About the Library

The University of Macau Library has moved into the current "University of Macau Wu Yee Sun Library” building in July 2014. Standing in the forefront and occupying a very central location of the new campus, and surrounded by a man-made lake and a man-made river, the Library is the landmark building of the whole campus. The main entrance, facing the Library Square, connects with the Central Teaching Building and the Faculties through corridors and bridges. WYS Library is a magnificent building of 7 floors with two lower wings on its sides. The size of the new library is about 30,000 square meters, and is projected to hold one million volumes of books and journals, and to provide some 3,000 seats. The Library was designed by Professor He Jingtang (何鏡堂教授), Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. In tune with the design principles of the UM campus, it combines the best features of the Chinese and Western cultural elements in its exterior. Looking from outside, it exudes learning and scholarship, just like any great university library anywhere in the world, and at the same time, it projects warmth and beams welcome on its visitors.

The interior of the Library has an atrium lobby with natural sunlight. There is a sky garden located on the second floor. The sky garden area is decorated with a large number of plants and flowers, infusing natural elements into the reading atmosphere. The hanging round-shape exhibition hall located on the fifth floor contrasts with the square-shape atrium lobby on the ground floor. In Chinese tradition, this kind of contrast is known as「天圓地方」(“round sky and square land”), representing the whole world. This also implies that the Library holds comprehensive and large amount of collections from all over the world.

With over thirty years of development, the Library has become the largest library in Macau. At this moment, the Library holds a collection of over 9 million pieces/items, which includes about 730,000 books, 6,000 titles of periodicals, 24,000 rare books, 27,000 items of AV materials, 1,000 paintings/antiques, 3,000 items of archival collections and 5,000 rolls of microfilms. With the rapid development of web services, the Library has acquired quite a number of electronic resources, which includes about 260 e-databases, 600,000 e-books, 8,500,000 e-theses, 4,000 titles of e-newspapers and 100,000 titles of e-journals.

The Library continues to integrate the use of innovative technologies into traditional library services, and apply the pioneering and innovative concepts to its functions. Currently, the Library is using UHF system to manage its book collections. In addition, the books are not simply shelved strictly according to the classification scheme. Instead, they are grouped and shelved in clusters by their subjects. This facilitates better use of the collection and makes it easier for readers to use the collection.

The Library also encourages and emphasizes on discussion, sharing and interaction among students. With easy accessibility of information on the web, libraries these days have to become places for collaborative learning and interaction among their readers. To achieve this aim, the Library provides a large number of group discussion rooms installed with state-of-the-art equipment. In addition, there will be some informal discussion and interaction spaces throughout the Library for students to socialize, interact, and to learn from each other.

However, the Library also has to cater to the needs of other readers who may prefer individual study and, therefore, a quieter environment. For this, the Library is divided up into several different zones to take care of the different requirements of its users. Some parts of the Library are designated as the silent zone, where serious and scholarly study may be conducted. And some parts of the Library are made into semi-silent zone, where students may study with their friends and generate some discussion whereas other readers just regard the noise thus generated as background noise.

To support the overall development of the university’s teaching, learning and research, and consider the development trend of higher education on the importance of collaborative learning, the Library is designed with a new and open concept, aiming to let teachers and students experience a brand new way of learning and acquiring information. The functions of each floor in the Library are as follows: