早在2009年開始，澳門公共圖書館已經開始走出去，向本地的非牟利機構推廣圖書館的服務，還走進中小學的校園，幫忙學生們辦理讀者證。而今年更首度把外展服務對象擴展至社會企業，讓澳門不同年齡、不同階層的讀者都可以享受到圖書館的各種便利資源。
過去的2月27及28日、3月1及2日，圖書館的工作人員走進氹仔和澳門美高梅後勤部設置攤位，一連四日為企業內的員工辦理登記公共圖書館讀者證以及更新舊證服務，同時現場教他們使用HyRead電子資源閱讀服務。這是澳門公共圖書館第一次向社會企業提供外展服務，回饋也很積極，接近400名企業內的員工參與了這次活動。
“我們致力向社會上不同的機構推廣圖書館，然而，以前外展服務對象多為學校。直到去年年底，我們接到澳門美高梅酒店人力資源發展部查詢是否有合作的空間，可以借助圖書館的圖書資源培訓員工。這是我們首次接受社會企業的合作邀請，從圖書館出發，我們當然是樂意合作，因為圖書館的宗旨就是服務所有市民，營造良好的閱讀風氣。”文化局公共圖書館管理廳讀者服務及推廣處處長羅子強介紹，“關注酒店內任職尤其是博彩從業員，在輪班制下，作息不定，未必可以在開館時間內使用圖書館，但 24小時隨借隨還的電子書資源則大大方便了他們，我們認為這是雙贏結果。”
澳門美高梅酒店人力資源發展及培育總監，也是促成合作的重要人物之一的洪冰先生：“其實我一直是氹仔圖書館的使用者，也有關注圖書館的信息。在用過HyRead 服務後，發現上面有不少優質的電子書資源，而我們公司文化也是一直鼓勵員工繼續學習，因此我就聯絡公共圖書館，並希望把免費圖書電子資源也帶進美高梅，推廣積極的閱讀風氣。” 有了這次成功的合作經驗後，洪先生也希望未來可以和圖書館有更多不同領域的合作，如共享學習資源、舉辦讀書專題講座等。
As early as in 2009, the Macao Public Library started to reach out its services to the community, such as promoting its services to local non-profit organizations and going into primary and secondary schools to assist students with Library Card applications. This year, the Library has extended the target of its outreach services to social enterprises for the first time, which aims to let readers of all ages and of different backgrounds access to the various resources of the Library.
On February 27 and 28 and March 1 and 2, the Library staff set up a booth at the back-of-house area of MGM Cotai and MGM Macau to assist MGM employees with Library Card applications and renewals, and demonstrate how to access to the electronic resources, HyRead ebook, for four straight days. It was the first time that the Macao Public Library provided outreach services for social enterprises, which received positive responses that nearly 400 employees have participated in the event.
‘We are committed to promoting the library services to different organizations in the community. However, most targets of the outreach services were schools until the end oflast year when we were approached by MGM Macau’s Learning & Talent Development Department to see if there was any room for co-operation and if the library resources could be used for the purpose of staff training. It was the first time we received an invitation from a social enterprise for forging a partnership. We certainly are very happy for the co-operation since the objective of the Library is to serve all residents and create a sound reading culture for the community.’ Lo Chi Keong, Head of the Division of Reader Services and Promotion under the Department of Public Library Management of the Cultural Affairs Bureau added, ‘we are concerned about hotel staff members, especially those in gaming sectors. Under the shift system, the gaming practitioners might not be able to use the library services during opening hours as their work schedule is irregular. In such cases, the 24-hour loan service of electronic resources will be very convenient for them and we believe this is a win-win solution.’
Benjamin Hong, Director of the Learning & Talent Development Department of MGM Macau and one of the key figures who facilitated the partnership, said, ‘actually, I have been a user of the Taipa Library for a long time and have been following the news regarding the library. After using the HyRead ebook, I found that it offers a wide variety of very high-quality electronic resources.
It happens that our company has been spreading the culture of encouraging employees to pursue continuous learning, which inspired me to contact the Macao Public Library in the hope of bringing free electronic library resources to MGM thereby promoting a positive reading culture in the company.’ With this successful experience, Benjamin also hopes to develop further cooperation with the Library in more different fields in future, such as sharing learning resources and holding seminars on reading.
