Issue No. 87
February 2013

「美麗中國絢彩西部」攝影展
Photo Exhibition in March

Following the very successful ceramic exhibition last fall, we are pleased to announce the opening of a photo exhibition in the Library Gallery in March.

The exhibition will feature over 60 stunning photographs by Mr Jin Shouxian (晉守賢), who for the second time will exhibit his works in our Library. Mr Jin’s photos will unfold to you not only the beautiful scenery of West China, but also its people who are full of life and spirit.

Mr Jin is currently Advisor of Chongqing Photographers Association and Manager and Art Director of Chongqing Xinghai Photography Club, among his other posts. Since publishing in 1978, Mr Jin’s works have received close to 200 gold, silver and bronze medals in exhibitions and contests in China and abroad. More than 1,800 of his works have appeared in newspapers, magazines, and books. He exhibits widely in the United States, Europe, Australia, and many other countries. Guided gallery tours and workshops are being planned in conjunction with the exhibition. Stay tuned – watch for our announcements!

Learning Commons Named after Chevalier Group

On 2 November 2012, the Learning Commons was officially named “Chevalier Learning Commons (其士綜合研習坊)” to recognize a generous donation from Dr Chow Yei Ching (周亦卿), GBS, Chairman of Chevalier International Holdings Limited.

In appreciation of the $20 million donation from Dr Chow to support HKUST’s development, the University held a naming ceremony at the Learning Commons on 2 November. Dr Chow Yei Ching, Mr Oscar Chow, HKUST Court and Council member and Executive Director of Chevalier, and Mr Ivan Tam, Deputy Managing Director of Chevalier, were among the invited guests. Prof Tony Chan, University President, Prof Wei Shyy, Provost, Dr Eden Woon, Vice-President, and Ms Diana Chan, University Librarian, represented the University to welcome our guests.

At the ceremony, President Chan, Dr Chow, and Ms Chan each shared their thoughts on the donation and the naming of the Chevalier Learning Commons with the guests. To express our gratitude, the University presented two special gifts to Dr Chow: a copy of the book Flight In Sight authored by Prof Shyy, and an aerial photo of HKUST’s beautiful campus. The highlight was the ribbon-cutting, which concluded the naming ceremony.

Library staff gave guests a tour of the Learning Commons to let them see and feel this state-of-the- art facility after the ceremony. The guests were amazed with the concept and design of the Learning Commons: a dynamic, flexible, interactive, and technology-rich space for innovative thinking and quality teaching and learning. They firmly believed that the Learning Commons would foster a good knowledge exchange among students, which then benefits our society in the end.

More photos of the ceremony can be seen at http://library.hkust.edu.hk/info/lc/namingceremony.html

Book Talks – Coming This Spring

The spring semester is upon us, and the Library is planning to host 3 new Book Talks – get ready to mark your calendars!

February 16, 6-7pm, Library Gallery – Dr MA Jianxiong (馬健雄), Assistant professor in HUMA will speak on his newly released book, The Lahu minority in Southwest China: a response to ethnic marginalization on the frontier (Routledge, 2013). He will share the fruits of years of field research in Yunnan, where the borders of China, Burma, and Laos meet. Illustrated with his photos, Dr Ma will discuss the problems the Lahu face as their traditional way of life changes, and in their interaction with the government of China and its ethnic minority policies.

March 19, 6-7pm, the Library’s LG4 Multifunction Room – Dr ZHU Lijing (朱力徑) of SAO will share his non-work-related intellectual interests in a talk called Reading about another ancient culture: A Chinese interest in the history of Jewish People. Dr Zhu will talk about what sparked his interest in this topic, interesting books that he read, and share his thoughts. We hope this talk will encourage students to cultivate an interest outside their studies that will enrich their lives in life-long learning.

Library Staff Value Training

Under the new University Librarian’s leadership, we have revisited our mission and strategic goals. One of those reaffirmed is to equip staff with appropriate expertise and skills to deliver services, encourage staff development, and promote team effectiveness. Continuous training and development of staff is vital to the provision of quality library services to meet the changing needs of our users.

As part of efforts to achieve this goal, the Library invited Dr Sam Chu, Associate Professor, Program Director of MSc [Library & Info Management], and Deputy Director of the Centre for Information Technology in Education of HKU, to conduct four seminars for Library staff on 11 December 2012.

The morning sessions centered on using social media tools and social networking sites to interact with users. Over 70 Library staff packed the two E-learning Classrooms to learn how to use various kinds of tools and sites to connect with users.

