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Following is a question by the Hon Ip Kwok-him and a written reply by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Lau Kong-wah, in the Legislative Council today (May 4):
Question:
The Government is conducting a study on the development of ¡§smart city¡¨, including opening up more public data to facilitate market development of smartphone applications for the convenience of the public, and developing intelligent homes. The Government has planned to engage a consultant in the second half of this year to formulate the digital framework and technical standards of a smart city. It has been reported that the Singaporean Government has recently launched a number of measures to encourage reading among its people. These include allowing its people to download e-books and e-articles by scanning two-dimensional barcodes with their smartphones to connect to smartphone applications of public libraries, and transforming Mass Rapid Transit train compartments into electronic libraries. Regarding the promotion of reading culture with the aid of advanced technologies, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether the authorities will, in conducting the research project on smart city, explore measures (e.g. making available devices in public facilities or MTR stations for free downloading of e-books or e-articles by members of the public) to promote reading culture with the aid of advanced technologies; if they will not, of the reasons for that;
(2) given that at present, a number of franchised bus companies (bus companies) have developed smartphone applications to provide passengers waiting for buses with real-time information on bus services, whether the Government will collaborate with various bus companies to provide e-books or e-articles for free downloading by passengers for reading during the journey; if it will, of the relevant timetable; if not, the reasons for that; and
(3) whether it will conduct a territory-wide study on ways to encourage, in this age of information proliferation, members of the public to download e-books for reading, apart from watching films and television programmes, playing electronic games and visiting social networking websites, when they are connected to the Internet through their electronic products; if it will, of the relevant timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
With the development of technology, the Government has been actively launching e-government services to provide the general public with greater convenience. Different public services and private organisations are also offering various e-services for their customers. Regarding the promotion of reading culture, the Hong Kong Public Libraries (HKPL) of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) is committed to leveraging on the use of new technology and information technology in enhancing the public library services in a bid to commensurate with Hong Kong¡¦s development as a smart city and world-class metropolis. My reply to the various parts of Hon Ip's question is as follows:
(1) and (2) The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer will engage a consultant in 2016-17 to formulate the digital framework and technical standards suitable for developing Hong Kong as a smart city, which will serve as the foundation for our smart city development. In the course of the study, consultation will be carried out with stakeholders including related government departments, the academia, research institutions and the private sector. Different organisations may consider providing various value-added services based on the foundation.
As regards the public library services, developing a balanced and ¡§mixed¡¨ library collection which covers print books and e-resources has been one of the major tasks of the HKPL in recent years. In the past five years, the total number of e-books in public libraries has increased from over 110 000 in 2011 to over 220 000 in 2015. In addition to e-book collections, the LCSD now provides 63 e-databases and the Multimedia Information System (MMIS) containing an extensive number of digitised audio-visual recordings, images and documents.
Launched by the LCSD in 2014, the ¡§Library at Your Finger Tips¡¨ consists of both the ¡§My Library¡¨ and ¡§Multimedia Information¡¨ mobile apps and a dedicated online ¡§Electronic Resources Webpage¡¨. All these e-services allow the public to enjoy library services and digital resources anytime and anywhere, and meet their needs for knowledge, information, self-learning and continuous education as well as the constructive use of leisure time.
The ¡§My Library¡¨ and ¡§Multimedia Information¡¨ apps have various practical functions. Through the ¡§My Library¡¨ app, readers can access their personal library accounts; search, reserve and renew library materials; and locate the nearby libraries through the Global Positioning System. The ¡§Multimedia Information¡¨ app allows users to search the contents of the MMIS, including over four million pages of digitised materials under more than 20 digital collections of various themes. Furthermore, members of the public can use notebook computers or any mobile devices which support major Internet browsers to directly access 21 e-databases and over 220 000 e-books covering a variety of subjects through the HKPL¡¦s one-stop ¡§Electronic Resources Webpage¡¨ via their library accounts for remote usage and online reading. Two of the English e-book collections and the newly-added Chinese e-book collection this year provide a more convenient platform for readers to download e-books to their mobile devices for offline reading. Users can enjoy the convenience of online library services at any time with just a few taps on any smart phone or tablet.
The HKPL has been providing two-dimensional barcodes on some publicity materials of e-resources to enable readers to access the HKPL¡¦s ¡§Electronic Resources Webpage¡¨ through mobile devices. To further promote the use of e-resources, the HKPL will provide two-dimensional barcodes on printed publicity materials, library newsletters, recommendations for e-resources and guides for readers for linking up individual e-book collections and e-databases to facilitate readers¡¦ use of such resources through mobile devices.
The HKPL promotes e-resources to various sectors of the community by regularly organising education and extension activities, library visits by schools, briefing sessions on electronic information, ¡§School Culture Day¡¨, and through customer liaison groups, teacher liaison groups as well as visits to schools/community groups/organisations. The HKPL has also stepped up its promotion on the electronic services of the ¡§Library at Your Finger Tips¡¨ since 2014, which included the production of Announcements in the Public Interest and printed publicity materials, and the promotion of its e-services through television and at public transport facilities. The number of virtual visits (sessions) to library services in 2015 was over 23 million. The HKPL will continue to work with other government departments and public organisations to further promote e-resources with a view to cultivating a reading habit among the public.
(3) The LCSD conducts regular opinion surveys on the facilities and services of public libraries to collect views of the public (including both users and non-users) on the prevailing library services and future needs. The findings of the 2014-15 opinion survey showed that 80.6 per cent of the library users usually spent more time on reading the printed version (including books/newspapers and periodicals/materials) while 12.5 per cent of them on the electronic version. For non-library users, 63.4 per cent of them usually spent more time on reading the printed version, whereas 27.3 per cent of them on the electronic version. The LCSD is studying and analysing the survey statistics in depth in a bid to understand the reading habits and interests of the public; and to explore how to further enhance public library services to meet the expectations of users, attract non-users to use public library services and facilities, promote its e-resources and foster a reading culture.
Ends/Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Issued at HKT 11:42
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