Achievements

This year, the Library expanded its open access plans with publishers to books with JSTOR Path to Open and SCOAP3.

JSTOR Path to Open is a 3-year pilot which delivers exclusive immediate access to hundreds of quality titles from important university presses as soon as they are published.

• Releasing the first 100 titles in fall 2023, with 300 new titles added each year starting in 2024.
• Three years after publication, all titles will be released openly to readers worldwide.

Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics (SCOAP³) has a new program for books in particle physics and neighboring fields such as accelerator physics and instrumentation. As of date, 90 key textbooks and books are transitioned to open access.

The Library held several talks and workshops and built guides for the HKUST community about AI tools and methods that can transform the research discovery process. Among them:

• “Empowering Research Discovery: Transformative AI Technologies in Scholarly Communication” Special Topics series in November 2023,  speakers shared on:
  • Advances in large language models (LLMs) that transform academic search engines with enhanced reliability and reducing hallucinations.(Talk 1).
  • An Open-source tool using machine learning to streamline screening processes for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. (Talk 2)
  • The potential of GenAI to improve scholarly communication through short summaries and engaging visuals (Talk 3)
• Emerging AI Tools for Literature Review – a popular workshop introducing a wide range of research tools
• Web Scraping 101 module 2 – demonstrates how to use Python code to scrape content with the help of GenAI.

The “China in Maps: 500 Years of Evolving Images” Exhibition (Sept 28, 2023 to June 7th, 2024) was the largest Library exhibition to date, it showcased an array of unique and rare maps and artifacts from our Library’s Special Collections. Apart from the main exhibition in the Library, the library team:

• Designed and created an interactive game that was installed at Shaw Auditorium Room 119.
• Recruited and trained 28 student docents to lead tours
• Organized a scholarly symposium, Mapping East Asia in Context Symposium (6-8 December 2023). Map historians from Hong Kong, China, and overseas shared their research work and four scholars gave 4 public talks.

In 2023-24, we revamped the library blog with more pictures and more frequent posting, renaming it Library Stories.

Envisioned as an informal and lively communication channel, supplementing the Library Newsletter, it has lots of pictures and shares on things from recommending reads to interesting information about library operations (like, typhoon prep, or why the Library still buys print books). During the semester we aim to post about once a week, and sometimes more.

As part of the Digital Humanities Initiative, the library helped jump start the DH component on Zheng He’s Voyages to the Western Sea. It also used the Library’s collection to create an interactive website on Sha Fei’s photographs.

Working with Prof. JIN Huan (HUMA), who had been awarded a DH seed grant. the library assisted in the digital components of the Zheng He’s Voyages to the Western Sea. The design of the seed grant was to jumpstart the DH component in the research project to enable the professor to submit  an RGC grant proposal in the subsequent year.

Library staff also created an interactive DH website of Sha Fei’s wartime photos, from part of the collection. Users can now explore the collection and appreciate the historical context of the collection across space and time.

In March 2024, the opening of the LG5 library space (272 m²), provided over 100 additional seats and 3 study rooms.

The space is very distinctive, with bold radial arms from a central pillar/hub. A variety of colorful sound absorbing panels have been incorporated in the ceiling design to try controlling acoustic noise whether used for classes, events, or study.

In addition to the space, the new entrance to the Library on LG5 also strongly appealed to undergraduates, who made up 84% of the people entering in spring 2024.

2,825 HKUST students, faculty, and staff (library staff excluded) completed the Survey,  an ~13% response rate!  The Library then  awarded 75 prizes by lucky draw from those who completed the survey.

The LibQual feedback showed positive feedback and words of appreciation, as well as suggestions and constructive remarks, especially about space, seating, and noise issues.   In response,  The Library developed a Response and Action Plan plans to follow up on six key areas.

Library staff  will continue to work to address the “pain points”  of space and noise across 5 floors of the Library: striving to create good spaces that serve varying needs for group collaboration and deep solo concentration.

The Library’s Resource Management (RM) and Systems and Digital Services (SDS) collaborated to experiment with using GenAI to help in cataloging, classifying, and curating library acquisitions. The experiments included using GenAI to:

• Assign subject headings and classification numbers to recently acquired material (HKUST Theses)
• Identify non-English and non-Chinese​ open access titles to exclude from PowerSearch

Overall, the results were promising, although still requiring human oversight.  We expect such tools will help the library to improve the efficiency of its information control.

The Library installed 9 study pods (研習亭) on LG1 for students’ use in Fall 2023. These have proved to be very popular, especially the single-person ones. Previously the library lacked single-person quiet enclosed spaces for booking.

Later in fall 2023, we asked HKUST people to give ideas for the Chinese name (translation) for the study pods. From 128 responses, Library staff selected “研習亭”.  Read the fun tale of the Chinese name selection in Library Stories.

