The national first-class, first-level or first-grade libraries (in Chinese: 国家一级图书馆) are state-level libraries that have been deliberated and decided upon by the State Council of the People's Republic of China.
The seventh evaluation was conducted in 2023.
National first-level libraries must meet six standards: On June 22, 2005, the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China announced a list in "Decision of the Ministry of Culture on Naming First, Second, and Third-class Libraries,"[2] naming 344 libraries as "first-class libraries," 412 libraries as "second-class libraries," and 684 libraries as "third-class libraries."
In 2009, the Ministry of Culture decided to conduct the fourth evaluation,[3] with 480 first-class libraries, 410 second-class libraries, and 894 third-class libraries.
[6] The seventh evaluation was conducted in December 2023, with 1,302 first-class libraries, 680 second-class libraries, and 741 third-class libraries.