ENG-2005 — Page 476

414 | Recreation, Sport and the Arts

Outreach Programmes and Promotion of Reading and Literary Arts

Outreach programmes form an integral part of library services and the libraries. continue to organise a balanced mix of activities. Regular programmes like storytelling sessions, book displays and exhibitions, talks and seminars, group visits and community talks were organised throughout the year. In line with the digital library initiative, user education programmes on teaching the public to use the Online Public Access Catalogue, online and CD-ROM databases, MMIS and the Internet were also held regularly. During the year, a total of 18 540 library outreach programmes were organised.

A variety of reading programmes and reading-related activities were organised to promote reading and sustain reading habits and interest, including Summer Reading Month, which was aimed at children and families. During the month in the summer holidays, a large-scale exhibition on children stories 'A Journey to the Whimsy Kingdom' invited visitors to explore adventure tales, fantasy, science fiction and detective stories while a series of children's programmes included story-telling sessions, performances, competitions, film shows and interactive workshops.

Teens' Reading Clubs were held at 34 libraries during the year and a pilot scheme of Family Reading Clubs was introduced at major libraries. To tie in with the 4.23 World Book Day, the libraries organised a book report competition for students and also joined forces with the Hong Kong Publishing Federation and a number of other organisations in the Hong Kong Reading Month to promote reading across the territory.

A number of special programmes and competitions were held, aimed at promoting creative writing and appreciation and development of the literary arts. The Eighth Hong Kong Biennial Awards for Chinese Literature was organised in collaboration with the Hong Kong Arts Development Council to encourage Hong Kong writers' pursuit of excellence and persuade local publishers to publish good literature. Other major competitions included the Chinese Poetry Writing Competition and the Competition on Story Writing in Chinese for Students. The winning entries of these competitions were also published to give another boost to creative work.

The Book Donation and Sale Campaign was held again in February, recording a sale of 195 000 books and raising over $1 million for the Community Chest.

Cultural Exchange

Efforts to strengthen cultural links and cooperation with public libraries outside Hong Kong continued over the year. Within the Greater Pearl River Delta Region, Hong Kong Public Libraries, Sun Yat-Sen Library of Guangdong Province, Shenzhen Library and Macao Central Library used hyperlinks to share library news and happenings. The year saw reciprocal library visits which helped the development of joint cataloguing and reference services. Hong Kong Public Libraries also joined forces with the University of Hong Kong Libraries to organise the Fifth Conference of Chinese Resources Cooperation and Development in Hong Kong which drew representatives from the largest public and academic libraries from the Mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and other parts of the world.