2022-23 saw a change of leadership with Dr. Gabi Wong taking the helm as Library Director in October 2022. Over the course of several months, with group brainstorming and discussions, the Library updated its mission and vision for the first time in over 10 years, and created a new set of strategic priorities in line with HKUST’s Strategic Plan 2021-28.  

https://library.hkust.edu.hk/about-us/mission/ 

In 2022, the Library commissioned MTPC to design an official logo.  Approved by the University in July 2022,  it was officially launched in in the fall term.  

The logo features the distinctive window wall of the HKUST Library, as viewed from both inside and outside, embodying the Library’s role as a gateway or window to the world: with the light of knowledge and insight pouring in and shining out. 

The base, “LiB”, shows a solid foundation upon which wisdom and creativity are built. The center red spot references the Sundial on the piazza and the spirit of HKUST. The rich-color design also reflects the Library’s core values for diversity and excellence. 

In February 2023, the Library  launched the Digital Humanities Initiative website in partnership with the Division of the Humanities (https://digitalhumanities.hkust.edu.hk/), showcasing ongoing work on digital humanities projects and workshops. Its aim is to promote interdisciplinary research and exploration by combining traditional humanities methods with digital tools and technologies.   

Since then, the DH Initiative has hosted several talks and open workshops, while the Digital Humanities Specialist, Dr. GUO Qiuzi, taught two courses in spring 2023, one for undergraduates and the other for postgraduates. The website also hosts resources and tools for the digital humanities. 

On January 17th, 2023, the library Systems team implemented Single Sign-on (SSO) for the Library’s EZProxy service.

This has made accessing library journals, databases, ebooks, and other resources easier for patrons, by matching their usual login procedure. Even more convenient, if they are already logged into an HKUST services like email, they don’t need to sign-in again when accessing a library e-resource from off campus.

Every year, the Library shares usage statistics for its e-books, e-journals, and databases. We also regularly use the data on a title-by-title basis when making renewal decisions.  But how do we generate the data?  For over 20 years, library staff have worked with COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resource) compliant vendors to measure e-Resources use in a consistent, credible and comparable way  (count apples-to-apples; not apples-to-oranges). 

Ensuring that the different systems “talk” to each other and the harvest the data is no small task. It is counted on the calendar year, and the 2022 data is now available.  Science Direct (Elsevier) continues to be the top used e-resource at HKUST, followed by Wiley and Springer-Nature. 

2022-23 was the first year that the Year One students experienced information literacy classes embedded in their English language coursework.  

CORE 1404 – Advanced Academic English for University Studies is a new course, targeting those students whose English proficiency from high school previously exempted them from Year One English classes.   The Library’s collaboration with CLE teachers means that these students too  now have been given a strong base in skills and knowledge to start researching using the Library’s subscribed resources.

CORE 1403 –  Academic English for University Studies  became an asynchronous module this year.

• The majority of Year One students study CORE 1403, which has been a Library-Language Center Collaboration for over ten years.
•  1887 students  joined this piloted asynchronous online workshop that had text and videos and two quizzes.

Example of feedback from on how the module may change their work habits: “I will try to search on more accurate and reliable search machines, such as Powersearch and EBSCOhost. Also, I will examine the sources’ and authors’ reliability and credibility to use it in my research or any production.” 

In September 2022, we celebrated the launch of a book by the head of our Special Collections, Dr. Marco Caboara (four years in the making!).  Called Regnum Chinae: The Printed Western Maps of China to 1735, the book reproduces and describes, for the first time, all the maps of China printed in Europe between 1584 and 1735.    

At the same time, Library staff also created and launched its companion website, Mappa Sinica  https://mappasinica.hkust.edu.hk/ms/  which shows how the different map-making traditions of Europe and China changed and influenced each other by telling the stories of maps and map makers. 

This year the Library did lots of collection grooming & moving with several projects. Some were large and will carry a big impact, such as shifting all new books in every academic area on the approval plan to e-preferred. This means that the number of print books the Library adds continues to shrink, while the e-books grow, so available shelf space will last longer (or can even be reduced). 

Others were small but timely, such as removing over 1,000 volumes and floppy discs of outdated computer books from the collection.  

At the same time, the Library moved some of its collections to make more space for other purposes. The biggest effort in this area was moving the microform collection to LG4, to make way for a new study pod area on LG1, optimizing this high-use space for solo and small group use. 

The Library launched new self-service “Tech Item Kiosk” in Spring 2023. The Kiosk provided headphones, adapters, charging cables, HDMI cables, and more for loan. It allowed users to borrow and return them at any time when Learning Commons opened. The usage statistics of Spring 2023 had 80% increase, comparing with the previous figures. We expect more users will enjoy it in the coming year.