Abstract: The special literature is an important content of library literature resource development. However, due to resource, manpower, technology and capital constraints, it is not easy for a single library to carry out special literature development. Starting from the construction of a union catalog of special literature, the paper proposes a low-cost, high-efficiency and reproductible model for building special literature, which obtains clues of special resources by searching international large-scale comprehensive and thematic union catalogs, uses the cooperative method to realize resource sharing, and builds a union catalog of special literature integrating inquiry and acquisition. The article takes the practice of sorting local collection of Hangzhou during the Republic of China period as an example, combines resource collection requirements with the function of union catalogs, selects appropriate union catalogs at home and abroad to carry out literature collection and collation, and obtains global distribution clues and a large number of digitized original texts of Hangzhou local collection during the Republic of China period. On this basis, it discusses how to use these resources and technologies to carry out international cooperation to build a union catalog of special literature to promote the development of special
literature.