Different missions, common goals – museum-library collaboration at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum in the service of local and family history and the conservation of documentary heritage in the South China Sea

Established in 2005, the Hong Kong Maritime Museum (HKMM) is a relatively new private museum that aims to collect all forms of materials related to the development of boats, ships, maritime exploration, maritime trade, and naval warfare on the South China coast, as well as in its adjacent seas. The Museum not only serves as a unique platform for the teaching and learning of the local heritage of Hong Kong, it also contributes greatly to the promotion of community engagement and social connections. The HKMM is also equipped with its own museum library, called the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSCC) Maritime Heritage Resource Centre. In addition to supporting various research activities carried out by the Museum, this Resource Centre also serves as a central, and yet comprehensive repository for publications and archival documents on maritime heritage and history related to Southeastern China. This paper first discusses the distinctive operational practices and user needs of museums and libraries. It also examines the benefits and challenges of museum-library collaborations in the new knowledge-driven society. This section is in part based on an interview with Kitty But (Librarian, CSSC Maritime Heritage Resource Centre, The Hong Kong Maritime Museum) and Robert Trio (Project Officer for Technology, The Hong Kong Maritime Museum), in which they discuss their professional experiences in the fields of audience education, the implementation of different new technologies associated with the museum and library services, various collaborative initiatives carried out between the Museum and the Resource Centre, and their upcoming challenges and opportunities. The paper then focuses on the plans of the Hong Kong Maritime Museum and its CSCC library to build a central archive preserving the local maritime documentary heritage of the region of the South China Sea. Technical issues and practical difficulties of museum-library collaboration in this local history archival project are explored, as is the possible use of the new archival collection as a research resource for Hong Kong maritime family history.