Speech by Secretary for Information Technology & Broadcasting

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The following is the speech by the Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting, Mr K C Kwong, at the Electronic Library Launching Ceremony of the Open University of Hong Kong today (Saturday) :

Mr. Lee, Professor Tam, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am honoured to have the opportunity to join the other distinguished guests today to launch the Electronic Library of the Open University of Hong Kong.

Establishment of the Electronic Library exemplifies the University's use of advanced technology to meet the learning needs of its students. Many of you might have the same dream as I did during our old school days, which was to have all those assigned reading and reference materials at our finger tips. The Open University has now turned that dream into reality by establishing Hong Kong's first ever virtual library.

This Library can offer the user unprecedented on-line access to data equivalent to over 500,000 volumes of publications. Also, being a "Library without walls", and one which operates around the clock, students will have the freedom to study and do research at the place and time most convenient to them. They will no longer have to travel all the way to the campus here and remain here for as long as necessary to gather the information they need. The convenience as well as the time and effort saved is particularly helpful to the students of the Open University as most of them are studying off campus and outside normal office hours.

The use of advanced technology in teaching is crucial to the development of our intellectual capital. That is why the Government has taken IT in education as one of its top priority tasks.

But this development must not stop as soon as the students have left schools or universities. They must be given ample opportunity to continue to learn and develop their abilities. This sort of life-long learning is particularly important if we are to maintain our competitive edge in the knowledge-based information world of tomorrow. Viewed in that light, the work of the Open University is laudable and worthy of our full support.

I am glad to see that the University has taken the bold and imaginative step of setting up the Electronic Library. I am sure that this will set a good example for others to follow, and I wish it every success.

Thank you.

End/Saturday, November 7, 1998

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