Welcome Back – Be Safe and Secure
Welcome to all the new students and staff, and welcome back to the returnees! Last year was difficult, but things are improving – in life, and health, and the Library!
Health and Safety – The Library has made a lot of adjustments during the past year to align with safety protocols and social distancing requirements. Among other things, these include:
- Thermal cameras at each entrance
- You must wear a mask at all times.
- Hygiene stations at each entrance
- Increased air flow and ventilation
- Quarterly spraying of all public spaces with Germagic® anti-viral coating
- Increased frequency of cleaning
- Reduced seats as needed for social distancing
- Installed UV-C book sterilizers on G/F, LG3, and LG4
- Modified many Library classes for online instruction
- Engaged campus security staff to remind you of masking and social distancing
Security – We have also improved physical security for you and your property in the Library. Based on strong feedback from user surveys, along with a number of theft incidents, security cameras have been installed in all open public areas of the Library. And theft reports have gone down dramatically.
Self-service lockers have also been installed on LG1, where you can secure your belongings for a while as needed. And they are free to use for the first couple of hours. Be sure to try them out!
Reminders – Please enjoy the new and expanding facilities and services available. The Library is your learning and social space. Just remember:
- Wear your mask at all times (except when drinking or eating in the refreshment zone).
- Be considerate of fellow students.
- Take a break now and then to stretch or to enjoy the campus and sea views.
- If you have questions or suggestions for us, send us a note at library@ust.hk.
Orientation & Beyond!
The Library is excited to welcome you, whether you are a new student or returning. If you’re new: there’s lots to see and do: physically or online.
Orientation for new UGs will run from August 23 – September 10. PG Orientation runs from August 30 – September 18. All sessions will use Zoom. We will help you get started on learning to use the Library’s print and e-resource collections.
Later in the semester, we will offer instruction classes. Mostly in collaboration with your teachers, these will ensure that you can build the knowledge and skills to do your assignments or research and develop a high level of information literacy.
For PG students, we also have a large array of instruction in library research and in other aspects of being a researcher such as data management, making your research impactful, and more. It’s called the Researchers Series, and many of them count for PDC hours. Keep an eye on Research Bridge and Library announcements to sign up.
The Library also hosts interesting programs, like iTalks and exhibitions. These activities can enrich your general knowledge and expand your cultural and artistic horizons and are held throughout the year.
Finally, we welcome you to enjoy the Library and Learning Commons (the 24/7 area of the Library on LG1) as a beautiful space for group collaboration and individual study. 24-hour service will resume soon and the LG1 entrance reopens on September 1.
The amazing sea views, indoor and outdoor spaces, convenient facilities for scanning and printing documents and 3-D objects, desktop computers, technology items for loan, and self-service lockers should make your time at HKUST fruitful and enjoyable. There are even a couple Nap Pods for you to try out for mental refreshing.
Wishing you all a great new school year!
Library iTalks – Entrepreneurship
This fall, we will have a series of iTalks on Entrepreneurship, starting with:
From Coffee to Technology: Coffeepreneurship
The iTalk series will be kicked off by Mr. Dixon Ip, Co-founder and Chief Coffee Officer of sensory ZERO; one of the most successful independent coffee shops in Hong Kong with eight branches to date. A coffee connoisseur and coffee maestro, Dixon is an HKUST MSc graduate in computer science.
Dixon started his first siphon coffee bar, Xen Coffee, in 2008. Since then, he co-founded an education division, COFFEE Lab Asia; a roastery, Sensory Artisan; and a specialty coffee shop, sensory ZERO.
Dixon’s ascent takes him well beyond an average café boss. He is an international representative and judge of the World Coffee Events, he supervises national championships for 5-6 countries a year and judges in many world level competitions including the World Barista, Brewing, Coffee Roasting, Coffee in Good Spirits, and Latte Art. Dixon is also the only Hong Kong CQI Q Grader instructor & examiner, a global coffee taster certificate program from the Coffee Quality Institute.
Dixon will share his experience and insights on his startup journey and how he intriguingly combined art, design, and IT for the coffee industry.
Join us on September 23 from 12:30 – 2pm.
李根興的生意哲學 – The second talk will be held on October 12 from 12:30 – 2pm.
