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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):—Ladies and Gentlemen, may I call the meeting to order.
MINUTES
The minutes of meeting held on 9 March 1993 were confirmed.
PAPER
The following paper was laid on the table:
(1) Report to the Urban Council by the Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of March 1993.
QUESTIONS
1.
THE HON. MAN SAI-CHEONG asked the following question (in Cantonese):—In view of the gradually improving of creative literary works and the impressive development of drama in Hong Kong, have the UC libraries ever considered building up a 'Special Collection of Hong Kong Literature' or an 'Authors Collection' to provide the local people who are engaged in or interested in literary works and drama with a special database for storing past, present and even future literary treasures? In this way, local residents interested in literature can have a place to search for and borrow references easily, thereby promoting literary creation in the territory.
MR. JOSEPH CHAN YUEK-SUT, CHAIRMAN OF THE LIBRARIES SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, this question concerns special collections on Hong Kong literature in the Council libraries.
The Council acquires books on Hong Kong literature and works by local writers for lending and reference on a regular basis. The City Hall Reference Library in particular, since 1983, has been building up a collection of literary works by local writers. Apart from that the collection is supplemented by books and periodicals deposited under the Books Registration Ordinance, many of which are literary works by local writers. However, due to space constraints in the City Hall Library, the collection on local literary works can only be maintained on a selective basis and the material deposited under the Books Registration Ordinance is kept in the reserved stack at the Kowloon Central Library. We agree that this arrangement is inconvenient and hope to provide a more comprehensive collection on Hong Kong writers and better access to the material deposited under the Books Registration Ordinance when the 'central library' under planning is commissioned.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
In addition to books by local writers, the Council also plans to provide, in the expanded City Hall Library in 1994, clippings on local writers and their works for reference by the public.
Regarding works on drama in Hong Kong, the Arts Library maintains a complete set of drama scripts performed by the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, Clippings on local dramatists and drama groups as well as house programmes and posters of performances of local drama groups for public information.
The Council will continue to acquire suitable material on Hong Kong literature and drama for general information and reference.
THE HON. MAN SAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask a follow-up question. In the reply it says that because of space constraint, collection of local literary works can only be maintained on a selective basis. What criterion is adopted for this selection?
MR. JOSEPH CHAN YUEK-SUT (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, we do not have a specific criterion. It only depends on the space available. In fact, we have 2,000 sets of works collected on local writers at present. The City Hall Library is our main storage space and it is under renovation now and the renovation will be completed by June. However, after the completion of the renovation, there is still a shortage of space. We do hope that in future we will be able to have a central library which is now under discussion. We hope that Members can forward more views and support this project. As for other works, because of the space constraint of the City Hall Library, they are kept in the reserved stack at the Kowloon Central Library. If the general public is interested in, they can go to the Kowloon Central Library for reference. Mr. Chairman, because of the space constraint, it is a bit inconvenient to put these books in two separate places.
2. THE HON. MAN SAI-CHEONG asked the following question (in Cantonese): As the collections of the UC reference libraries are expanding and the public's demand for information keeps growing, but they may not know from which libraries they can obtain the books and materials they need:
(a) has the Libraries Select Committee ever thought of introducing computerization of the books and materials in the reference libraries?
(b) has the Libraries Select Committee ever considered storing the data of the UC reference libraries and those of the Information Services Department and the Regional Council in a compatible computer network, so as to give the readers and the general public easy access to the materials they require? By doing so, it would further upgrade the professional services of UC reference libraries to Hong Kong, as a communication centre.
(c) has the Council ever planned to further increase and upgrade the information facilities and professional services provided by the reference libraries?
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