Suzhou No. 2 Library, located at No. 2383 Guangji Road, has a floor space of 45,600 square metres, housing 7 floors among which one lies underground and the other 6 above the ground. The building is divided into two sections, the north and the south, and fulfills three major functions, namely serving as a public library, storing and distributing literatures and offering supporting services. The design stresses four distinct features: being the first large-scale intelligent stack nationwide, being a “fun-filled reading world for kids”, being a new high-end platform for information services and being a cosy “study for Suzhou people”. The public library service is mainly based in the south division of the library. The two-storied reading hall offers the reader a roomy and tranquil environment with sufficient light. The fun-filled reading space for kids aims to serve children aged from 0 to 14 with its age-based functional areas. Quiet reading and vigorous activity are thus properly separated, which fully meets the demands for both family reading and young readers’ independent exploration among books. The space for storage and distribution of literatures occupies the part from the first floor to the third one in the north division. This part homes an intelligent stack, the first of its kind in the country, with storage capacity of over seven million books. The automated system for storage, retrieval, sorting and transmission of books brings the reader much convenience when borrowing books, and enables the library to deploy books efficiently. The system well satisfies the demands of the library for its integrated library system and its further development as a public library. Supporting services cover the whole library not only to create new highlights for cultural consumption but also to meet people’s multi-level, diverse and idiosyncratic needs for their cultural life.
