Information on Library Building Projects
As we discussed in the last issue, an extension on the North side of the Library building has been scheduled.
Three of the Library’s five floors will be extended (LG1, LG3 and LG4), along with the two floors below the Library.
The estimated project timeline is as follows:
Construction
April ~ August 2008
Fall 2008
2008 ~ 2010
May 2010
Demolition / Joining
January ~ March 2010
Remodeling
2010 ~ 2011
Planned construction of 24-hr Open Study Zone
The Library Website now has an introductory page for these projects at http://library.hkust.edu.hk/info/building-projects.html, and we have also created a Building Projects category for the Library Blog (http://library.hkust.edu.hk/blog/category/building/). Please take a look at the information available there. The Blog postings allow you to add your feedback to various project elements.
Over the coming months, additional details will emerge, and we will inform the campus through these channels – you may wish to ‘subscribe’ to the Blog’s RSS feed to ensure you are aware of any new or changed information.
Wireless Network Support
In the past year, ITSC has enhanced the wireless networks in the Library tremendously. This has included capacity and coverage increases throughout the Library, along with the addition of networks for Alumni and other library users.
From our perspective, the most important point is that every public area of the Library is fully covered by the wireless network – including all group and faculty study rooms. If you find any public area in the Library which does not have coverage, or where the network does not seem to be working well, please report it to the Library’s Information Commons (IC) HelpDesk on the Ground Floor or send email to lbsystem@ust.hk.
Recently there have been several reports of wireless access problems in the Library. Information Commons staff performed extensive testing and analysis and found that almost all problems were from using the MobileNet wireless network instead of the secure sMobileNet wireless network. Secure sMobileNet coverage and reliability is significantly greater than that for the older, insecure MobileNet – which is currently being phased out by ITSC, and will disappear completely after this semester.
The Library encourages you to reconfigure your laptop to use the sMobileNet service instead of MobileNet. If you would like assistance in this, please visit the IC HelpDesk where staff will do their best to help with this change. You may have missed the wireless configuration workshops help in the IC last month, but you can still bring in your laptop for reconfiguration.
So remember – change your settings to use sMobileNet instead of MobileNet and enjoy full wifi service throughout the Library!
ILT Celebrates its 8th Anniversary
The Library Information Literacy Tutorial has reached its eighth year. It was initially launched in September 2000 to complement the face-to-face library orientation workshops for first year undergraduates. It introduces to students the core skills in information research via a series of interactive exercises, flash file demos and quizzes. Each summer, we look at its content carefully to ensure all details are fresh and current. A major change this Fall is that access to ILT has now been extended to everyone; staff and students of UST, and just about anyone with Web access. Logins are no longer required. Do explore this essential tool if you have missed our orientation classes or when all you need is a self-paced refresher course.
You can enter ILT via the Library Home page -> Subject Guides -> General Reference or directly at http://library.hkust.edu.hk/serv/skills/infoliteracy.html.
HKALL Now Supports Article Requests
HKALL has become very popular since its launch in 2005. This service is being used heavily by students and staff to locate and request books held by other university libraries in Hong Kong.
To further enhance its functionality, a Request Article button
was added to the HKALL system in August, providing a way for users to check the availability of a needed article or request it from another library through interlibrary loan (ILL).
The Request Article button is located near the top of the screen at the record level.
It takes a few steps to make your article request through HKALL:
- Click the Request Article button
- Select HKUST Library as your home library
- Fill in the Citation input form (Journal title and ISSN are automatically imported into the form)
- Click Search to activate the HKUST Library OpenURL Resolver – WebBridge
The Library WebBridge will provide a link to the electronic version of the article if we subscribe to it. Otherwise you can search the Library catalog to check our holdings or send us an ILL request.
Since HKALL is a catalog rather than an article database, you will have to input the article information manually. Though not fully automatic, the new feature is an attempt to integrate an “article finder” into a traditional library catalog, enhancing its searching capability down to the journal article level.
Search the Catalog with SmartCAT!
SmartCAT is the newly named alternative search interface to the HKUST Library Catalog. It was developed by the HKUST Library, based on an open-source software called Scriblio. It features Web 2.0 technology, such as faceted searching, interactive tag clouds, user comments and RSS feeds.
This may well be the face of our “Next Generation” Library Catalog. Please take a look and let us know what you think of this new interface. Feedback and questions can be sent to Library Reference at lbref@ust.hk.
Readers Alert Service
Students have been receiving the Readers Alert since the Fall semester via their ITSC email account. What goes on behind this bi-weekly email service?
A group of versatile librarians take turns to be the editor of the month and decide on the content of each issue. Typically, an issue consists of three sections:
- two periodical articles on any topic under the sun, with full-text linking to online magazines or newspapers;
- one featured book or media item which can either be a new arrival or classic title; and
- a rotating column which boosts your knowledge and curiosity in the world around you. Some popular columns are Museum Corner, Engineering Milestones and This Week in History.
