Apart from online chatting, discussion forums, document downloads and information searching, the Internet is also a very convenient learning platform. The Hong Kong Public Libraries have recently purchased five new online databases for readers' free access via the Internet at any time in any place.

Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China (Gu Jin Tu Shu Ji Cheng), an online collection of classics of Chinese literature and culture from ancient China through the Qing Dynasty, includes full-text and images of Chinese classics searchable by keywords and subjects. Providing daily mainland China news and international news, People's Daily Database covers the first issue of the newspaper to present, and on a daily updated basis. Vista E-Book in Traditional Chinese comprises over 400 Chinese eBook titles, mainly Chinese and Western literature, published by the Taiwan Vista Publishing Co., Ltd.

Two new English online databases are OmniFile Full Text Mega and Science Resource Center. The former combines wide-ranging content, covering subjects from business to education, science to art, from 11 Wilson databases. The latter is a curriculum-oriented science database that contains more than 300 full-text periodicals ranging from general magazines to academic journals, over 15,000 multimedia images and audio and video clips, as well as hyperlinks to more than 500 authoritative web sites.

To use these online gems, HKPL's registered readers can click into 'e-resources via Web' on HKPL's website.