XN000022-1973-06-04 — Page 5

Monday, June 4, 1973

SCIENCE THE MOST POPULAR TOPIC

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More than two million books were borrowed by registered readers

of the Urban Council Public Libraries last year as more and more adults and

young people took advantage of the free lending facilities.

A spokesman for the Urban Council said today that five lending

libraries issued 1,469,797 adult books out of the total of 2,124,499 for

home reading during the year 1972/73. The other 654,702 were junior books.

The total represented an increase of 46 per cent over the previous

year'.

This was due mainly to the introduction of an additional borrower's

ticket and the opening of the Ping Shek branch last year.

"In adult libraries, the most popular subjects in English were

pure science, technology, fiction, arts and recreation, literature and

history," the spokesman said. "The pattern was very much the same for

Chinese books."

Picture books were very popular with the youngest readers, while

science fiction, mystery and adventure stories attracted the older children.

Books read in the lending libra `es also reached a record 1,521,162

last year, an increase of 68 per cent compared with the previous year.

During 1972/73, registered members of the lending libraries

increased by nearly 60,000, bringing the total number to 363,634.

The public

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