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Recreation, Sport, Culture and the Arts

Hong Kong and Edko Films respectively. Pre-print materials and 35mm film prints from three titles dating from 2004 to 2006 were donated by Art Port Asia. Besides, the archive acquired from a local film laboratory 219 titles of 16mm and 35mm picture negatives, sound tracks, subtitles, inter-picture negatives, inter-positives, film prints and trailers dating from 1967 to 2011 and 2,979 film-related materials such as posters, lobby stills and grading sheets. The archive also continued to duplicate film scripts and censor documents of Hong Kong films in the 1950s from the New York State Archives.

Public Libraries

The department operates 68 static and 12 mobile libraries and a books registration office. The libraries hold some 12.34 million books and more than 1.8 million items of multimedia material, serving almost 4.37 million registered book borrowers and lending more than 51.34 million. books and other library materials in 2015.

Hong Kong Central Library

The Hong Kong Central Library is a major information and cultural centre, with a stock of more than 2.64 million books and other reading materials and a full range of library and multimedia facilities, a central reference library with six subject departments, an arts resource centre, a Hong Kong literature room, a map library, a language learning centre, a young adult library and a toy library. 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.

The central library organises cultural programmes and public lectures, and holds user education sessions to promote library resources to the public.

Improvements to Library Services

The public libraries work closely with the District Councils and local groups to set up community libraries, of which there were 205 at the end of 2015. Organisations are offered block loans of library materials together with professional advice to set up libraries tailored to their communities. The Tiu Keng Leng Public Library was opened in July 2015, strengthening significantly library services in Tseung Kwan O.

Reference and Information Services

Professional reference and information services are provided at the Central Library and the public libraries of City Hall, Kowloon, Ping Shan Tin Shui Wai, Sha Tin, Tsuen Wan and Tuen Mun. The Central Library also has a large collection of reference materials on Hong Kong studies and international organisations. In 2015, the public libraries handled 3.41 million enquiries.

Online service is an integral part of the public libraries' reference and information services. About 60 e-databases are available to library users.

Information Technology Initiatives and Digital Library Initiatives

In 2015, improvements were made to the

library website to enrich the experience of mobile users. These improvements included a new mobile website, a Single-Sign-On feature to access

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