Run Run Shaw Library and Indra and Harry Banga Gallery

On the campus of the City University of Hong Kong (CityU), knowledge and art each occupy a high floor: a library housing over three million volumes, and a museum perched atop an academic building. This article maps out the university’s central library, the Run Run Shaw Library (邵逸夫圖書館) — its history, collection size, learning commons, special collections, and law resources — and CityU’s cultural and heritage exhibition space, the Indra and Harry Banga Gallery (般哥展覽館), covering its naming, positioning, and past exhibitions. Design and naming stories of the two buildings are covered separately under Campus landmarks(Yeung Kin Man Academic Building (楊建文學術樓), Lau Ming Wai Academic Building (劉鳴煒學術樓)).

Collection figures shift year by year; the data recorded here are based on verifiable public sources, with the basis and source year noted.

# 1. Run Run Shaw Library

# 1.1 As Old as CityU: History and Naming

The library was founded in 1984^※, the same year as the university’s predecessor, the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong. From a small polytechnic collection to today’s major academic library, its growth mirrors CityU’s transformation from a polytechnic into a research university. In 1989^※ it moved with the institution to the current Tat Chee Avenue campus in Kowloon Tong; in 1990^※, following a substantial donation from film magnate and philanthropist Run Run Shaw (邵逸夫), the library was named the “Run Run Shaw Library”. Shaw, a renowned Hong Kong film producer and benefactor, is widely remembered for the “Shaw Prize” and his donations to educational and medical institutions across Greater China, many bearing the “Shaw” name — the library is one of several “Shaw” named entities on campus (the other being the Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre (邵逸夫創意媒體中心)). Naming the main library and the creative media centre after him honours his generosity while embedding the name “Run Run Shaw” into CityU’s collective memory (for the donor networks behind such naming, see Benefactors and donors).

# 1.2 Location and Zones

The library sits on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Yeung Kin Man Academic Building (AC1)^※. It is colour-zoned (e.g. Red Zone, Purple Zone) to help readers navigate different collections and functional areas.

# 1.3 Collection Size

According to compiled public data, the Run Run Shaw Library holds approximately 3.25 million volumes/items^※, broken down roughly as:

Note: The table uses publicly aggregated figures. E-books now far outnumber print ones, reflecting a predominantly digital collection structure; specific figures change annually, so the library’s official annual statistics should be consulted for the latest data. The library provides about 2,700 seats^※; annual circulation is roughly 351,032 transactions^※. A collection of over three million items is substantial for a mid-sized, forty-year-old university. Beyond physical holdings, the library offers vast electronic resources and databases (see its research guides^※) — for a highly internationalised, research-intensive institution like CityU, access to digital content often matters more than the count of print volumes.

# 1.4 The Learning Commons: From Book Vault to Learning Hub

Modern university libraries are no longer just places to store and borrow books; they are “learning hubs” where students collaborate and use technology. The Run Run Shaw Library’s Learning Commons embodies this shift, with its signature facility “The Oval”. According to the library website^※, The Oval is designed to provide advanced computer hardware and IT support to foster collaborative learning and research, equipped with 136 computer workstations^※ and a wide range of software for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, desktop publishing, web authoring, statistical analysis and programming languages.

Mentioning “statistical analysis and programming languages” is telling — it echoes CityU’s computational, data-intensive disciplinary character (see Computing College (2024)). At CityU, library computers aren’t just for looking things up; they’re workstations for running code and doing analytics. The library also offers group study rooms and study carrels — about 125 individual study seats^※ — bookable in advance through the university’s central Resource Booker system (library website^※). The 125 individual study spots, group study rooms, and The Oval together cover modes ranging from solo concentration to team collaboration, making the library a genuine “second classroom” for CityU students.

# 1.5 Extension and International Recognition

In 2013^※ the library added a new wing, providing about 125 extra individual study spaces and housing a rare book room and stack facilities. The library has also drawn international recognition: publicly recorded accolades include 2021 ALA Presidential Citations^※ (for projects such as the Lighthouse Heritage Research Connections) and the 2022 ALA Chairman’s Award for International Library Innovation^※.

