RECREATION
LIBRARIES
203
The Urban Council's public libraries at the City Hall and Cam- bridge Court, Kowloon, provide a lending and reference service available to all residents of Hong Kong, free of charge. Each consists of an adult lending library, junior library, reference library, newspaper and periodicals room and a private study section for students.
The City Hall Library has a total stock of 198,990 volumes, including the Kotewall collection of 15,237 volumes in both English and Chinese and the Hok Hoi collection of rare Chinese classics of 34,571 volumes. In addition, it possesses 2,074 music scores and is building up a collection of gramophone records in preparation for a future service. The Kowloon Public Library has a total stock of 83,172 volumes. Almost two-thirds of the books in both libraries are in Chinese.
The libraries subscribe to 388 titles of periodicals and 49 of news- papers in both English and Chinese, while the Microfilm collection of 2,572 reels contains back-runs of selected early English and Chinese newspapers of Hong Kong and South China, as well as rare books in the National Library, Peking.
The usage of both libraries has continued its upward trend, and during the year under review 1,114,895 books were issued, 32,495 persons registered as new members, 253,485 reference books issued and 23,006 reference enquiries served, while the private study sec- tions of both libraries providing 410 seats opened for 198 additional hours during the examination months in order to meet the increasing need by students for a quiet place to study.
Extension activities in the form of book exhibitions, organised school visits, children's story hours and a Christmas card competi- tion have been regular features of both libraries. During the year a start was made on the building up of a comprehensive Hong Kong collection of books and other material pertaining to all aspects of life in the Colony.
The Colonial Secretariat Library houses 11,529 volumes. These include many government publications, books written especially about Hong Kong (including publications by local authors), ref- erence books on such subjects as public administration, sociology,