Abstract: Rural libraries in Henan have developed rapidly, following the same pace of development of China's economy and its successful poverty alleviation efforts. The construction of township libraries, the rise of personal libraries, as well as the implementation of the county-level library branching system, have laid the foundation for Henan's modern rural library system. It also enriched the rural community's public cultural resources and improved Henan rural libraries' the public culture service level. However, there are still problems, such as unclear administrative delegation, lack of resources and inefficient operations, lack of coordination between various management agencies, and insufficient talents and poor services. Therefore, for rural libraries to play its role in "empowering the rural community by empowering their minds", an important aspect of poverty alleviation, Henan province should build a government-led rural public library system to re-incorporate rural libraries to the broader public library system; Henan should also explore a new path for the development of the county-level general branch system, thereby achieving a flatter hierarchy and fair distribution of resources in rural libraries; This effort should be government-led and supported by the broader society; Lastly, the local community plays an important role in building the foundation and strengthening the cultivation of local talents in the construction of rural libraries.