Achievements

Alma and Primo, the two parts of the Shared Integrated Library System went live on July 17, 2017.

The new system manages the print and electronic collections of eight JULAC libraries with 18 million bibliographic records serves 380,000+ users.

• Recognized as of highest quality among JULAC, HKUST’s Library’s cataloging records were first loaded into the new shared system.
• Our staff led 3 out of 7 functional working groups.
• We hosted all 3 JULAC project staff in our Library

For a third year in a row, e-resource use has increased.

• E-journal use showed a sharp increase of 32% (236 article downloads per FTE)
• E-book use climbed 2% in 2016 (77 chapter downloads per FTE)

Overall, HKUST Library patrons used more than 3 million articles and almost 1 million e-chapters.

The Course Enhancement Funds (CEFs), each of $15,000, are an important component of the JULAC IL Project (2015-18).

In 2016-17, instruction librarians, collaborated with faculty across all four schools, to plan and implement four CEFs. Librarians and faculty members worked to develop students’ information literacy skills by collaborating in creating assignments, instruction, and assessing student work.

The CEFs also included a demonstration and celebration of student learning and achievement via mini-conference and awards.

• CHEM 4689 – Chemistry Capstone Research I
• CENG 4970 – Introduction to Research in Chemical and Bimolecular Engineering
• MGMT 2110 – Organizational Behavior
• HUMA 3250 – Independent Cinema in Contemporary China

The use of the Scholarly Publications Database (SPD), which showcases the research output of the University, registered a 30% increase with 1.78 million page views recorded in 2016-17.

SPD has become the core database for various systems and projects in the campus, including the newly revamped Research Output System (ROS), Faculty Analytics and Statistical Tool (FAST), initiatives, and the upcoming Faculty Profile publication. A range of systems work was conducted to support these projects.

• Large-scale data schema revision and content management system enhancement
• Development of automation tools for data cleansing
• ORCID ID batch creation
• System work to support Research Office’s RGC/UGC annual submission
• Enhancing SPD APIs to feed data to third party systems; integrating SIS (student) and HRMS (staff) data feeds to SPD
• Design of the new ROS interface and input templates

Access Services provided roving training to more staff and students in January 2017. Altogether 22 colleagues participated in roving services in spring 2017 with addition to 4 student rovers offering services during weekends. 7,175 transactions were yielded to offer proactive and timely assistance to users during 193 roving days.

Questions asked and answered by Rovers now make up the majority (57%) and increased overall questions asked and answered across the Library from 8,538 in 2015-16 to 12,648 in 2016-17.

By continuous promotion to researchers, we have reached 100% of faculty having an ORCID iD registered by January 2017. In addition, 2,077 students have also registered through the Library’s registration system.

Two digital collections were developed and added to the Rare & Special e-Zone.

• Paul Lin and Soong Ching-ling Correspondnce – which includes over 70 letters and greeting cards exchanged between Soong Ching-ling and Paul Lin from 1950 to 1980
• Sha Fei Photographic Collection – 82 photo images of wartime China captured by Sha Fei from the late 1930s to 1940s

The Library assigned DOIs to these digital objects so that they all have a permanent identifier that facilitates visibility and accessibility

The Library’s E-Discovery Week was organized to encourage users to learn about quality subscribed library e-resources and inspired them to use authoritative e-resources for research and generated positive feedback.

Over 150 staff and students took part in the twelve E-Resources Training Workshops. The E-Discovery Challenge on February 22nd and 23rd attracted over 600 participants to take the quizzes and visit our exhibition booths

• 100% respondents agreed that they learn more library e-resources via this event.
• 78% agreed they would use more library e-resources for research and study.
• 72% of them agreed that the resources learned in this event were useful for their research and study.

To nurture students’ artistic awareness and appreciation of art and culture, the Library hosted 6 exhibitions in 2016-17. Over 365 participants joined the guided tours and talks organised for these Exhibitions. The exhibitions were highly valued by the University community. Some of them also supported the academic curricula of University courses. These exhibitions were:

• From Canton Trade to Colonial Hong Kong: The Pearl River Delta before and after the Opium War (June to Nov 2017)
• Where Time Turns Black: A Photo Exhibition by Agnes Ku (May – July 2017)
• Chinese Wartime Science through the Lens of Joseph Needham (March – May 2017)
• Sha Fei: A Humanist Photographer at War (1912-1950) (March – May 2017)
• Re-creating Masterpieces: A Closer Look at Song, Yuan & Ming Paintings (Feb – June 2017)
• Tartary from Marco Polo to the Enlightenment Maps of Eastern Central Asia from the 16th to 18th Century (May – Dec 2016)

More than 560 book lovers joined the six book talks. Over 90.1% (155/172) survey respondents said they “strongly enjoyed” or “enjoyed” the events. The book talks were:

• The Making of an Economic Superpower: Unlocking China’s Secret of Rapid Industrialization by Dr Yi WEN (May 4, 2017 )
• 迷宫：敘述蛇道上的夢幻與現實 by Prof. Lianke YAN (March 29, 2017)
• 誰把爛泥扶上壁 – 你所不知的香港建築故事 by Prof. Raymond Fun (March 7, 2017)
• – 想走 · 就走 by Mr. Sam Kwok (Feb 17, 2017)
• The Meaning of Wealth: A Scholar’s Pursuit in 3 Books by Prof. Billy So (Oct 6, 2016)
• 1849 日出日落: 企業家眼中的中國、香港與英國 by 甄子明; (Sept 22, 2016)

The Library again received positive feedback from CTLQ on its 2015-16 Annual Report on Teaching and Learning.

“The Committee was pleased with the overall quality of the Annual Reports and congratulated the Report authors for their conscientious efforts, particularly in identifying areas of concern or areas for improvement through self-reflection and stakeholder feedback, with thorough discussions. In particular… [the] Library [and other units] had substantiated their discussions with appropriate Action Plans (indicating breakdown tasks, timelines and responsibilities).”

The Library was also commendable in its quality assurance mechanisms and processes, major initiatives, external inputs, and benchmarking data. Several good practices were also noted

The new Library website was rolled out in August 2016, with massive content migration completed in that summer. It replaced our 20 years old in-house developed library website system with a completely new look and design. The website was so well developed, it was granted the Best in Class Award in the 2017 Interactive Media Awards competition, indicating that the project had met and surpassed the standards of excellence, and the website had met strict guidelines in all areas – an achievement that only a small fraction of sites in the competition could obtain.