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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Part (c) of the question deals with the estimated number of students and adults using the libraries and reading rooms over the past five years. No statistics of the number of students and adults who frequent the libraries and reading rooms have been kept. Instead, records of usage have been made as is generally practised in other libraries in the world. Last year 1.2 million books were issued on loan. Records over the past five years are attached to this reply (Appendix I). In addition, about 600,000 books were read or consulted within the libraries themselves. About 75% of library users are students.
There are at present a total of 444 seats in the reading rooms. In addition, there are 282 seats in the Kowloon Park study room, a room in which only tables and chairs are provided as a facility for students to study. No adult is permitted the use of this room. As members are aware, this room was opened in November last year as a "pilot scheme". Records of usage taken at half-hour intervals over the past five years show that during the months of January, March to June, and December, the reading rooms are used virtually to maximum capacity at all times. For the rest of the year, usage varies between 50% to 75%. The present indication is that the study room at Kowloon Park is also proving very popular.
Part (d) of the question deals with plans for expansion of libraries and reading rooms in areas with substantial population.
In 1968, the Library Select Committee of the Urban Council recommended a programme for the expansion of Urban Council Public Libraries over the next five years. This programme envisaged the opening of one new library each year, the first in the Wah Fu Housing Estate, the second in Ping Shek Estate, the third in Yau Ma Tei, the fourth in Shau Kei Wan, and the fifth in Sham Shui Po. These locations take into account the availability of premises, geographic location relative to existing libraries, population density, and the comparative degree of literacy of local residents.
This programme of expansion was discussed by the Governor-in-Council in December 1968, and it was decided that: (i) in principle and subject to further examination of the facilities proposed and costs and to the provision of funds by the Finance Committee, the Urban Council Public Library Services be expanded to cover Wah Fu, Ping Shek, and Yau Ma Tei (this library becoming the main library for Kowloon and the Waterloo Road Branch in Cambridge Court being retained as a branch library);
(ii) that the Urban Council be requested, one year after the last of the three new libraries has opened, to submit a report to Government on the operation and cost of each library, indicating the degree of service required so as to enable the Executive Council to reconsider the Urban Council's request for additional libraries in Shau Kei Wan and Sham Shui Po. These libraries must, in any case, be incorporated in suitable Government building projects in these areas.
The Aberdeen - Pok Fu Lam Branch Library at Wah Fu Estate was opened in December 1970, and as already mentioned in the reply to part (a) of the question, the Yau Ma Tei Library is scheduled to open in November this year. It is planned to open the library at Ping Shek Estate in 1972, and a request for funds and staff for this library has been made to Government.
Part (e) of the question deals with the establishment of a central library with its own building.
As mentioned in my reply to part (a), the City Hall Library acts as the central library for public library services, and no serious feasibility study has been initiated regarding the housing of the central library in its own separate building.
MR. KAN:- I must thank Mrs. SYMONS for a very comprehensive answer to my question. There is only one supplementary; I would just like to know if a feasibility study stated in part (e) of my question will be carried out in the foreseeable future?
MRS. SYMONS:- I am sure, Mr. Chairman, I shall have to report to the Governor-in-Council that this will be done at some point. I hope I am not committing you to anything, seeing that it is quite fair that there should be some study in the future. Mr. KAN is on my Committee, and no doubt will be able to give us some encouragement.
MR. C. K. CHAN:- Mr. Chairman, Mrs. SYMONS' answer, page 3, says "statistics of the proportion of technical to non-technical books are not kept as it is difficult to categorise books under such headings". Can she, as Chairman of the Library Select Committee, through the staff, consult some of those technical colleges whether they have a need for increasing the books in the library? If so, may that be considered by the Committee?
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