Situated in Taipa Central Park, the Taipa Library will be put into service this year. The preparation of its opening is currently in full swing. Occupying an area of over 2,200 square metres, Taipa Library is the largest public library in Macao. It has a collection of over 80,000 items of reading materials, features 450 reader seats, provides over 10,000 copies of audio and video resources, and is equipped with a screening room that can accommodate 50 individuals. This issue of Books and the City invites Lo Chi Keong, the head of the Chinese book division of Macao Central Library, to give you a glimpse of this library.
Lo Chi Keong lives in Taipa, like other residents dwelling there, he is looking forward to seeing the opening of this Library. He said: “When my son was little, I took him to the Taipa Central Park and told him that there will be a library where he can read.” My wish finally comes true this year. In April, Taipa Library will comply with a series of Macao Library Week activities and host a parent-child theatre in the new venue. Not only can book lovers enjoy reading but also participate in family activities.
‘Reading with Children’ is exactly part of the positioning of Taipa Library: the children’s reading area accounts for one-third of the total area of the venue; in addition, there is a children’s theatre for various functions, a play zone equipped with amusement facilities, and a nursing room in response to social damand, is the largest Children’s Library in Macao. Lo Chi Keong explained: “A good many Taipa residents are young couples with children. I always see parents take their children to play in the Taipa Central Park.” Thus he believes that Taipa Library can meet the needs of that group of readers; since there is sufficient parking lots at Taipa Central Park Carpark, he believes that the library will attract families to visit during holidays.
A general reading area is indispensable to libraries. There is a screen made of multimedia information near the entrance, at the rear of which is located an audiovisual area and a screening room, where various kinds of videos can be played. Certainly, it also features a special reading area for newspapers and periodicals (and a general reading area).
Taipa Library offers considerate services for people with different reading needs: there are 54 computers for public use, more than all other libraries in Macao. He expounded that today’s libraries do not tend to add too many computer facilities, since most people prefer to use their personal portable devices or laptops to connect to the wireless network; however, some expatriates or foreigners in Macao may not always have their own laptop at hand thus the Library retains a certain number of computers for public use. In addition, the Taipa Library has also increased the proportion of foreign language books in order to meet the needs of foreign readers.
Another characteristic of Taipa Library is that it is located in a basement. The central part of the library is an outdoor greenspace that can attract natural light; lifts and spiral staircases are used in this round-shaped greenspace as the major pathways connecting the greenspace entrance at the basement which is opposite to the entrance of the carpark. Lo Chi Keong also revealed that Taipa Library will be equipped with self-service facilities for book borrowing and returning, in order to save human resources.
Taipa Library will open in phases; part of the library will open first, and following a trial operation the library will fully open. Lo Chi Keong said he is confident of providing high-quality library services to readers once Taipa Library is operational.
