Bulletin Number Two 1983

Taiwan, Australia, etc. As a westernized society with a rich Chinese heritage, Hong Kong gets the best of two cultures. This is reflected in our Library on the one hand in the bicultural nature of the collections and on the other in the adoption of new technologies in its services. Of course, Hong Kong may not be as technologically advanced as some countries, yet it is already ahead of many developing countries. To manage the bicultural collections efficiently, we require well qualified and enthusiastic staff and in this area the library System has indeed been fortunate. While most of our staff are local people, the professional members have the additional asset of being overseas trained, mainly in North America and the United Kingdom, thus bringing their varied educational background and years of experience to their work here. Some of them are well versed in other languages on top of Chinese and English. In addition, there have been some colleagues from the United States and there were some from Australia as well. Someday we would be happy to add to the staff experienced professional librarians from other countries, if the opportunity presents itself. Q. You have visited many famous libraries in the world. What impressed you most and what can we learn from them? A. I have been fortunate in being able to visit many libraries and cultural institutions in different parts of the world, especially some of the great libraries in the United Kingdom, Europe and North America. Their extensive collections and manifold services are impressive, so is the full use made of them by their experienced users. Many of them are also making considerable use of new technologies in both the processing of materials and in services to readers. Our University Library System can surely learn from all of these things. In general, the place of libraries in society and in educational institutions and the role of the librarians have long been well recognized in many advanced countries. But in Hong Kong, this is not quite so as yet. This may be because the library profession is comparatively new in Hong Kong, We have therefore plenty to learn from the experience of overseas countries. We want to promote librarianship and to increase the number and improve the quality of libraries here. We need to teach people how to make the best use of the library resources, how to obtain information for their daily work, to read for pleasure, for knowledge, and hence to enrich their lives, etc. Members of the community ought to learn from the people of advanced countries how to value our cultural heritage. They need to understand more about the functions of libraries, and to make use of the opportunities and the resources in the libraries for continued education throughout their lives. In time, they will appreciate the great deal that libraries contribute to our society. Librarianship will eventually be more readily recognized as are other similar professions such as teaching, accounting and architecture, and the status of librarians will be further enhanced as our accomplishments become more visible to the community. Q. Can Hong Kong keep up with more advanced countries in its library developments? What part does the Government play? A. Although the history of libraries in Hong Kong dates back to more than a century ago, no active library development took place until the last twenty-five years, when the Government began to give attention to the development of libraries for the general public. The Hong Kong Library Association was established in 1958 and the City Hall Library in 1962. For thirty years before that, there was no large-scale public library in Hong Kong, although there were smaller ones including those of cultural institutions such as the British Council, the American Library, and a few others. There have been great advances during the last twenty years 12 ACADEMIC/CULTURAL EVENTS