With effect from 1 January 2000, the Books Registration Office (BRO) is under the administration of the Hong Kong Public Libraries, Leisure and Cultural Services Department. The main functions of the BRO are:

• To preserve Hong Kong's cultural heritage through registration and preservation of local published/printed books.

• To enforce the Books Registration Ordinance (Cap. 142) which stipulates that 5 copies of each book first printed, produced or published in Hong Kong are to be deposited with the BRO.

• To compile a comprehensive bibliography of current Hong Kong publications, which is gazetted quarterly as "A Catalogue of Books Printed in Hong Kong" for public inspection. Every issue of the "Catalogue" is distributed free of charge to national libraries in the world as well as overseas and local academic libraries.

• To administer and promote the use of the ISBN system among publishers and book-selling trades.

• To supply information on local publishers to the International ISBN Agency for the preparation of the annual Publishers' International ISBN Directory.

The "Catalogue of Books Printed in Hong Kong" is available for public reference at the reference libraries of the Hong Kong Central Library and the major libraries. To access the deposited items for research purpose, please contact reference librarian on duty at Reference Library of Hong Kong Central Library or call 2921-0222 for details.