The predecessor of CASS Library was the Department of Books and Materials of the Institute of Law, established in 1958. From 1995 to 2001, the Department had merged with the Library of the Institute of Political Science and renamed Library of the Law Institute and the Institute of Political Sciences of CASS. In 2003, it changed its name to Library of Institute of Law of CASS. In December 2008, it became the Law Branch of the CASS Library and renamed CASS Law Library.

The Library is under the guidance the CASS Library in matters of library business and at the same time it is under the leadership and administration of the Law Institute in matters of personnel, finance, and services. The Library provides services to researchers of the Institute of Law and the Institute of International Law, students of the Law Faculty of the CASS Graduate School, researchers of other institutes under CASS as well as readers outside the CASS system. According to the reform plan of 2008, the goal of development of the Library after it became the Law Branch of the CASS Library is to "become the biggest, first-class law library in China with CASS characteristics."

Currently there are four functional departments under the Library: the Department of Books and Materials, the Department of Document Research, the Department of Network and Information, and the Department of Human Rights Documentation. There are also a number of offices that serves as service windows of the Library, including Research Archives Office, Technique Office, and Liaison Office. Currently the Library is in a process of transformation from a traditional library to a research library.

The books and materials of the Library are mainly acquired through takeover of collections from other institutions, acceptance of donation and purchase. After many years of accumulation, the Library has a relatively complete system of legal books and materials. It is especially famous for ancient Chinese legal documents, periodicals published during the Republic of China (1912-1949), gazettes of the Nationalist Government, books and documents taken over from Southern Manchurian Railway Company, and newspaper clippings of Chinese legal materials. By the end of 2008, the Library has a total collection of 375,000 pieces. Among them, there are 215,000 books and periodicals in Chinese and foreign languages, including 5,640 kinds (38,227 copies) of thread-bound ancient Chinese books-of which 315 (2,795 copies) were rare books, 33 foreign language books in microfiche (24,193 pages), and 117,000 pieces of newspaper clippings. Besides, the Library has also bought a large number of law databases, such as Database of Chinese Laws and Regulations, CNKI, LEXISNEXI, as well as hundreds of CD-ROMs of Chinese laws.

Many of the staff members of the Library have good command of one or more foreign languages and rich experience of exchange with foreign countries. Currently they can process books and materials in Japanese, French, German, English, Russian and Korean languages.

The Library is a collective member of the Branch of Specialized Libraries of the Library Society of China. In 2000, the Library initiated the first website of specialized library in China-China Law Library Forum-thereby providing Chinese law librarians with a platform for academic exchanges. Currently, the Library is also in charge of the management of China Legal Science Website.

The Library is a long-term recipient of book donations from many U.S. and Japanese organizations, including the Asian Foundation, the Japan Foundation, Waseda University and Seibundoh Publishing Company. Over the years, it has received a large number of high-quality academic books from these organizations. In 2001, the Library became one of the 21 United Nations depository libraries in China and since then has received many documents from the UN. Now it has received close to 1,000 books and other paper documents from the UN. It has the right to the use of the official UN database ODS and UN treaty database UNTC.

Address: 15 Shatan Beijie, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100720, China.

Telephone: +86-10-64070352

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