Capacity for one million books in the new central library

A statue stands facing the old court building, where the future library is expected to be located

The capacity for the book collection of the planned new central library will be one million items including books, newspapers, as well as other references, the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) revealed yesterday during a Cultural Advisory Committee meeting.
IC hopes that by the time the Central Library opens, 500,000 books will already be available to the public.
When questioned by several committee members regarding the book collection, Tang Mei Lin, director of the Department of Management of Public Libraries, said that multilingualism is a major aim of the department. “Books in both simplified and traditional Chinese, in English, Portuguese, as well as in Filipino and Thai, are planned to be provided,” informed Tang, adding that religious ancient books will also be part of the collection.
According to Tang, there will be specific sections for children’s books in the library, as well as communication corners which will allow library users to chat with each other.
“A total of 10,000 Portuguese references will be listed, making it the richest Portuguese collection in Asia,” announced Tang, adding: “Portuguese newspapers with more than 100 years of history will also be available to the public.”
Members of the committee raised questions about differences between the new library and the current one at the University of Macau (UM).
Tang replied that while the University of Macau Library offers a good source of information for scholars and students, the new library will be more useful to the mass public.
The old court building is the chosen location to the future library.  A new 11-story building is expected to be built there, preserving only the façade and part of the interior structure of the olf building (pictured) – like  its stairways.
In addition, the IC disclosed yesterday that the library based in the old court will be 53 meters above sea level. The height is similar to those of many buildings in the vicinity, as Tang observed.
Correspondingly, the president of IC, Ung Vai Meng, remarked: “The location in the city center [is an advantage as the building] will also make more services available to citizens.”
Tang Mei Lin said that the central library will commence its construction in 2019. Julie Zhu