ENG-1997 — Page 444

RECREATION, SPORTS AND THE ARTS

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comprehensive reviews on areas such as library opening hours, provision of material, provision of libraries and facilities in libraries. The finalised plan will be implemented as a commitment by the council to further improving its library services to the public. The first phase of the extension of library opening hours began in August 1997. The lunch break at 16 small libraries was abolished in order to render a better service to the public. Closing time was also extended by half an hour to 7 pm. Sunday afternoon opening and the extension of the weekday closing time to 9 pm will be phased in.

The library computer system became fully operational in March 1995 and now supports over 430 terminals. The system was enhanced during the year and now provides public access to the libraries' on-time catalogue through the Internet. Renewals of borrowed library materials are now possible by telephone or through the Internet. Plans are in hand to further enhance the system by introducing self-charging terminals and reservation of library material through the Internet.

More self-service photocopying machines in the libraries are planned in anticipation of the enactment of the new Copyright Ordinance. Lending services will also be extended to include various types of audio-visual materials. With these improvements in services and opening of more libraries, usage by public continued to rise during the year. A total of 15.3 million items were borrowed in the year, and 31.9 million books were read in the libraries.

The library collection continued to grow and now comprises a total of 3.5 million books and 247 600 audio visual items, including audio-cassettes, gramophone records, audio compact discs, video compact discs, video-cassettes, CD-ROMs, Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-I) and computer programmes. The libraries subscribed to more than 8 622 titles of local and overseas newspapers and periodicals. Reference services were also well used during the year. Library staff handled a total of 390 200 reference enquires, and 1.47 million items of reference materials were consulted in the libraries. The CD-ROM network provides concurrent access to the CD-ROM databases in the City Hall Reference Library from the Kowloon Central Library, Arts Library and all district libraries. The reference libraries have built up more than 3 000 CD-ROMs, including many multi-media and full-text databases. On- line searches of local and overseas catalogues and commercial databases are available through the Internet. As a depository library for nine international organisations, the City Hall Reference Library receives full sets of publications from the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations, the World Bank, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, the World Trade Organisation, the World Food Programme, the International Labour Organisation, the International Maritime Organisation and the European Union.

Outreach programmes continue to form an integral part of the library services. To arouse interest in literary appreciation, awards were presented in the year for creative writing in Chinese, drama criticism in Chinese and the best-produced books in Hong Kong. A competition for students on story writing in Chinese was organised and literary workshops were arranged to promote Chinese creative writing among students.

The findings of the second Writer-in-Residence, Mr Ng Wan-man (pen name Ng Huen-yan), on literary publications of the local literary societies and bodies in the '60s and '70s will be published for sale by the council. A third Writer-in-Residence programme is being organised. Since the reading programme began in 1984, 171 400