Achievements

With the end of Covid-19 restriction in spring 2023, the Library re-launched snack break to support students during final exams. Over 1,000 students joined their fellow peers to enjoy an assortment of snacks and drinks in the LC Refreshment Zone. 

According to HKUST’s Sustainability Office, the Library’s  efforts to save energy, such as installing light sensors to control the lights in the LG3 bookshelf area and in the stairwells off of Lift B have succeeded with a 6% drop in energy use this year. 

This year the Library also helped with sustainability work on campus by re-using transferred furniture and providing more new recycling bins.

The former Information Instruction and Collection Services (IICS) and Research Support Service (RSS) restructured to become the new Research Learning Support. 

Planning for the functional and physical moves started in fall 2022 and was successfully completed in January 2023. The members of the new unit brainstormed the new Missions and Goals and finalized them in fall 2022. 

The Library’s 2020-21 Annual Report on Teaching and Learning had two practices cited as “exemplary”.

1. The Library hired three students to run the Library’s Instagram (IG) account for 6 weeks.

Students worked out the topics with the Library, researched on the materials and posted relevant information to the IG (focused mainly on the Music and Costumes Exhibition and library services and projects). The results included:

• Student helpers got involved with the Library’s activities and shared new knowledge with their friends
• Learning new skills for their personal development.
• Raised the Library’s IG profile, making its activities and resources more relevant to HKUST students as a whole.

2. Library staff utilizes E-Resources Usage Reports to make well-informed renewal decisions (e.g., cancelling seldom used titles).

This replaced manual data collection process of previous years.

• The automation was done by setting up a SUSHI harvesting function in Alma, the integrated Library System.
• All SUSHI-compliant publishers now auto-feed usage reports to Alma, saving substantial staff time and effort. (LIB Report)

Library staff at HKUST (CWB) contributed their expertise and labor extensively to implementing the HKUST (GZ) Library.  They:

• Selected & prepared 50,000 volumes of books to transfer to the GZ Campus
• Created tenders for  RFID technologies for materials circulation and new Library materials (databases, e-journals, as well as physical & e-books)
• Created tenders for the Integrated Library System (ILS) and advised and helped the new GZ Library staff to launch it and use it
• Recruited, on-boarded, and provided training and support for the Library staff  at the GZ campus Library

This year, the Library’s Resource Management section implemented 4 more packages of e-resources to auto-load for users to discover via PowerSearch. This means that library patrons can find e-journals and e-books more quickly.

It also helps the Library’s staff reduce time spent on things a machine can do, leaving them free to enhance the user experience in other ways.

In the face of the continued pandemic, Library instruction continued online. This year attendance grew again It was 14% higher than 2020/21 and 36% higher than 4 years ago.  Part of it can be attributed to the increase in the variety and number of research support workshops for PG education (92 sessions to 3,613 attendees​). Another possible reason is that students may find it sometimes more convenient to attend an online library workshop than to come in.

In April 2022, the Library launched DMPTool@HKUST, a data management plan (DMP) writing platform at HKUST, which uses an open-source platform developed by the University of California Curation Center. Research Support Services in the Library gave two workshops this spring on how to use it and created the DMP Library Guide for self-learning. As of June 2022, over 70 HKUST people have signed up and created over 90 plan.

E-Discovery Week came back in 2022 for the first time since the pandemic, as a completely virtual (online) event.  Held Feb. 14-18, 2022, it reached 613 HKUST students and staff across 16 workshops and the “E-Discovery Challenge”. 

E-Discovery Week 2022 had a number of firsts:

• First time as a completely virtual event
• First time 99% of participants found the workshops useful for their future research and study
• A new slogan, “Learn, Search, Win!” and a promotional video

In October 2021, HKUST Library held a virtual Research Data Management (RDM) Symposium across two weeks (Oct. 4-12, 2021). 467 participants joined in the 4 seminars and 2 workshops.

In this symposium, HKUST researchers examined different aspects of RDM through four seminars, and learnt practical skills in Data Management Plan writing from a workshop by Digital Curation Centre.

The 4 seminars included.

