MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1982
6
THIS 930-SQUARE-METRE REFERENCE LIBRARY WILL HAVE A BASIC STOCK OF ABOUT 50 000 BOOKS IN CHINESE AND ENGLISH, 5 000 MUSICAL SCORES, 3 000 GRAMOPHONE RECORDS AND CASSETTES, 500 AUDIO-VISUAL PACKS, 200 REELS OF MICROFILMS AND 100 VIDEO- CASSETTES.
+THE COLLECTION WILL GIVE EQUAL EMPHASIS TO THE VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS. THIS MOVE IS ALSO A NATURAL EXTENSION OF OUR SUCCESS WITH THE FIRST MUSIC LISTENING LIBRARIES IN THE CITY HALL, YAU MA TEI AND KWUN TONG PUBLIC LIBRARIES,+ SAID MR NG.
TWO OTHER MAJOR GOALS OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY SERVICE ARE THE INTRODUCTION OF ELECTRONIC DATA-PROCESSING SYSTEMS IN 1983/84 AND THE BUILDING OF ONE DISTRICT LIBRARY FOR EVERY 200 000 RESIDENTS IN THE URBAN AREA.
THE PUBLIC LIBRARY SERVICE IS ALSO INVOLVED IN A WIDE RANGE OF LIBRARY EXTENSION ACTIVITIES EACH YEAR. THESE INCLUDE THE CHINESE LITERARY WEEK, URBAN COUNCIL ARTS AWARD FOR CREATIVE WRITING IN CHINESE AND CREATIVE WRITING FOR CHILDREN, CHILDREN'S BOOK EXHIBITION, CHILDREN'S DRAMA COMPETITION, CAREER TALKS AND EXHIBITION, INTEREST GROUPS AND SUBJECT TALKS AND EXHIBITIONS.
ABOUT 1 150 000 PEOPLE PARTICIPATED IN SUCH ACTIVITIES LAST YEAR.
MR NG ALSO REVEALED THAT THE NEXT PUBLIC LIBRARY WILL BE OPENED AT TELFORD GARDENS IN KOWLOON BAY IN MID-1982 BRINGING THE TOTAL NUMBER OF STATIC LIBRARIES OPERATED BY THE URBAN COUNCIL TO 13.
THE COUNCIL ALSO OPERATES TWO MOBILE LIBRARIES ON THE HONG KONG ISLAND AND IN KOWLOON SERVING AREAS OF POCKETS OF POPULATION WHERE THERE ARE NO PUBLIC LIBRARY FACILITIES.
+THERE ARE ALSO PLANS TO BUILD SMALL STATIC LIBRARIES OF BETWEEN 100 TO 150 SQUARE METRES TO SUPPORT DISTRICT LIBRARIES IN DENSELY-POPULATED AREAS. AND IT IS ALSO EXPECTED THAT A NEW DISTRICT LIBRARY WILL BE COMPLETED IN THE NEW ABERDEEN MARKET COMPLEX IN 1982/83 AND ANOTHER ONE IN THE NEW TO KWA WAN MARKET COMPLEX IN 1983/84,+ MR NG ADDED.
MR NG BELIEVES THAT MODERN LIBRARIES +MUST NOT BE JUST DEPOSITORIES OF KNOWLEDGE+.
+ASIDE FROM PROVIDING FACILITIES NECESSARY FOR THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH AND MEETING PEOPLE'S CULTURAL NEEDS, THEY MUST ALSO ORGANISE ACTIVITIES TO HELP FOSTER INTEREST AND ABILITY IN FIELDS HITHERTO UNKNOWN TO READERS, HE SAID.
AN EXAMPLE OF SUCH ACTIVITIES IS THE BLOCK LOAN OF BOOKS MADE TO INSTITUTIONS FOR THE DISABLED TO HELP MARK 1981 AS THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF DISABLED PERSONS,
{+ S APTEMPT