The library in the future Legco building, which requires an additional area to accommodate improved services, is targeting more public users.
With the establishment of a constitutional library and additional Legislative Council archives, an additional 360 metre square is needed to meet the requirements for the new facilities.
To cover the rising cost for additional space and other new facilities at the Tamar development project, which will house the new Legco complex, the legislature's public works subcommittee will, on Wednesday next week, discuss increasing the approved budget by about HK$360 million.
Speaking to the media about the latest interior designs for the Legco complex yesterday, the legislature's secretary general, Pauline Ng Man-wah, hoped the expansion of the new Legco library - to three times the current size - would attract more users from among the public.
'The constitutional library will have a collection of books from the mainland and Europe, comparing history of legislatures and parliamentary rules. This will be interesting for scholars from overseas, the mainland and local universities,' she said.
The current Legco library is used mainly by lawmakers' assistants, staff of the Legco secretariat and by reporters.