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PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
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The Department is now actively planning to compile the information materials on Hong Kong so that the Hong Kong Central Library would have a rich collection of such materials through systematic and thematic compilation. The key areas of collection and compilation include materials on the educational, social, economical and historical aspects of Hong Kong. As services provided by the UC in Hong Kong over a century are closely related to the Hong Kong society and the livelihood of its people, their historic value will certainly be of interest to the general public and will surely be included in our collection,
Thus the Department will actively compile the historical materials concerning the UC and also has plans to store such materials in the data bank of the digital library of the Hong Kong Central Library by phases to facilitate perusal and search by the public. The planned digital library system not only will provide a proper storage for the materials but will also provide video-on-demand and audio-on-demand services which will enable the public to peruse and retrieve the relevant materials at the public libraries, at home and at their working places at any time. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman (in Cantonese):—Mr. Wu Chi-wai, please follow up.
MR. WU CHI-WAI (in Cantonese):—Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to ask the Chairman of the Select Committee a question. Paragraph (b)(iii) in your reply says that from 1985, the Department and the Council Secretariat has microfilmed the English version of papers and minutes for the period from 1973 to 1990. For what reason did they do so? Is it that they have not handled the materials beyond 1990 and those of earlier times, such as materials obtainable through other channels as just mentioned by you? On page 3 of your reply, it is said that it needs much time and considerable resources to trace the committee papers before the 1950s. But in a subsequent paragraph, it is mentioned that there is a plan to store information materials of over a century in the Hong Kong Central Library. Is there contradiction between what the Chairman of the Select Committee says and what the Department plans to do? What specific plan and timetable does the Department have for the storage of historical materials in the Hong Kong Central Library? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Suen Kai-Cheong (in Cantonese):—Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Secretariat has microfilmed the committee papers and minutes for the period from April 1973 to 1990. The main purposes are as follows:
(a) There are a lot of committee papers of the UC and microfilm is a good form to store such materials. As I said in my reply, before 1973, there were some changes in the operation of the UC and the relevant papers were transferred to the departments concerned for handling. The documents we have to deal with are those for the period from April 1973 to 1990. As for papers beyond 1990, in the past few years, with the
Page 484 of 606
Page 484 of 606
Page 484 of 606
Page 484 of 606
PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
627
The Department is now actively planning to compile the information materials on Hong Kong so that the Hong Kong Central Library would have a rich collection of such materials through systematic and thematic ∙compilation. The key areas of collection and compilation include materials on the educational, social, economical and historical aspects of Hong Kong. As services provided by the UC in Hong Kong in over a century are closely related to the Hong Kong society and the livelihood of its people, their historic value will certainly be of interest to the general public and will surely be included in our collection,
Thus the Department will actively compile the historical materials concerning the UC and also has plans to store such materials in the data bank of the digital library of the Hong Kong Central Library by phases to facilitate perusal and search by the public. The planned digital library system not only will provide a proper storage for the materials but will also provide video-on- demand and audio-on-demand services which will enable the public to peruse and retrieve the relevant materials at the public libraries, at home and at their working places at any time. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman (in Cantonese):—Mr. Wu Chi-wai, please follow up.
MR. WU CHI-WAI (in Cantonese):—Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to ask the Chairman of the Select Committee a question. Paragraph (b)(iii) in your reply says that from 1985, the Department and the Council Secretariat has microfilmed the English version of papers and minutes for the period from 1973 to 1990. For what reason did they do so? Is it that they have not handled the materials beyond 1990 and those of earlier times, such as materials obtainable through other channels as just mentioned by you? On page 3 of your reply, it is said that it needs much time and considerable resources to trace the committee papers before the 1950s. But in a subsequent paragraph, it is mentioned that there is a plan to store information materials of over a century in the Hong Kong Central Library. Is there contradiction between what the Chairman of the Select Committee says and what the Department plans to do? What specific plan and timetable does the Department have for the storage of historical materials in the Hong Kong Central Library? Thank you. Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Suen Kai-Cheong (in Cantonese):— Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Secretariat has microfilmed the committee papers and minutes for the period from April 1973 to 1990. The main purposes are as follows:
(a) There are a lot of committee papers of the UC and microfilm is a good form to store such materials. As I said in my reply, before 1973, there were some changes in the operation of the UC and the relevant papers were transferred to the departments concerned for handling. The documents we have to deal with are those for the period from April 1973 to 1990. As for papers beyond 1990, in the past few years, with the
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