講者李根興博士將和大家分享他多年的營商智慧，包括他的創業歷程、創業故事和商業理論。李博士是盛滙商舖基金管理有限公司創辦人及行 政總裁，持有美國註冊會計師(CPA)、特許金融財 務分析師(CFA)、皇家特許測量師學會(RICS)專 業會員及特許生意轉讓經紀(CBI)等專業資格，於 29歲(2010年)成為國際企業經紀協會(IBBA)內 最年輕及首位亞洲人主席，同年獲得DHL/南華早報 所頒發的香港商業奬:青年企業家，並被國際青年 商會(香港)評為2011年十大傑出青年之一。
李博士一直專注商舖發展，以創造共同價值為 目標。他於2001創立「盛滙商機」，並於2015年 成功將盛滙轉型為全香
港第一間商舖基金投資公司。著作包括《李根 興的生意哲學》、《買 舖，要買得PRO》等。
Collection Spotlight – New Arrivals
The following highlights were recently added to our E-resources:
中國期刊全文數據庫–數學物理力學天地 – The year coverage of this series has been expanded to 2002 to 2009. 中國近代圖書全文資料庫 (1840–1949) – Provides full-text access to over 120,000 Chinese books at the Shanghai Library, published from 1840–1949, some are unique titles not available elsewhere.
端傳媒 (Initium Media) – A Chinese media website of local and global current affairs from 2015.
Emerald Emerging Market Case Studies – A collection of peer reviewed case studies focusing on business decision making throughout key global emerging markets. These teaching cases offer practical application to real scenarios and encourage critical thinking. Teaching notes are available for instructors and faculty members.
ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication – Provides completely updated and modernized instructions from ACS Style Guide. Include new chapters on emerging areas of interests such as Chemistry Preprints, Open Access, Data in the Google Era and much more.
ASTM Compass – The complete set of current ASTM Standards with historical, withdrawn, and redline versions. Features include annotations, version comparison, bookmarks, etc. Also has thousands of ebooks, journals, research and technical reports.
Gale Primary Sources – New digital archives were added to support history research:
- China and the Modern World, Imperial China and the West (1815–1881)
- Chinese Maritime Customs Service Publications (1859–1949)
- Refugees Relief and Resettlement: Forced Migration and World War II
Electronic Resources Usage 2020
It’s exciting to see that usage leapt by 17% for ejournals and 22% for ebooks in 2020. This is a natural extension of the suspension of face-to-face instruction and the switch to online learning. From the start of 2020, the Library stepped up its pace to deliver books in electronic format, especially titles recommended for Course Reserve.
On average, students downloaded 122 chapters in 2020 compared to 97 in the previous year. Ejournal usage fared equally well, with article usage per student increasing from 223 in 2019 to 270 in 2020. The top five online platforms were:
| Ebooks | Ejournals |
|---|---|
| Springer | ScienceDirect |
| ProQuest Ebook Central | Factiva |
| IEEE Xplore. Conferences | American Chemical Society |
| HyRead | Wiley |
| Wiley | Nature branded journals |
Music and Costumes Exhibition Closing Concert
Since opening in March, the exhibition Between Europe and Asia: Traditional Music and Costumes from Central Asia, Caucasus and the Middle East has attracted much attention. Due to its good response, the exhibition was extended to October 10 allowing more time for our new students. We also added new exhibits, including three Iranian instruments specially made for this exhibition and six new costume sets. Six guided tours were also added for online viewing.
A concert titled The Rose and the Nightingale: an evening of Music from Iran will be presented by the Center for the Arts and the Library, as the closing event of this exhibition. It will be held in the evening of October 7 in HKUST Tsang Shiu Tim Art Hall.
There will be a range of music from Iran, from traditional classical music based on the radif system, a deeply spiritual music with strong connections to classical traditions along the Silk Road from Western China to North Africa, as well as lighter popular genres derived from this system.
There will also be music from minority groups in different regions in Iran, testifying to the country’s rich diversity. All of these will be played by a group of local musicians on traditional Iranian instruments (tar, setar, harp, qanun, santur, kamancheh, Turkmen dutar, etc.) as displayed in the exhibition.
Research Data Management (RDM) Symposium, October 2021
Research data is an important asset for researchers as well as for the University. The value of research data can go far beyond the project for which it is created. Well-managed data can optimize its re- usability and research reproducibility; it also helps researchers to demonstrate good research practice and integrity.
Research data management (RDM) calls for researchers’ attention throughout the research project cycle; for example, writing a data management plan (DMP) at the beginning of a project, designing efficient ways to organize working data, considering data security and backup plans, deciding what data can be shared and how to share after the project closes. These are not easy tasks. Good RDM requires new skills, supportive infrastructure, keen awareness, and conducive culture.
