Culture and Sport - Macao Yearbook

From 2006 to the end of 2011, a total of 34 people received the bursaries.
Macao Central Library
Culture Culture and and Sport Sport
Founded in 1895, the Macao Central Library is under the Cultural Affairs Bureau. It comprises
the Macao Central Library (main branch), Sir Robert Ho Tung Library, Library of the Civic and
Municipal Affairs Bureau Building, Ilha Verde Library, Mong Ha Library, Coloane Library and
mobile libraries. Currently the largest public library network in Macao, it houses a collection of
740,000 books and 35,000 multimedia items.
Major services of the Macao Central Library include: lending book materials, providing current
and back issues of newspapers and periodicals, advising readers on Macao information, access to
broadband Internet, making microfilms, on-line newspaper clippings, and e-resources database,
and photocopying of materials. Publishers can apply for an ISBN, ISSN or International Standard
Recording Code (ISRC) through the ISBN Centre in the library.
To highlight the many facets of Macao’s libraries and promote the use of their resources for
educational purposes, every year the central library hosts a range of activities that encourage reading
and on how to use library services. It also receives group visits.
Macao Central Library (Main Branch)
Located on Conselheiro Ferreira de Almeida Avenue, the main branch of the Macao Central Library
is housed in a 1,371-square-metre residential-type building in the neoclassical style of the early
20th century. It has a seating capacity of 256, stocks about 259,585 books (including 35,693 books
on Macao), and provides 77 newspaper titles and 651 periodical titles. In 2011, the library received
493,488 visits, lent a total of 287,683 items on 114,929 occasions, and recorded 40,956 uses of
wireless internet broadband service.
Sir Robert Ho Tung Library
Steeped in history and culture, the three-storey complex of Sir Robert Ho Tung Library is an
important example of the blend of Chinese and Western architecture. After Sir Robert’s death in
1955 in Hong Kong, his family, in accordance with his will, presented the mansion at St Augustine
Square (Largo de Santo Agostinho) to the former Portuguese administration, together with a donation
of HK$25,000 for the purchase of books to establish this Chinese public library.
The library was officially opened in 1958. A collection of 5,000 ancient Chinese books is kept
in Sir Robert Ho Tung’s Study on the second floor. It includes literary and historical classics from
the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, and 16 precious books of the Jiayetang Library collected
by the famous present-day bibliophile, Liu Chenggan.
To enlarge the space for collection and reading, the Cultural Affairs Bureau launched an expansion
project by the backyard of Sir Robert Ho Tung Library. It opened to the public in 2006. Covering a
total area of 2,323 square metres, the four-storey new building has a children’s room, a multimedia
room, indoor and outdoor reading zones, and stacks.
The library covers an area of 4,778 square metres, with a seating capacity of 547. It has a collection
of approximately 115,353 books, 5,601 items of multimedia audiovisual materials, 55 newspaper
343