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Where was the first Hong Kong public library? Which district has the smallest public library? Over the past five decades, the Hong Kong Public Libraries (HKPL) have evolved from one library venue to 77 branches and have also been steadily building up the concept of "library without walls". How did the HKPL develop? What are the changes in library cards? What is the meaning behind the numeric codes on the spines of library books? What are the ways of choosing suitable books for children of different ages?
Organised by the HKPL of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the annual popular large-scale library family event Summer Reading Month 2012 opened today (July 21) with the thematic children's exhibition "Joyful ReadingĦELibrary" at the Exhibition Gallery of the Hong Kong Central Library (HKCL). The exhibition, which ties in with the 50th anniversary of the HKPL, enables visitors to learn more about the development of the HKPL, prize-winning children's books, the selection of quality reading materials for children and strategies for parent-child reading.
Today's launch ceremony also coincided with the prize presentation ceremony of the Competition on Story Writing in Chinese for Students in 2012, jointly organised by the HKPL and the Hong Kong Children's Arts Society. This year the competition was well received with more than 2,000 entries, with most of them submitted in the upper primary category.
Officiating at the two ceremonies were the Vice-Chairman of the Public Libraries Advisory Committee, Mr Cheung Chi-kong, and the Chairman of the Hong Kong Children's Arts Society, Mr Wong Tung-to. Winning stories of the competition's three categories were vividly retold and adapted into puppet shows, storytelling and musical performances at the ceremonies.
Speaking at the Prize Presentation Ceremony of the Competition on Story Writing in Chinese for Students 2012 cum Kick-off Ceremony of Summer Reading Month 2012, Mr Cheung shared useful tips on writing and encouraged students to read extensively.
"Reading extensively not only broadens your horizons and inspires critical thinking, but also enhances your literary attainments and writing skills," he said. He also invited family members to use the summer holidays to participate in the wide range of activities in Summer Reading Month.
The colourful thematic exhibition "Joyful ReadingĦELibrary" runs from today to August 20 at the HKCL's Exhibition Gallery. Small bookworms will guide visitors to various interesting sections entitled "Paradise of Storybooks", "Orchard of Picture Books", "Treasure Cubes", "Traces of Thankfulness", "That's the Library", "Library's Tips", "My Library Corner" and more.
The Awards for Creative Writing in Chinese for children's story books and picture books has been organised by the HKPL since 1981 and more than 60 volumes of the winning works have been published in the "Series of Children Literature". Visitors can go to "Paradise of Storybooks" and "Orchard of Picture Books" to look for the awarded books from the children's story book and children's picture book categories for paired reading and enjoyment in language learning, growing up and imagination. Visitors can encounter another reading experience when browsing the digitised versions of these winning books through the interactive kiosks in the exhibition.
How do parents choose books that will encourage children to read? "Treasure Cubes" shows works that have won renowned local and overseas book prizes for children's literature to help participants find suitable books for children.
In the "Traces of Thankfulness" area, visitors have the chance to see the awarded designs of thank-you cards from the 4.23 World Book Day Creative Competition in 2012, sharing the creativity of primary students. With an interesting display, multimedia items and interactive games, "That's the Library" reviews the past 50 years' development of the HKPL in services to the community, promotion of reading, information dissemination and development of children's libraries, library stocks and electronic resources.
How does a library classify its books and arrange the call numbers for shelving? The "Library's Tips" corner provides different information about libraries to help visitors know more about libraries, including "Book Identity Card", classification of books, "Library's Most..." and more. With an ocean-themed layout, "My Library Corner" features different types of children's books, hints to select books for children and strategies for parent-child reading.
Families can also enjoy the variety shows and competitions to be held at the HKCL's Exhibition Gallery. There will also be musical performances, a shadow puppetry show, storytelling with music and puppets, a paired reading talk, a contest on dramatisation and more. The exhibition and various activities are being held from now until August 20 with free admission.
A reading talk entitled "Life Education Starting from Paired Reading" (in Cantonese) was also held today at the Lecture Hall of the HKCL by the Development Director of Family Heartware, Ms Shirley Loo, who shared her views on parent-child reading skills and selection of children's books.
Various activities including language learning through storytelling and fun workshops on origami, creative drawing, the human body, outer space, Chinese shadow puppetry, Chinese culture and paired reading will be held in different public libraries.
The "Reading Charter" activity is being introduced in this year's Summer Reading Month to promote reading through a voluntary pledge. It aims to encourage readers to establish a good habit of reading by promising to achieve goals in reading. Readers who successfully join the "Reading Charter" will be presented with a souvenir.
Admission tickets are required for some of the programmes. Information details can be found in the booklet distributed at all public libraries. For enquiries, call 2921 2660 or visit the website at www.hkpl.gov.hk/srm.
Ends/Saturday, July 21, 2012
Issued at HKT 13:22
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