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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Mr Hu has clarified the position beyond doubt. Mr BERNACCHI meant first floor all the time and he misinterpreted it from the Cantonese. (Laughter)
MR BERNACCHI (in English):-I certainly meant first floor because, on thinking back, the theatre is on the first floor which is "". (Laughter)
CHAIRMAN (in English):- Mr Hu has clarified the position sufficiently. Does any other Member wish to ask other supplementaries?
6 MR B. A. BERNACCHI asked the following question (in English):-The acute shortage of reading rooms is before every Councillor's eye in the use by students of the courtyards and staircases of the City Hall for study purposes. What, if anything, is being done about this problem?
MRS E. ELLIOTT, CHAIRMAN OF THE LIBRARIES SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):-This question concerns the provision of study facilities for students at the City Hall.
At the March meeting, in moving the introduction of the Library (Amendment) By-laws 1978, I indicated the steps that have been taken by the Libraries Select Committee to meet the need for study facilities, particularly in the months preceding and during major public examinations.
To recapitulate, the Libraries Select Committee has, over the last few years, urged the Government to accept responsibility for the provision of study facilities, as this is not really a genuine library function but more an educational one. As a result of these efforts, the Government has made the Director of Education responsible for co-ordinating the provision and expansion of such facilities. As Members of this Council are aware, the Education Department has, as an interim measure, recently expanded evening study rooms to 43 schools, with a provision of 4,680 seats. These study rooms are open between 7.00pm-9.00pm five days a week.
However, as I have previously indicated, it would be unrealistic to expect an immediate solution to this problem. Accordingly, the Libraries Select Committee has accepted, as a temporary measure, the commitment to continue to provide such facilities in its district libraries. When adequate facilities are made available by the Government, the reading areas attached to the libraries will be used for proper library activities.
This year in an effort to meet the increased demand for study facilities, the Libraries Select Committee introduced a number of new regulations for use of its special reading areas during the period March to June. These regulations have in effect tripled the number of students that may be served (albeit for shorter periods) from 1,708 to 5,124. At the same time, it has been felt advisable to meet the need where it is most felt during this period, by restricting use of the rooms to registered members of the Council's libraries who are registered candidates for major public examinations.
The particular problem at the City Hall stems mainly from the present lack of study facilities in the crowded Eastern and Wan Chai districts. The proposed new Chai Wan and Wan Chai district libraries, which are expected to become operational this summer, will provide 376 additional seats and should ameliorate the situation considerably.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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MR BERNACCHI (in English):—I nearly want to thank Mrs ELLIOTT for the very full reply.
MR HOWARD H. W. YOUNG (in English):-As the demand for study rooms is seasonal, when the Libraries Select Committee and the Education Department have done sufficient to alleviate the situation and solve the problem of insufficient study rooms, will we face the risk of these being under utilized in the future?
MRS ELLIOTT (in English):-Mr Chairman, at the very busy time, we take over extra areas, expand our study rooms as much as we can and then they go back to normal use just afterwards. We may cut off a little bit from the reading room or from the junior libraries or something like that, and after that, we will go back to normal use. When we reach the point when study rooms are not required, we will take all these areas for extension activities.
MR KIM Y. S. CHAM (in English):-Mr Chairman, if the library function and the study room function are separate, as the Chairman of the Libraries Select Committee pointed out, has provision been made for students to gain access to reference books during examination period when most libraries are full?
MRS ELLIOTT (in English):-The students can sit and use the reference libraries. They can sit and study reference books there because the study rooms have no connection with the reference libraries and, in fact, most study rooms have separate access cut off from the rest of the library.
CHAIRMAN (in English):—Are there other supplementaries? Dr HUANG?
DR DENNY M. H. HUANG (in Cantonese):---Mr Chairman, I understand the City Hall is located in a better position and even after study rooms have been set up in Wan Chai and Eastern District I wonder if we can be so optimistic as to think the students would frequent Wan Chai and Eastern District study rooms?
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