 Philologist and bibliographer Miao Quansun (; 1844–1919), who had overseen the founding of Jiangnan Library in Nanjing two years earlier, was called in to administer the new establishment.As in Jiangnan, his assistant Chen Qingnian took charge of most of the management.A private proposal made by Luo Zhenyu in the early 1900s stated that the library should be located in a place protected from both fire and floods, and at some distance from noisy markets.