To contribute to the discussion of RDM practice among HKUST researchers, the Library is organizing an online symposium to be held in October. It consists of four different seminars and two identical workshops.
In Seminar 1, you can join a conversation about research data integrity and publishing, with Prof. Anirban Mukhopadhyay, our Associate Provost, and Dr. Rebecca Grant, Head of Data & Software Publishing at F1000. Seminar 2 and Seminar 3 are two interesting talks by guest speakers Mr. Ivan Oransky, co-founder of Retraction Watch, and Dr. Florian Markowetz of University of Cambridge. In Seminar 4, you will learn from two active and experienced RDM practitioners: Dr. Marta Teperek, from TU Delft Library, the Netherlands, and Dr. Laurent Gatto, associate professor at the UCLouvain, Belgium. In addition, there will be two hands-on workshops on writing DMP, to be conducted by experienced trainers from Digital Curation Centre.
All HKUST staff and postgraduates are welcome to join the symposium. Find the program, event time, and registration link at https://library.hkust.edu.hk/events/conferences/ rdm-symposium-2021/. For enquiry, contact Research Support Services (lbrs@ust.hk).
Oracle Bones and Calligraphy Exhibition of Xie Chunling
From November to February, the Library will stage a special exhibition featuring oracle bones and the calligraphies of Dr. Xie Chunling in the G/F Gallery.
Oracle bones were first discovered in 1899 in Anyang city, Henan Province. It was later found that oracle bones, mostly using turtle plastrons and ox scapula, were used for divination during the Yin Shang period over 3,000 years ago. Questions by the kings were engraved on the bones and heat was then applied with metal sticks. The heat caused the bones to crack, and the diviners interpreted the patterns of the fractures to determine the answers to the questions posed.
The inscriptions on the oracle bones are now considered the earliest known form of Chinese writing. These surviving writings are essential for our understanding of the origins and development of Chinese script.
In this exhibition, we have the special honor to feature six pieces of oracle bones borrowed from the University Museum and Art Gallery of HKU. This will be the first time for these bones to be shown to the public after a very long period of time.
The exhibition will also feature Dr. Xie Chunling’s oracle bone calligraphies in two themes. The first is related to the meteorological records on the oracle bones, including wind, thunder, rain, snow, rainbows, haze, hail, lunar eclipses, emergence of new stars, etc. The second theme is related to the calendar of the Yin Shang period, including specific terms for each day, calendar month, leap month, etc.
Dr. Xie is a renowned expert in calligraphy of Chinese ancient writings and oracle bone inscriptions. She is a former Senior Lecturer at the Yale-China Chinese Language Centre at CUHK. She has published many academic articles and two monographs and exhibited her calligraphy works in Hong Kong and overseas.
Opening on November 3, this exhibition is a joint effort of the Library and the Media Technology & Publishing Center.
Facilities – New & Improved!
There are lots of new things in the Library for you to try out! Enjoy!
Ultraviolet Book Sterilizers – In addition to the smaller unit at the Circulation Counter, we have installed two heavy-duty UV-C book sterilizers near the water fountains on LG3 and LG4. Try them out and let us know what you think. Do they help? Are they convenient? Should we get more of them?
Lockers – After receiving many requests, we have installed 32 personal property lockers near the washrooms in the Learning Commons on LG1. They are easy to use and controlled by Octopus card. There is no charge for the first two hours, and just $2 per hour after that. For more information see https://library.hkust.edu.hk/services/facilities/lockers/.
New Carrels and Pods and Carpeting – The upgrade of the research carrels throughout LG3 and LG4 was completed. The new units are a combination of 75% carrels and 25% larger semi- immersive ‘pods’. The color scheme for the carrels and carpeting follows the space design, with the mellower blue colors for the LG3 quiet floor, and the more vibrant orange and green feel for LG4.
LG4 Buddy Zone – A green-colored zone of extra-large shared carrels were installed in the south ‘triangle’ of LG4. This area is designated as a “Buddy Zone” where small groups of 2-3 people can occupy these larger carrels for quiet discussion. This is a balance to meet the need for more group space without having more study rooms available.
Nap Pods – The two nap pods installed on LG1 are now available for use! Consider taking a refreshing 20-minute mental break in one of them – first-come-first-served. The “Need-A-Pause” campaign is a collaborative project of the Library and the SEN Support of the Counseling and Wellness Center to raise students’ wellbeing awareness and promote sleep hygiene. Cleaning materials are available for you to wipe down the pod as needed.
last modified 13 May 2022