What is the significance of our acquisition of ONE MILLION E-BOOKS? Is this a warranted celebration of collection building or is it a requiem for the printed book? What are the problems associated with this new format? Can they be solved?

We don’t yet know the answers to all of these questions, and even if we did they would not fit within this brochure, but here are some quick responses:

What is the significance of one million e-books to our University?

	Our readers can read 250 million pages of information in English and Chinese anytime anywhere.
	We can provide book like contents in much less space -- we are out of space.

Is this the death of the printed book?

	No, computers are also helping publishers produce more books than ever.
	No, we will soon be buying books printed locally linked to publishers world wide.
	No, people read paper and e-books differently. When you want specific information fast you use an e-book. When you want to understand the whole idea or story you read a printed book.

What are the problems associated with this new medium and can they be solved?

	Like for printed books, they are still expensive to catalogue. We have become very good at this and earn more than HK$800,000 a year doing it.
	You need computers to read e-books while you only need your eyes to read printed books. More than 80 percent of our students buy laptops and we provide nearly 300 computers for their use.
	While e-books don’t require miles of shelving, they do require enormous amounts of electronic storage equipment. We’ll soon have 24 terabytes of harddisk storage.

So is it all worth it? I believe the answer is a resounding YES. E-books contribute to the learning process and the generation of new knowledge. This is what a university is for and is why libraries have traditionally been considered to be the “heart” of the university.

採購百萬冊電子書對我們有何重要的意義？這是否就是為典藏而慶祝又或意味著為印刷書本的末日而哀悼？這種新形式會帶來甚麼問題？我們又能否解決？

我們暫時不能回答所有問題，即使可以，也難以完全充塞於這小冊子內，但這裡還是有幾項簡單的回應：

這百萬冊電子書對香港大學有甚麼重要價值？

	我們的讀者因此可以隨時隨地閱讀二億五千萬頁的中英文資訊。
	我們可以在較少的空間內提供與書本相同的內容 – 我們正欠缺藏書的空間。

印刷書本會否走上末路？

	不會，電腦正協助出版商生產比以前更多的書籍。
	不會，我們日後採購書籍時，將與世界各地出版商取得連繫，然後書籍在本地印刷。
	不會，讀者閱讀印刷本與電子本的模式並不相同。當需要快速地獲取指定的資料，你會選擇電子書。當需要了解整體觀念及完整的故事時，你會選擇印刷本。

有甚麼問題會隨著這種新媒體而出現？我們能否解決？

	電子書編目的費用並不便宜，然而，由於同事的努力，我們每年由此取得超過八十萬港元的編目收益。
	我們必須有電腦才能閱讀電子書，但只需要用雙眼便可讀閱印刷本。不過，超過百分之八十的港大學生已擁有手提電腦，同時我們亦提供了接近三百台桌上電腦供讀者使用。
	電子書即使不需要數以里計的書架，但它們仍需要容量極大的電子儲存裝置。而我們的伺服器很快便會提升容量至二十四萬億字節。

我們將會舉辦兩項活動來慶祝館藏第一百萬冊電子書，活動包括在香港大學美術博物館內舉行展覽，主題為印刷書籍對讀者的重要價值，另外亦會舉辦有關電子書的挑戰與發展研討會。誠意邀請閣下的參與和指導。

那麼，這是否物有所值呢？我深信答案是肯定的。電子書對學習過程和這一代新知識貢獻良多；這是香港大學所追求的，也正好說明為甚麼長久以來就認為圖書館是大學的「心臟」。

彭仁賢
香港大學圖書館館長