• Research Data Integrity and Academic Publishing
• Research Data and Retraction
• Why Would You Care About Data Management?
• How to Manage Data: Data Stewardship and FAIR Skills

In 2021/22, HKUST Library hosted 5 iTalks and 4 Exhibitions.  These activities were enjoyed by both HKUST students and staff.  They included:

iTalks:

• From Coffee to Technology: Coffeepreneurship / by Mr. Dixon Ip (Sept. 21, 2021)
• 李根興的生意哲學 / by Dr. Edwin Lee (李根興博士) (Oct. 12, 2021)
• 如何提煉職業生涯的跨能技藝 / by 艾雲豪 (Nov. 23, 2021)
• Bee Happy 養蜂‧生態‧保育 / by Mr. Lancelot Shir (佘焯成) (Mar. 7, 2022)
• Learn How to Learn at University / by Professor Rhea Liem (MAE) (Apr. 12, 2022)

Exhibitions

• Between Europe and Asia: Traditional Music and Costumes from Central Asia, Caucasus and the Middle East (Mar. 24 – Oct 10. 2021)
• The Blessings of Auspicious TreasuresOracle Bone Calligraphy Exhibition of Xie Chunling (Nov.3, 2021 – Feb. 10, 2022)
• Big Picture in Tiny Space: From Ancient Qin-Han Seals to Modern Seal Carving (Apr. 28 – Aug. 31, 2022)
• The Power of Diversity – Artistic Visionaries from HKUST (Apr. 19 – Sept. 18, 2022)

In fall 2021, with the return to f2f teaching on campus, students surged in to use the Library as a collaboration, learning, and study space. After almost 18 months, it was great to see students back in the Library and excited to use it. Numbers matched pre-Covid levels. 

With the 4th wave and the return to online-only learning in spring 2022,  the Library remained open (albeit with reduced hours) and kept up all services, even able to offer extended hours during the spring semester final exams in May.

The Library acquired several significant maps in 2021-22, deepening its collection of antique maps.

• 坤輿萬國全圖 = Kunyu Wanguo Quantu [Complete Map of Myriad States] – also known as “The Ricci Map”

• 大明九邊萬國人跡路程全圖​ = Da Ming jiubian wanguo renji lucheng quantu​ [General map of Ming dynasty China and all the surrounding countries] ​

• 南瞻部洲萬國掌菓之圖​ ^*= Nansenbushū bankoku shōka no zu ​[The Handy Map of the Myriad Countries of Jambudvipa]​
• 皇朝一統輿地全圖​  = Huangchao Yitong Yudi Quantu ​ [Complete Map of the Unified Empire]​
• ​大清萬年一統地理全圖​ = Daqing Wannian Yitong Dili Quantu [Complete Map of the Everlasting Unified Qing Empire]​

​* Image of this entry came from this map.

HKUST Library staff at the Clear Water Bay Campus continued to contribute to the planning and building of the new Library at the Guangzhou campus. They:

• Provided extensive advice and in-put on the layout, fittings, and furnishings
• Joined bi-weekly progress meetings with the architects, builders, and GZ Campus Team

To relive students from the stress of heavy assignments and grades, the Library teamed up with the Dean of Students office to bring some relaxation and joy via a therapy dog program. The Library hosted several sessions in fall 2021.

During the mingling sessions, students not only petted and cuddled the therapy dogs, they also learn about them from the handlers and the ways to build good relationships with dogs. At the same time, DSTO staff  & students could casually chat with  and get to know each other more.  Good times were had by all  and the Library hopes to have more sessions in 2022-23.

E-book and E-journal use both had very large increases in 2020,

• E-book use – up 22%
  • 122 chapter downloads per student FTE
•  E-journal usage up 17%
  • 270 article downloads per student FTE

At the same time, the size of HKUST’s e-book collection reached 1 million.

This year the attendance of Library instruction sessions reached a record breaking 10,052 over 296 sessions.

All the sessions were in online mode.

• 57% of the attendees were UGs
• 25% were RPGs
• 16% were TPG
•  2% were staff.

The quality ratings for all sessions were very good with 95% agreeing they were “satisfied” (42% strongly agree, 53% agree).

The Library collaborated with the Finance Office and ISO to integrate library payment data into HKUST’s Finance Management System (FMS).

After a year of preparation and usability testing, 330 active vendor records were reviewed, cleaned up and matched with those of the FMS.

75% of the Library’s payment data (invoices recorded in the library system) can now be exported and uploaded into FMS, saving staff time and supporting a paperless environment.