The Library of IA, CASS, was founded and developed upon the collection of books at the former Institute of History, Academy of Beiping. It has gone through a 50-year course and constitutes the specialized library richest in archaeological riterature in the country. The present paper reviews the course of its change and development, introduces systematically the sources, classes, features and preservation condition of the Chinese and foreign archaeological literature in its collection, reports the achievements of its professional staff in the secondary exploitation of archaeological literature, analyses its current situation in personnel structure, literature work. service to readers, the cultivation of the fine style of work and its management and organization, and puts forward the direction of its development as well as its main tasks in the new century.
