Well organised library! Very easy to navigate and locate what you need. I was in and out within 5…read moreminutes. In the children's books section, there's a computer lab with desks their size. This library has several floors. Adult books are on floor 3 (Chinese ) and floor 4 (English ). Floor 2 is kids books. Soooo many kids books! Plenty of seating for children and parents to spend some reading quality time. But it can get crowded. That's about it.

Smaller then it's counterpart in CWB, and with a small stock of books, CDs, and DVDs, City Hall…read moreLibrary is a wonderful place to get some peace and quiet, especially if you need to get some work done. What I like best about this library in particular, is the copious amounts of workspace. My recommendation would be to go to the 10th floor and to use the creative resources annex. In there, you'll find three large bench tables, where you can spread out all of your books, laptop, and other paraphernalia before getting on with a bit of work. There are also plenty of power points, and as with all Hong Kong libraries, there is the free government Wi-Fi. Again, as with all Hong Kong libraries, you do not need to be a member of the library, or a Hong Kong residence, to use the facilities here. This makes ideal for tourists and other travellers. Also, there is no booking system here for the workspace use. In other Hong Kong libraries, you are required to sign in and take a laminated card to reserve spot. In City Hall Library just make yourself comfortable. As well as this very conducive work environment, and of course the books, the library also lends CDs. These are free of charge from the library they are located in, or chargeable (HKD25) if you need them delivered from another location, which you can do online. You can also just listen to these CDs in the library if you have your headphones. If you do manage to get the creative resources annex, look out to the old chap in the corner who is always there, without fail. I still think he's actually on the same page that I saw him reading six months ago.

Children Play Room is amazing for kids 6 and under. Our 1 and 4 year old had a blast and were so…read moretired after their play sessions. Great place to play on a rainy day! Booking ahead is recommended as they can be busy. Across from the play room is their computer media room which can also be fun for kids exploring with computer games and screen learning

What a great public library! Countless floors (OK...they are countable and there are like 12 or…read moresomething), organized, clean, full of light, great open spaces, contemplative corners to hide out, giant kid & teen sections, public art space with exhibitions from time to time, peacefully quiet. Maybe a little dated decor wise, but a great library nonetheless that indeed more resembles a giant mall than a public library....escalators, elevators, loads of people all walking around the 10 floors of the open center space designed architectural styled building. My personal interest was peeked for they have a resource space dedicated specifically to art up on their top floor. It is easily organized by architecture or comics or contemporary art or whatever in the art world. Libraries are about learning and are free! I love a good library. Now I did not navigate getting a library card/account and/or check anything out, but I would absolutely return

I was expecting this library to be better because it's in Tsim Sha Tsui, but I was completely…read morewrong. This library is located on the first floor (the bottom floor where you'll be taking the elevator is the ground floor). You'd have to take the elevator to go up. I thought you'd have to walk into a building (such as going through a glass door on the first floor) to go into the elevator. But nope, the elevator was outside-ish. The library itself is small, but still bigger than the Sau Mau Ping Library. They had about 10 columns of English books to read. Fair, but it's still not good enough for me. They don't have popular books here. So finding a book that you may want to read that is hip will not be here. The middle area has a fair amount of space to sit and read. They have a little more Chinese books than Sau Mau Ping, and offer more Children books. The staff here are nice. Well. I only talked to one lady, and she was super nice when she assisted me in applying for a library card. She explained everything to me (in Cantonese).

Long boasted as the largest single floored library in Asia, any City U student would know we are…read moretalking about "Lai gei". This is the main library for City University and granted it is actually quite a big place. I haven't tried it but I would guess that walking from one end to the other end of the library would take you a good five minutes. There is ample space for revision (some are doing that) and sleeping (most people are doing that). Back in the day you were able to borrow computers but I guess that won't be too much of a an issue now with so many devices available personally. The library does boast one of the biggest collection of law books in Hong Kong (granted it was one of the only law schools in HK outside of HKU) and it did for a while provide a source for information for students and practitioners alike. The reserved and semi-reserved sections are well enforced and books are rarely out of reach. there are cases where books are "misplaced" with a motive but I guess the librarians are pretty good at organizing things. There are some rooms where you can view DVDs and other multimedia items- but I haven't tried that in the past. Joking aside, I do think that for such a "new" university to be equipped with such a well stocked library to be a god-send for the university. Indeed it did provide room for students to study, to meet and a proper location to conduct scholarly activities. I will always thank it for being a good location to finish any last minute coursework given its proximity to my LT. I know this place isn't somewhere that everyone could go but I would urge you to use it more if you could because you won't know how good it is until you leave.

This is our neighbourhood library so I go here at least once a month. The English book section is…read morequite limited. They do have a large kids area but again, the English book selection is small. The thing that I don't like about this place is that the books are all old and sticky. Many of them are marked and some pages torn. It's just too bad that people do not take care of library books and that there are no newer books here. During the hot summer months, there are a lot of people there just sleeping or occupying the seats. I seriously think they are there only for the Air con! The lobby leading to the elevator and the elevator itself are both uninviting and scary looking. The 2 elevators that service the 3 floors of the library take a million years to come. Better to just walk down that stairs. You can borrow only 8 books at a time and only for 2 weeks. This is a huge contrast to what I'm used to (50 books!) Fortunately, you can renew online.

Ping Shan Library is one of the few rare cases of government public libraries that has a strong…read moresense in spatial design and material use, a nicely executed design scheme from the Architectural Services Department. Really hope there could be more of such quality public libraries around Hong Kong, just like those in Scandinavia, to encourage reading culture and rid ourselves of the cultural dessert image of HK. Being the second largest public library in Hong Kong (the largest is the Central Library in Tai Hang), it is 7 storeys high, full of books and audio visual materials for lending or using inside the library. The special thing about this library, as opposed to other inward-focused libraries in Hong Kong, is that it has many outdoor reading areas and atrium spaces with high headroom. The books are organized around a central staircase winding around an atrium. You'd feel as if you are walking outdoors with all the sunlight filtering in, and it makes the place so much more pleasant. Small terraces and outdoor decks are scattered around the building, so you can opt read outdoors after you borrowed a book (pity too little seating in these outdoor areas, otherwise they'd be much better utilized). There are also indoors pocket spaces here and there with upholstered seating where you can curl in and indulge in a book. Material-wise, it opted for a more rustic texture and cool color tone, such as wood, rusted copper, dark coloured tiles and metal claddings, to induce a vintage yet modern look and feel to the building, so that it can blend in more smoothly with the Traditional Chinese palette in the buildings at the nearby Ping Shan Cutural Walk. Usually cool tones are not used in communal government buildings in HK, but the Ping Shan library prooves as a successful case that such a 'cool' building can also be much liked by local citizens, as shown by how crowded the place is on a daily basis.