Afternoon sessions were on outcome-based learning and research students’ development in information search expertise. Colleagues from LANG, MATH, and ISOM also joined to learn more on these two timely topics.

The seminars were a great success. Library staff were glad to have the opportunity to learn from an academic who was also a librarian.

Recordings of the seminars are now available on the UST Video Channel for University staff access.

Streaming Media Access

The Library’s streaming media collection contains over 2,500 audio and video files. The collection includes about 2,100 local programs produced by Asia Television Limited (ATV), Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), and Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB). It also has about 500 recordings of HKUST events, produced by the Publishing Technology Center (PTC) – including the Institute for Advanced Study Lectures, HKUST Distinguished Public Lectures, Shaw Prize Lectures and HKUST Library Book Talks.

In 2012, streaming videos were viewed more than 13,400 times, delivering about 2,100 hours of programming to users. This usage rate has increased by more than 50% compared to 2011.

With the increasing ubiquity and power of mobile technologies, the Library recently migrated the streaming media collection to a server running Wowza Media Systems. The new server offers higher performance streaming, and greatly improves accessibility by tablets and smartphones.

All videos can be searched and accessed through the Library Catalog or the Library Streaming Audios/Videos browse page (http://catalog.ust.hk/stream). The Library will continue to add more valuable programs to this collection.

Collection Highlights

NetLanguages (IELTS exam preparation courses)

The Library’s IELTS exam preparation materials are always in high demand. From now on, students planning to take IELTS exams can practice online via NetLanguages. Three interactive courses are now available: i) IELTS Preparation Course, ii) Speaking Test Preparation and iii) Writing Test Preparation.

中國年鑒全文數據庫 (China Yearbook Fulltext Database)

China yearbooks and statistical yearbooks are excellent sources of China research. The Library has been acquiring a good number of print yearbooks at state and provincial levels. To facilitate research and save shelf space, 105 print yearbook titles have been migrated to the China Yearbook Fulltext Database. The complete run of each title is available online.

中國反右運動數據庫 (Chinese Anti-Rightist Campaign)

This database is a perfect complement to 中國文化大革命文庫 (Chinese Cultural Revolution Database) . Historical events include the Land Reform, the Ideological Reform Campaign, Agricultural Collectivization, the Great Leap Forward, the Great Famine, and the Four Clean-ups Campaign.

Access from the Databases tab on the Library website:

NetLanguages – http://library.hkust.edu.hk/cgi/db/netlang.pl
China Yearbook Fulltext Database 中國年鑒全文數據庫 – http://library.hkust.edu.hk/cgi/db/cyfd.pl
Chinese Anti-Rightist Campaign Database 中國反右運動數據 – http://library.hkust.edu.hk/cgi/db/misc.pl?ccrd

Check-Out Function of EBSCOhost eBooks

Over 42,000 e-book titles available through the EBSCO eBook Collection (http://library.hkust.edu.hk/cgi/db/ebsco.pl?netlib) can now be checked out or downloaded onto your devices for offline reading. The option “Download (Offline)” appears within each e-book record. Before downloading, ensure you have created a personal My EBSCOhost account, and download and install the free Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) software on your computer to read offline (http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/)

ADE is also required to manage the e-book checkout process. Follow the instructions during installation of ADE to get an Adobe ID and authorize your computer. Otherwise, you will not be able to transfer downloaded e-books to your mobile devices.

All HKUST students and staff can check out up to 20 EBSCOhost e-books for 1 day. Title already checked out can be requested. Details of the eBooks on EBSCOhost can be found on the Library research guide at http://libguides.ust.hk/ebook

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LANG 1001/1002 Classes

Thousands of students attend & log-in to Library component of First Year Language classes.

The double-cohort had a big impact on Library teaching this past semester. Librarians taught thousands of students in collaboration with the Language Center to help students learn how to find and evaluate sources for a required project. From September 17th to October 5th 2012, we held 21 sessions of a 90 minute face-to-face workshop for LANG 1001 (3Y first year students) and 51 sessions for LANG 1002 (4Y first year students), instructing 2,484 students. More sessions for LANG 1001 students will be held this spring. Teaching librarians collected over 800 workshop evaluation forms, which showed the face-to-face sessions were well received.

