New chapter:
The new Ping Shan Tin Shui Wai Public Library will open on February 28.
New chapter:
The new Ping Shan Tin Shui Wai Public Library will open on February 28.
Right light:
The library is bathed in natural sunlight for a comfortable reading environment.
Right light:
The library is bathed in natural sunlight for a comfortable reading environment.
New Tin Shui Wai library to open
February 25, 2013
The new Ping Shan Tin Shui Wai Public Library, the second largest public library in Hong Kong, will open on February 28.
Located in the Ping Shan Tin Shui Wai Leisure & Cultural Building on Tsui Sing Road, it is the first public library where people can read in an outdoor courtyard.
The open space of the atrium and courtyards across floors, as well as the surrounding curtain wall, admit sunlight to the whole building allowing for reading in natural light, either in or outdoors.
The new building consists of two blocks with the higher block being the eight-storey public library, covering a floor area of 6,100 square metres.
The design of the building has won several architecture awards. The architects, inspired by the traditional architectural elements of Ping Shan, made use of older building materials like bricks, fair-faced concrete, wooden screens, iron netting and rusty iron to mix tradition with modernity.
The flowerbeds on various floors and the green roof not only provide a natural and relaxing environment for readers, they can also participate in special extension activities such as guided reading programmes.
The library provides diverse services and facilities, such as a young adult library for teen readers. It also has a colourful children's library, an adult library, a spacious multimedia library, a reference library and a computer and information centre.
There is a user education hall, an exhibition hall, a students' study room with 228 seats, a newspaper and periodical section, a fiction area, an extension activities room, a coffee corner and a health corner.
The library has 270,000 Chinese and English books, and more than 15,000 audio materials and CD-ROMs for home borrowing, as well as about 30,000 reference materials. More than 9,000 audio-visual materials and over 400 local and overseas newspapers and periodicals for people of all ages and interests.
The library will open from 9am to 8pm Mondays to Wednesdays and from Fridays to Saturdays, from noon to 8pm on Thursdays, and from 9am to 5pm on Sundays and public holidays, from February 28. The Tin Shui Wai Public Library will close the same day.
To enhance the public library service and promote reading, the loan quota for library materials for each registered reader will increase from six to eight, lending of back-issue periodicals from 12 to 16, and the quota for advanced reservation of library materials from six to eight, from March 1.
Call 2126 7520 for enquiries.
