The Macao Public Library of the Cultural Affairs Bureau has launched the 23rd issue of Books and the City, now available to the public. Themed on the “Development of Smart Library”, this issue summarizes the various smart services and facilities introduced in the Public Library in recent years, and figures out how reading smartly plays its role in the central system of the “city’s brain”.
In this issue, the “Library Portrait” column features an interview with Wong Sio Mui, staff of the Reading Room of the Macau Chamber of Commerce, introducing a library familiar to the locals; the section “Library Handbook” introduces the “Database of Posters Collection”, which allows readers to look into Macao through information and poster design of various events over the past 30 years; The section “Library Wonder Why” introduces the National Geographic Virtual Library, an electronic resource on culture, nature, science, technology and the environment; in “Author’s Say”, Ye Nong, Dean of Department of Macau Studies at Jinan University, has been invited to share the stories behind his latest work, European-Style Relics – St. Joseph’s Seminary and Church; the section “New Launch” introduces a rich variety of new arrivals, including books, movies, music and magazines. In addition, this issue also features 10 brief yet insightful book reviews in Chinese, Portuguese and English.
A total of 3,000 copies of Books and the City are available free of charge at all branch libraries under the Cultural Affairs Bureau, tertiary education institutions, Tap Seac Gallery and several bookstores as well as cultural and art spaces in Macao. The past 22 issues are also accessible on the Macao Public Library website at www.library.gov.mo.