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" (the Catalogue) at Special Supplement No.4 of the Government of the Hong Kong SAR Gazette for public inspection. (See Notes below for accessing the Catalogue)
To administer as local ISBN registration agency in Hong Kong and promote the use of the ISBN system among publishers and book-selling trades.
To supply information on Hong Kong publishers to the International ISBN Agency for the preparation of the annual Publishers' International ISBN Directory.
Notes:
Hardcopies of "the Catalogue" 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.
Electronic version for "the Catalogue" (the e-Catalogue) is available from the pull-down menu below:
(All e-Catalogue will be removed after posting for 12 months counting from the gazette date.)