# 1.6 Special Collections & Archives

The library maintains a Special Collections & Archives^※ unit, holding rare materials in various formats — books, posters, manuscripts, photographs, land deeds, pamphlets, and more — some with digital versions (Digital Special Collections). Verifiable components include:

• General Rare Materials Collection: over 3,000 volumes^※, including the “Architect’s Collection” and pre-1900 imprints, housed in the Shatin Storage facility and retrievable via the circulation counter upon request.
• Law Special Collections: Within the law holdings, there is an English Law Special Collection and the Chinese Legal History Special Collection^※. The latter is located in the library’s Purple Zone and is open to CityU staff and students as well as to holders of library-recognised cards, and welcomes local and overseas scholars.

# 1.7 Law Library / Law Collection

CityU’s School of Law law collection is not a separate branch library but a dedicated Law Collection and Services Section within the Run Run Shaw Library, situated on the 3rd floor of the Yeung Kin Man Academic Building^※, with law materials concentrated in the Purple Zone. What is sometimes referred to as “the CityU Law Library” is thus a specialist area within the main library, not a geographically separate branch.

# 2. Indra and Harry Banga Gallery

# 2.1 Basic Facts

# 2.2 Naming

CityU’s heritage exhibition space was originally the CityU Exhibition Gallery. On 5 November 2019^※, thanks to a donation from the entrepreneur and philanthropist Harindarpal Singh “Harry” Banga (班澤爾) (founder, chairman and CEO of The Caravel Group (卡拉維爾集團)), the gallery was named “Indra and Harry Banga Gallery”, after Mr Banga and his wife Indra. Harry Banga is a Hong Kong–based Indian business leader; together with his wife he established The Caravel Foundation (卡拉維爾基金會), which focuses on education and healthcare for disadvantaged children. He has also received an honorary fellowship and an honorary doctorate from CityU. This is another example of CityU’s “naming gift” tradition — naming a cultural facility after its benefactor (for the naming/donation mechanism, see Benefactors and donors).

The naming follows the common university practice of naming gifts in honour of donors. Indra and Harry Banga are living namesakes; this account records their names and the donation history as neutral facts.

# 2.3 Positioning: Museum-Grade + Interdisciplinary

The Indra and Harry Banga Gallery is on the 18th floor of the Lau Ming Wai Academic Building (劉鳴煒學術樓)^※ and is admission-free to the public. It is not an ordinary “student works display” but a professional exhibition space with museum-grade design and advanced facilities, created to host exhibitions that are artistic, innovative, technologically infused, and interdisciplinary, to preserve cultural heritage and bridge Chinese, Asian, and Western cultures (CityU official^※).

The “interdisciplinary + tech” positioning is entirely in character for CityU, a university structurally defined by interdisciplinarity (see QS Asia and interdisciplinary rankings), and the gallery projects that cross-boundary spirit onto art exhibitions — melding art, technology, culture, and history into a single space.

# 2.4 Representative Past Exhibitions: From the Silk Road to Central African Art

The gallery is known for major exhibitions spanning cultures and eras. Verifiable highlights include:

From the Silk Road, ceremonial arms and armour, and Central African art to a tenth-anniversary show stressing interdisciplinary innovation, the curatorial vision combines deep civilisational history with a contemporary creative edge — reflecting CityU’s signature “arts × technology” ethos. Together with other spaces on campus (e.g. exhibitions at the School of Creative Media, themed displays by various faculties), the gallery forms part of the university’s network of heritage and art presentation. Most exhibits are loaned items or from private collections; dates and objects vary between shows, so official exhibition announcements should be consulted for details.

# 2.5 Significance: CityU’s Cultural Window

• Soft power. Compared with “hard” metrics like patents or rankings, the Banga Gallery is CityU’s window onto its soft culture, showcasing the university’s humanistic and artistic dimensions to the public.
• Public engagement. Admission is free, making the gallery one of CityU’s channels for connecting with the community and fulfilling its cultural responsibilities.
• A tangible footnote to interdisciplinarity. Each cross-cultural, cross-media exhibition is an embodiment of CityU’s interdisciplinary educational philosophy.