Recreation, Sport and the Arts 409
It offers for hire a 1 540 square-metre exhibition gallery, a 290-seat lecture theatre, two activity rooms, a music practice room and eight discussion rooms.
In addition to its regular cultural activities and talks, the HKCL organises a wide range of programmes and holds various user education sessions for the promotion of library resources to members of the public in collaboration with the Education Bureau.
To celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Hong Kong Central Library in 2011, special programmes were organised to highlight its established role as the institution for learning, information, documentary heritage preservation and cultural interchange of metropolitan Hong Kong.
Improvements to Library Services
The HKPL improves continuously its services by extending its book-drop service beyond library premises, enriching its library collection, enhancing its reference and information services, and making full use of information technology.
In September, a trial book-drop service was launched at three major Mass Transit Railway interchange stations, namely, Central, Kowloon Tong and Nam Cheong to make it more convenient for readers to return borrowed books.
In June, the Siu Sai Wan Public Library, located in the Siu Sai Wan Complex, was opened to the public, strengthening significantly library services in the area.
The public libraries continue to work closely with the District Councils and local organisations to set up community libraries to promote and develop further the partnership scheme, called Libraries@neighbourhood Community Libraries Partnership Scheme. By the end of 2011, there were 202 community libraries in operation across Hong Kong.
The public libraries work with the Education Bureau to provide library cards to primary school students to encourage them to use library services. Self-learning course materials from the Open University of Hong Kong are available for public reference in 16 public libraries.
Reference and Information Services
Reference and information services are provided at the Hong Kong Central Library and the five major libraries located in Kowloon, Sha Tin, Tsuen Wan, Tuen Mun and at the City Hall. The Central Library also has a large collection of reference materials on Hong Kong studies and on international organisations. Professional reference services are provided at these libraries and their resource centres.
Online reference service is an integral part of the HKPL's reference and information services.
Information Technology Initiatives and Digital Library Initiatives
The HKPL has advanced further in the development of library services through deployment of the Next Generation Integration Library System (NGILS) during the year. A pilot run of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) application at six selected
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