The National Taiwan Library was founded in 1914. It houses valuable resources from the Japanese colonial era such as files, documents, and maps for the study of the Japanese colonial period in Taiwan. The maps are mainly maps of Taiwan from the Japanese colonial period; they were transferred from the Taiwan Sotokufu library or purchased by the National Taiwan Library. The map types are divided to single atlases to thematic maps such as physical maps, Aborigine topographical maps, and maps for specific functions. The maps were either published as is or were appendices in books. Please see below for a brief description of the Library's collection of maps of Taiwan from the Japanese colonial period:

1.Single atlases: these include maps of Taiwan island such as the "Latest Survey Map of the Island of Taiwan" and "Nikata Taiwan Map Compilation"; there are also maps of cities or road maps such as "Amended Map of Taipei", "Map of the Hualian Harbor Administrative District", "Road Map of the Taitung Administrative District".

2.Physical maps: these refer to maps which show administrative borders such as district, county, village, banks (water), and street, homestead, townships. The Library holds the "Taiwan Physical Map" produced in 1904 by the Interim Land Survey Bureau and the "Taiwan Physical Map" amended in 1921.

3. Aborigine topographical map: these were maps produced by the Civil Affairs Police Bureau during the Taisho and Showa periods; these are topographical maps from land surveys in order to rule the "Aborigine People".

4. Taiwan topographical maps: these are maps produced by the Department of Land Survey of the Empire of Japan for each region during the Taisho and Showa periods.

5.Maps for specific functions: "Taipei Airfield Location Layout Plan", "Taiwan Railway Route Map", "Takao Prefecture Regional Hydraulic Map", "Taoyuan Aqueduct Location Map".