In fact, it is very simple to apply for a card. There is a self-service card reader, just swipe your ID card directly. It's free and has no cost. However, if you want to borrow books in Guo Tu or use a hand-held reader customized by Guo Tu and copy materials, you need to pay.
You have to pay a deposit of 100 yuan to borrow Chinese documents, 1000 yuan to borrow foreign documents, and 100 yuan to hand-held readers, and the copying fee per page is 30 cents.