Liu Xiang was given the task of revising classics, biographies, writings of the pre-Qin philosophers, and shi and fu poetry, while the army official Ren Hong and others worked on books concerning military strategy and mathematics, and the court physician Li Zhu dealt with texts about medicine and divination.
劉向負責校訂經、傳、諸子及詩、賦等書，步兵校尉任宏等人校訂了兵書與數學書籍，侍醫李柱校註醫藥、方技之書，而歷來被描寫成迷戀趙飛燕以致終日荒淫的漢成帝，則在日理萬機之餘，親自批閱編校完竣的書籍。