China's national library in Beijing will be enlarged to 240,000 square meters, the world's third largest in terms of size, and equipped with an online collection to supplement its regular books.

As one of the key projects listed in China's 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-2005), the expansion has been largely funded by a one billion yuan (US$120 million) contribution from the government, a library official said in Beijing on Wednesday.

After expansion, the National Library of China will have 70,000 square meters of new space, the equivalent of about seven football pitches. With a total space covering 240,000 square meters, the library will be the third largest library in the world in terms of size.

Built in 1909, the National Library boasts 22.4 million volumes, the fifth largest collection of books in the world.

As part of its expansion plan, the library will build a 20TB digital data bank capable of offering online data services within five years, the official said.

(China Daily December 19, 2001)