Readers Alert evolved from its predecessor SciTech Alert which, as the name suggests, only specialized in science and engineering subjects. The transition to Readers Alert is a deliberate move to deliver a truly multi-disciplinary reading service.
Staff and faculty members are welcome to sign up for the list as well. Visit http://library.hkust.edu.hk/serv/readersalert.html for details. You can also find all the past issues from there.
Library Orientation for New Faculty
Subject librarians contact new faculty members soon after they arrive on campus and provide them with an individual library orientation. This Summer, the Library joined with CELT, ITSC and PTC to run a faculty orientation program. This new program (http://publish.ust.hk/faco/schedule.pdf) started with a “Welcome and Overview” session on 27th August, followed by a day-and-a-half of specific sessions conducted by the four Academic Support Units.
18 new faculty members attended the 3-hour “Welcome and Overview” session at the Exposition Hall. It included a welcome by Dr. David Mole, plus and “Overview of Teaching and Research Support by the Four Units”, “Sharing of Teaching Skills and Experience by two HKUST Professors” and “Sharing of Expectations of Faculty by Student Representatives”.
Some of the 18 new faculty members had already attended our individual library orientation before the program. 6 others joined the Library specific session, which was conducted in the morning of 29 August. Subject librarians grouped the 6 faculty members by school or department and introduced them to our major services and resources that support their teaching and research, such as Course Reserve, Interlibrary Loan, course specific library classes, and electronic journals and databases.
The whole program was very well received by the participants. Those who attended the Library session rated it as very good or good and gave positive comments such as “The librarian who helped me was very nice and knowledge. The individual attention was certainly appreciated.”
If you missed the program feel free to contact the Library at lbref@ust.hk to arrange a personal session. Or just drop by the Reference Counter. And welcome to HKUST!
Book Talk with Prof. Francis Lui
Prof. Francis Lui (雷鼎鳴), of the Department of Economics and the Director of HKUST’s Center for Economic Development 
(http://www.bm.ust.hk/~ced/), will be giving a talk on his book “替香港經濟把脈” (http://ustlib.ust.hk/record=b836030).
In addition to discussing different economic viewpoints, Prof. Lui will also share some of his reading and writing experiences with the audience. This discussion should be of great interest to students, staff and faculty of HKUST.
Date: Wednesday, 12 November
Time: 6pm-7pm
Place: Library Classroom
This talk will be the second in a series of occasional Book Talks given at HKUST Library. Details of Library Booktalks can be found at http://library.hkust.edu.hk/info/booktalk/lui-2008.html
WEB: Library Site Updates
The Library continuously reviews and improves the Library Website (http://library.hkust.edu.hk/) to make it easier for you to find and access information resources. Since the release of its new look in September last year, we have added several features to the different parts of the Website, including the following:
- To find an appropriate database to search, you may now browse and select a subject category athttp://library.hkust.edu.hk/info/databases/categories-a-z.html
- You can also browse by Course Code to find the instructional notes which are prepared by our librarians for course specific classes – http://library.hkust.edu.hk/res/course-guides-codes.html
- The ability to search over 180 guides prepared by our librarians has been added. These guides include those for using library subscribed databases and the Library Catalog, course-specific guides and subject guides.
- We have also revamped the guide to using the Library Catalog by adding more screen captures and other graphics – http://library.hkust.edu.hk/guides/opac/
- The Internet Resources section has adopted a new look which enables the list of sub-categories and related categories to better stand out. For example: http://library.hkust.edu.hk/res/beyond/Business_ and_Management/
- The features column is now used to highlight not only the new electronic resources, but also those that are regarded as important and major. The featured items are changed or rotated on a weekly basis.
- The Library Blog has been expanded and linked in; and we have activated the ability for you to leave comments on it (http://library.hkust.edu.hk/blog/).
How Much Can We Copy From a Book or Journal?
The Copyright Amendment (2007) allows “fair dealing” in copying for private study, research, and instruction at non-profit schools and universities. One of the important principles is that be of “reasonable extent”. A general rule of thumb would be less than 10% of an entire book, or a chapter of a book (if it is less than 10%) or a single article from a journal issue.
It is very important that the copying “Should not conflict with a normal exploitation of a work by the copyright owner nor unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the copyright owner”. More details are available from the HKUST Library Statement on Copyright (http://library.hkust.edu.hk/serv/copyright.html) and the Library’s subject guide on copyright (http://library.hkust.edu.hk/guides/copyright.html#teaching).
Course instructors who want to make multiple photocopies for class distribution can contact HKUST’s Publishing Technology Centre to produce a course pack.
last modified 03 November 2008