It started forty years ago -- The patent documentation and information service in China

Forty years ago, a few librarians started collecting foreign patent documents, opening a new service to visitors. China's first Patent Library was organized 10 years later in 1965. After 15 years of service with more than 10 million foreign patent documents, it was integrated into the newly established Chinese Patent Office in 1981. Another set of patent documents arranged systematically according to IPC has been set up at the Documentation Department for the examiners. It comprises nearly 13 million patent documents so far and meets the requirement of the "PCT Minimum Documentation". The total number in the numerical collection has already reached more than 30 million, serving on average 60,000 readers each year. A CD-ROM reading room has been recently equipped and the computerization of the patent information service is progressing step by step forward under the Automation Construction Plan of the Patent Office.