The Cultural Affairs Bureau has announced it will initiate disciplinary actions against Tang Mei Lin, head of the Public Library Management Department.
Earlier in May, the Commission of Audit (CA) slammed the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) for its management of the acquisition of books and publications for public libraries.
During inspections between March and December of 2017, it was determined that there were around 100,000 items registered that were not filed or made available to library users. According to the CA, this had been the case for most of the items for over five years, with some items being left in boxes for 17 years.
In terms of the process for buying new books, the CA noted that it took eight and a half years for the IC to establish and approve a policy for the development of the book collection. However, until the conclusion of the CA probe, the IC was unable to share the “formally approved” guidelines.
According to IC president Mok Ian Ian, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, has already approved the initiation of the disciplinary procedure, and is now appointing an examiner to carry out the disciplinary investigation.
Once the appointment is made, the investigation will start and will be concluded within 45 days.
Mok claimed that the IC highly regards the CA’s report, and that her bureau had already conducted a simple follow-up on the report.
However, the IC president admitted that there is indeed lack of management in local libraries.
Mok further claimed that the IC has been following up on reports in an orderly manner, and that the department has not delayed any such procedures.
Mok believes that the relevant work can be completed this year.
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