94.7% said the amount covered was “just right”
88.4% said amount of hands-on practice was “just right”
75.3% said class length was “just right”

In addition to the face-to-face workshops, library staff created two e-learning objects on making citations and embedded them into the LANG 1001/1002 Library Guide. This guide was also linked from the respective LMES sites for those LANG courses. By the end of November, these objects has been accessed over 1,700 times each: What is a citation (1,730) & How to cite APA style (1,779)

Librarians also created an online quiz with automatic feedback for the students, to help solidify concepts and measure student learning. The quizzes were embedded directly in the LMES pages for the courses. 2,252 first year students took the online quiz with an average score of 91%. They also provided feedback on the e-learning objects.

1,523 students (67.6%) rated the online tools as “above average” or “excellent”. Many of the written comments on the E-Learning objects and quiz were also positive, including one who said:

“The interactive exercises are adorably helpful cause it includes animations and games which stimulate me to be concentrated. The games in the end of each exercises helped me recall all I have learned and so I can have better understand, I don’t need to pay a lot endeavor in memorizing it also.”

Library staff members are encouraged by the feedback from both the face-to-face teaching and the E-Learning components. We look forward to broadening and deepening the Library’s efforts at collaboration with other academic support units and academic departments via both E-Learning and face-to-face sessions, in order to enhance students’ skills in finding, evaluating, and using information properly.

334 – Impacts and Actions

The preliminary ‘after-action report’ for the impact of 3-3-4 on the Library is quite positive. Through careful planning, massive increases in usage, programming, and occupancy were handled smoothly and with less disruption than was feared.

Greatly Increased Usage

Library occupancy started the year 43% higher than in the fall of 2011. While somewhat higher than expected, such an increase was planned for in expanded capacity and in dramatically expanding the hours of the Learning Commons in October.

Increases were notable throughout the building, from the Information Commons to bookings of group study rooms, which maintained a similar booking percentage as the previous year, despite a doubling of the number of bookable rooms from 25 to 51!

Computer usage was also very high in both Commons, and throughout the building. Library Systems staff increased the number of computers available, and plan to add more in coming months.

Increased crowding also brings stress. To help users cope, the Library partnered with SAO to provide 4 evening snack breaks during exams. 200 lbs. of bananas, over 600 apples and mandarins, and almost as many non-sugary box drinks were provided – in addition to 48 lbs. of cookies and a dozen liters of soda. This was particularly popular, and the Library will continue these efforts in the coming term.

24/7 @ Learning Commons

The Learning Commons expanded hours on 1 October to meet student demand – before that, up to 347 students were still in the Commons when it closed at the same time as the Library. For two months, the Learning Commons was open 22 hours per day during the week. This was very successful, but occupancy at 5am was still as high as 87!

With these numbers, we reallocated some staff and resources to expand hours again to a full 24/7 operation from 3 December through the end of term. Data during this period also showed high use from 6-8am, from overnight studiers and early risers.

Given this data, the Library will shift back to full 24/7 operation in the spring term from March-May.

We also stayed open on public holidays when the Library closed, and results certainly showed a need – over 300 stayed throughout the day of the Chung Yeung Festival.

In addition, thousands of hours of room bookings were made for departments and support units – over 600 hours for temporary classrooms for ARRO, and others from campus interviews and career advising, through SBM and CSE tutorials and Math support, to Videoconferencing programs and Presidential teas.

May the new term bring us the satisfaction of even more such activities – and we can all look forward to the next snack breaks!

Donation for Digitization Efforts and a Gallery Space

After much effort by the Development & Alumni Office and the Library, the University recently succeeded in soliciting a donation of $3 million from Dr Ko Pui-shuen, Chairman of Kingrich Asia Holdings Limited. A cheque presentation ceremony was held on 18th December.

The donation is given to the Library to support two projects. The first is to create a gallery dedicated to exhibitions of the Library’s special collections and University archival materials. This is the place where the Library will highlight antique maps of China, classical science and technology-related rare books, and university historical documents.

This gallery will also provide reading and research space for students, faculty and researchers. In most libraries, the special collections room is always locked. We hope this gallery can bring our students and faculty closer to the special collections and university archives and raise the visibility of these materials.

The second project concerns the digitization of special collections and university archives, which will provide convenient access to these invaluable materials. In the coming 3 years, most maps and rare books of special collections and selective Chinese thread-bound books and university publications will be scanned in high resolution images.

To honor Dr Ko’s generosity, the Library is naming its Archives and Special Collections Reading Room as the Hong Kong Chiu Chow Chamber of Commerce Ko Pui Shuen Gallery (香港潮州商會高佩璇展閱廳).