Dalian University of Technology was founded in April 1949 as College of Engineering, Dalian University; in July 1950, College of Engineering gained independence from Dalian University as Dalian College of Engineering; and in March 1988, it was renamed Dalian University of Technology. During the early days of the university, the library was located at the Yi’erjiu Street campus, with an area of about 1,000 m2 and a collection of about 10,000 volumes. Later, the main campus was moved to Lingshui, and a library temporarily was set up in the First Teaching Building. In 1963, a standalone building of 8,370 m2 was built in the west wing of the Administrative Building on the main campus.

At present, the Library of Dalian University of Technology consists of one main library and three branches in five buildings, with a total construction area of 83,000 m2. The main library is located in two buildings on the main campus, namely, Bochuan Library and Lingxi Library, and the three branches are the Library of the Development Zone Campus, the Library of the Panjin Campus, and Marxism Archive. The library is home to rich and unique collections and first-class facilities and functions. By the end of 2021, the libraries offered a total collection of over 3.74 million volumes and subscriptions to 268 databases on 96 academic research platforms, including 1.75 million Chinese and foreign language e-books and 51,000 e-journals. The library provides multilingual, multimedia research resources first and foremost for science and technology disciplines and for humanities, social sciences, and economics and management as well.

The Marxism Archive is located on the main campus and was established to meet the needs of theoretical research and education of Marxist philosophy. The archive was officially opened to the public in September 2016.

The library administrative team consists of more than 90 professional librarians and 30 assistant librarians, including 6 research librarians and 21 associate research librarians. Since 1982, the library has been commissioned by the Ministry of Education to provide induction training for university library professionals. So far, 40 courses have been given and the training program has seen more than 3,000 graduates. The University Library offers seminars opening to undergraduates and postgraduates on literature search and information literacy. The Library is a member of the China Academic Library & Information System (CALIS), and the Digital Resource Acquisition Alliance (DRAA). The Library offers inter-library loan and document delivery services with the National Library and other important documentary and information institutions in China and maintains book and journal exchange and reciprocal gift relationships with many international institutions. Thanks to 70 years of history, the Library offers a treasure trove of accumulated knowledge and wisdom that (support learners and researchers on their scholarly journey and the capacities to cater to the university research community’s needs today and those for decades to come.