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20 000 books, journals, electronic items and online databases, the centre provides information materials on education and language learning and reference services for teachers, researchers and the general public.

Libraries@neighbourhood - a community libraries partnership scheme meets the needs of the community for reading and learning materials and information. Under the scheme, public libraries work in collaboration with non-profit-making local community organisations to provide reading materials to their user groups. By the end of the year, 614 schools 78 organisations had joined the scheme, and 25 community libraries were set up.

To promote and support lifelong learning in the community, the public libraries. continued to work in collaboration with the Education and Manpower Bureau to promote the 'Library Cards for all School Children' scheme to encourage primary school students to use

library services. Regular meetings were held with school librarians to foster mutual understanding and support in maximising library resources on teaching and learning as well as organising reading activities.

Course materials of the Open University of Hong Kong are available in 16 public libraries, facilitating the public's pursuit of self-learning.

Reference and Information Services

Reference and information services are provided at the Hong Kong Central Library and the five major libraries. at the City Hall, Kowloon, Sha Tin, Tsuen Wan and Tuen Mun Public Libraries. The Central Reference Library at the Hong Kong Central Library has a collection of 950 000 items, providing reference and information services through its six subject departments. It features a comprehensive collection of electronic resources including databases, electronic books, electronic journals and multimedia programmes, all of which are available online. The library also holds the permanent collection of books deposited under the Books Registration Ordinance and the depository collections of nine international organisations. Specialised reference services are also provided at the Arts Resources Centre, the Hong Kong Literature Room and the Map Library of the Hong Kong Central Library. In addition, the City Hall Public Library offers specialised reference services through its Business and Industry Library, Creativity and Innovation Resource Centre and the Basic Law Library. During the year, a total of 4.14 million enquiries were handled by the library.

Web-based reference services form an integral part of the reference and information services. The Hong Kong Central Library operates an Internet Reference Enquiry Service in collaboration with the Sun Yat-Sen Library of Guangdong Province, Shenzhen Library, and Macao Central Library, which enables readers to contact these libraries directly for information on their respective regions. A wide range of electronic resources, including online database, electronic books, web-resource guide and topical resources guides are posted on the library website for ready reference.

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