RECREATION AND THE ARTS
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books and audio-visual items. Its facilities include a junior library, an adult library, a reference library, an audio-visual library, a newspapers and periodicals sections, a students' study room and an extension activities room.
Plans for the council's third and main central library, to be located in Tsuen Wan, are still on the drawing board. Apart from functioning as a central library for reference and information and audio-visual services, it will also provide supporting services for other libraries in the whole of the council area. In addition, it will be the administrative headquarters of the Libraries Section. Sited north of Tsuen Kam Centre at Sai Lau Kok Road in the town centre, it will be within walking distance of Tsuen Wan MTR station and the bus terminus at Nam Fung Centre. Covering an area of 3 750 square metres, the library will provide a comprehensive range of library facilities and services for members of the public.
The provision of district libraries and services is not limited to the more-populated new towns. Remote areas have not been forgotten and are well catered for. Being equipped is a third mobile library to serve the frontier areas of Ta Kwu Ling and Sha Tau Kok. Plans are also in hand to purchase a vehicle-borne detachable unit to serve the reading needs of people in rural areas.
Over the next 10 years, three more district libraries will be set up in Ma On Shan, Tin Shui Wai and Junk Bay according to population build-up and new town development. The provision of books and audio-visual materials in libraries will at the same time be strengthened in phases with a projected expenditure of $83.5 million, through raising the -targetted provision of 0.7 item of library material per capita by 1990-91 to one item per
capita by 1997–8.
Another area that the council is now actively looking into is library automation since usage rate has grown with population growth and book stock and other materials have increased enormously. Computerisation will enhance the day-to-day operation of libraries in such areas as circulation control, cataloging and acquisition of stock. It will help save manual labour to a great extent. Another important function will be the ability to provide accurate management information on reader profiles and usage patterns.
To promote the services of libraries, extension activities in the form of competitions, book exhibitions, talks, interest clubs, and story hours have been organised throughout the year for people of various age groups, backgrounds and interests. In 1989–90, a total of 1 380 566 people took part in these activities.
To assist students in their studies and examinations, study rooms with a total of 798 seats are provided in the Sha Tin Central Library and in the district libraries of Tsuen Wan, South Kwai Chung, North Kwai Chung, Yuen Long and Sai Kung. To meet the needs of students, the opening hours of these study rooms were extended between March 16 to June 30 with each study room opening daily from 7.30 am to 9.30 pm, including public holidays and weekly library closing days.
Sport and Recreation
Despite Hong Kong's largely urban environment, opportunities for sport and recreation are not lacking in the territory. No place is far from green countryside and there are 21 Country Parks covering over 40 per cent of the total land area. Nearly nine million visits were made to these parks during 1989. They are most popular during the cool, dry months of October to April. For those wishing to stay longer in rural surroundings, over 40 holiday camps managed by voluntary agencies and the two municipal councils provide