It is ranked as a National First Class Library by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China.

[2][3] The establishment of the Library was proposed by eight of local scholar-gentry, including Zhu Ding (祝鼎) and Zhou Chengde (周承德), and was approved in the fourth month of that year in Chinese calendar.

On its foundation, the Library was in Shuixian Pavilion (水仙阁; 水仙閣) which was the west wing of Haishen Temple (海神庙; 海神廟; 'Temple of Sea God') in Yanguan, the seat of Haining Zhou at that time.

A chapter containing 44 articles defined the purposes of the Library, the rules for funding and book management.

Yet, with the founders of the Library leaving Haining due to various reasons, a local called Zhu Baojin (朱宝瑨; 朱寶瑨) relocated the Library in the ground floor of a building next to the gate of Magong Temple (马公祠; 馬公祠) near the East Gate of Yanguan.

Zhu Zonglai (朱宗莱; 朱宗萊), who was educated in Japan, was appointed as the president of the Library by the county government, with a public fund of 200 Silver Yuan annually.

In 1918, the Library set up a department for collection of popular books whose themes included politics, literature and arts, technologies and techniques, etc.

[4][5][6] In 1947, the Public Education Centre was re-established in Xiashi, with an affiliated newspaper room.

In March 1950, the Youth Club was replaced by the People's Culture Centre of Haining County (海宁县人民文化馆; 海寧縣人民文化館).

On 30 June, Haining County Library was established and open to the public at Zhongning Alley (中宁小街; 中寧小街), Xiashi.

In 1962–63, the Library first moved to the ground floor of the building of the county broadcast station, and then it was settled down in Huili Temple (惠力寺), yet the room for preservation of ancient books remained unchanged.

With the Cultural Revolution's outbreak in 1966, the checkout service was closed, although the reading room was still open to the public.

The reading room was relocated to Xiaxi Street after the police division of the revolution headquarter occupied Huili Temple in 1967, and moved to Zhongning Alley in 1968.

In 1969, the reading room was renamed to the Propaganda Station for Mao Zedong Thoughts in Haining County.

On 27 January 1971, the Library reopened the book checkout service, distributing 1,000 reader cards.

[4][5][6] On 28 October 1982, the Planning and Economic Commission and Finance Office of Haining approved the construction of a 200-square-metre stack room with a budget of 20 thousand RMB for the Library but this was not carried out at that time.

On 22 October 1984, the Library became a separate government agency and in November, it cancelled the number restriction on the distribution of reader cards.

On 2 January 1985, Zhang Jingfu (张敬夫; 張敬夫) and Chen Boliang (陈伯良; 陳伯良), two members of local PCC, proposed that the Library should be constructed in a new site other than Zhongning Alley.

On 6 June, the local Planning and Economic Commission approved this resolution, ratifying a budget of 700,000 RMB.

The project started in October, carried out by Fengtu Construction Company of Haining.

The construction of the building started on 25 December, yet was stopped due to technical problems of the foundation work.

On 18 May 1988, the construction of the new library buildings was finished, for which a ceremony was held at the governmental guest house of Haining.

On 23 May, the Library began to operate until late night after the improvement of the indoor illumination.

The lobby inside is roomy, with concise colors, making the room quiet and mansuetude.

[23][24] (盐官分馆) (盐官镇文化活动中心二楼（东西大道北侧）) 87683988 (斜桥分馆) (斜桥镇斜川路56号) 87714579 (海昌分馆) Haichang Subdistrict (海昌街道由拳路洛隆路口，金三角农贸市场2楼) 87280297 (硖石分馆) (硖石街道海州东路市委党校东侧硖石文化教育中心) 87280297 (周王庙分馆) (周王庙镇革兴路1号2楼) 87539283 (长安分馆) (长安镇文教中心三楼，开元路与仰山路交叉口) 87478190 (许村分馆) (许村镇政府旁许村镇文教中心2楼) 87516696 (丁桥分馆) (丁桥镇广场路126号) 87662382 (马桥分馆) (马桥街道北段先锋村文化活动中心3楼) 87662382 (袁花分馆) (袁花镇文化活动中心2楼) 87865993 (尖山分馆) (尖山新区（黄湾镇）文化中心1楼) As of August 2018, the library contains 1.7 million items, with over 27 thousand ancient books included.

[18] In 2017, the Library received 3,184,320 person-times of visitors, with the number of the new registered reader card increasing by 26,882.

The reader card should be registered for free in the main building or any branches of the Library annually.

[14] The digital reading room of the Library opened on 13 June 2001, equipped with 31 computers and related accessory devices, costing and a government fund of 310,000 RMB.

The local Federation of Disabled Persons donated a smart reading device embedded with 96 books in braille.