Nanjing Library, referred to as Nantu, is a national first-class library. Its predecessor can be traced back to the Jiangnan Library founded in 1907. It was the first public library in China. In 1952, the Sinology Library and the original Central Library merged into The current Nanjing Library. As of 2004, Nanjing Library has collected more than 8 million volumes of various documents, which is the third largest library in China and the fourth largest library in Asia after the National Library of China and Shanghai Library.