

The Library continues to deepen public reading initiatives, cultivating over 40 reading service brands tailored to diverse age groups and reader characteristics. These include the Orange Isle Forum, Star City Science Lecture Series, Young Sapling Program, Love for the Visually Impaired, New Triangle Creator Space, and Reading Performance Theater. During traditional holidays, the Library organizes themed events such as ‘Literacy Changsha: Twelve Flavors of the Chinese New Year’ and ‘Our Festivals.’ The Library also holds annual activities World Book Day and Public Library Service Promotion Week. In 2024, the Library hosted 2,364 reading promotion events.

Since spearheading the citywide central-branch library system in 2010, the Library has progressively established a modern five-in-one library service system comprising the Central Library, Main Branches, Sub-branches, Self-service Libraries, and Circulation Service Stations. By the end of 2024, the city had established 1 municipal central library, 9 district/county main branches, 165 sub-branches, 48 self-service libraries, 116 circulation service stations/points, and upgraded 37 rural reading rooms. This system enables “one card for borrowing, returning, and interlibrary transfer” and promotes resource sharing and collaboration.

The Library is accelerating the development of smart library , implementing comprehensive application of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, automated sorting systems, and intelligent self-service equipment across the collection. The Library has constructed an open service platform integrating collection, borrowing, reading, and consultation to provide one-stop literature and information services to the public. The Library has developed a ‘Smart Brain’ visual decision-making platform, launched the AI ‘Librarian’ Wenrenmao (Literati Cat) based on the DeepSeek LLM, and created intelligent scenario service mini-programs.

The Library actively leads the regional library alliance's construction and development. In collaboration with the Zhuzhou City Library and the Xiangtan Library, The three libraries jointly founded the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan Public Library Alliance, promoted cooperation in information services for the ‘Two Sessions’ and opened inter library book borrowing and returning services. Readers in three regions can now access 681 libraries with a single card and borrow or return 10 million books using one card. By joining the Hunan-Jiangxi Border Library Alliance, the Library strengthened exchanges in public cultural services and resource sharing among libraries, promoting the integrated development of public reading services in the Hunan-Jiangxi border area.