Recreation, Sport and the Arts 443
Hong Kong, facilitating the pursuit of self-learning in the community. Plans are also under way to set up an Education Resource Centre at the Kowloon Public Library.
The Artwork On Loan Scheme, launched with the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, which allows each reader to borrow two pieces of artwork and institutions. to borrow a maximum of five pieces of artwork for a loan period of 30 days from the Arts Resources Centre of the Hong Kong Central Library, has proved to be popular. The scheme will be expanded in the coming year.
Reference and Information Services
Reference and information services are provided at the Central Library and five major libraries City Hall, Kowloon, Sha Tin, Tsuen Wan and Tuen Mun Public Libraries. The Central Reference Library has a total collection of 910 000 million items, providing comprehensive reference and information services through its six subject departments. It features a comprehensive collection of electronic materials including CD-ROMs, online databases, electronic books, electronic journals and multimedia programmes. All of them are available for online access by the public. The library also holds the permanent collection of books deposited under the Books Registration Ordinance and the depository collections of nine international organisations. Specialised reference services are also provided at the Arts Resources Centre, the Hong Kong Literature Room and the Map Library of the Central Library.
In September, the Central Library launched the new Internet Reference Enquiry Service in collaboration with the Zhongshan Library, Shenzhen Library, and Macao Central Library. The new service enables readers of the respective regions to directly pose reference enquiries to the participating libraries with the easy click of a link provided at the webpage of the library of their home region. This virtual synergy of professional resources represents an important step towards information and knowledge exchange in the Pearl River Delta Region.
The year also saw the opening of the Basic Law Library at the City Hall Public Library. Opened in December as a joint project with the Basic Law Institute, the library combined the collection of over 5 000 items donated by the institute with the Basic Law Reference Collection of some 3 600 items originally housed at the Central Library. The total collection covered a wide range of materials on the Basic Law, constitutional law, administrative law, human rights, and civil rights. Readers could make use of the collection for better understanding the Basic Law of the HKSAR and conducting researches in these subjects.
Information Technology Initiatives and Digital Library Initiatives
The Library Automation System of the public libraries is one of the world's largest computerised library systems with both Chinese and English capabilities. It provides 24-hour Internet library services for online searching, reservation and renewal of library materials. In 2004, 15.93 million items of library materials were renewed through the Internet and Telephone Renewal Services. With the growing popularity of online public library services, the Hong Kong Public Libraries home page (http://www.hkpl.gov.hk) was among the most popular websites in Hong Kong.