Achievements

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.

The Research Carrels Replacement Exercise finished. On LG3, the new carrels were ready by spring 2021 and the ones on LG4 a few months later. These 400+ new study carrels with modern and vibrant design were in high demand throughout exams and the Spring Term.

Sustainability efforts included recycling the hundreds of 30-year-old wooden study and computer carrels being replaced, with 54 metric tons diverted from the landfill.

In 2020-21, we made 35 posts on a wide variety of topics, built staff capacity in Research Data Management (RDM), and increased the number and types of instruction offered to HKUST researchers.

The Research Support team helped in various ad-hoc tasks and collaborative projects. The major ones included:

• Working with VPRDO and APTL to build a portal website on research integrity and ethics
• Responding to RGC’s OA consultation in multiple rounds
• Upon VPIA’s request, we helped them build a global researcher talent pool for recruitment purposes in Guangzhou campus

Library Systems staff completed 54 projects in the year. The major focus was to further enhance workflow automation. Notable projects included the  Financial Management System/Alma invoice payment integration, thesis processing and publishing, and workflow of processing accepted manuscripts for the SPD Institutional Repository. The results helped save many staff hours.

Especially noteworthy was how Systems added an Artwork Collection to the Rare and Special E-Zone by feeding metadata from Alma and linking it to the images of the artwork.

The Library added new self-service tools to help library users maintain a safe & secure environment: UV-C Book Sterilizers and short-term storage lockers.

Proactive measures were taken to protect the safety of users amid the pandemic.  Extensive and frequent furniture and signage shifts were required to accommodate changing social distancing requirements.

• We modified the seat numbers and spacing as required by government and health regulations.
• We kept study rooms in the Learning Commons open, while closing all other study rooms in the Library.
• The G/F thermal sensing unit was ceiling mounted and another one added to the Learning Commons entrance. The less obtrusive ceiling mounts make a more pleasing and welcoming atmosphere at the entrances.

The Library hosted a variety of iTalks in 2020-21. Some were hybrid (live speaker presenting , plus Zoom) and others, Zoom only. Over 1,000 participants joined these talks. More than 96% (710/735) of survey respondents said they “strongly enjoyed” or “enjoyed” the events. Some were purely via Zoom and others were more hybrid: speaker + camera and Zoom.

• September 24, 2020 – The “Population Problem” in Pacific Asia / Professor Stuart Gietel-Basten; 118 attendees
• October 8, 2020 – 運動+ 營養 : 講是又講非 / 雷雄德, 林思為; 219 attendees
• October 29, 2020 – Daoism and Environmental Philosophy: Nourishing Life / Professor Eric Nelson (HKUST); 82 attendees
• February 25, 2021 – 死亡解剖室：屍骨給我上的一堂課/ 李衍蒨; 231 attendees
• March 11, 2021 – Going Beyond Boundaries / Jeffrey Andrews; 158 attendees
• March 26, 2021 – 化妝品小科普及抗菌護手霜的研發 / Professor Marshal Liu (HKUST) & Vanessa Ho; 169 attendees
• April 8, 2021 – Are You with Me? : Kevin Boyle and the Rise of the Human Rights Movement / Mike Chinoy; 87 attendees

The Library also mounted 4 new exhibitions, some with associated talks and tours.

• Between Europe and Asia: Traditional Music and Costumes from Central Asia, Caucasus and the Middle
  East (Mar to Oct 2021)  + 1 guided tour
• China in Antique Maps (Nov 2020 to May 2021)
• Yi – Aurora Photography Exhibition of Anthony Yau (Oct 2020 to Feb 2021) + 2 talks & 34 tours
  
• Glimpse into the Past: Chinese Seals and Seal Impression Catalogues through the Dynasties (May to Oct 2020) 

The Library signed its first “publish & read” transformative agreement with the Cambridge University Press (CUP). Now, HKUST scholars can publish “gold open access” with 370 CUP journals, with the article processing charges waived.

• Supports open access (OA) publishing by effectively removing paywall restrictions.
• Raises the visibility and impact of HKUST’s research content.
• No quota on the number of papers by HKUST authors that can enjoy the APC waiver.
• Waiver is valid for papers with acceptance date between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2023.

Planning for the GZ Library was intense, including building design, moving books from CWB to GZ, preparing tenders, new purchases of print and e-resources, and recruitment of staff.

Library staff held frequent zoom meetings with KPF, the designers for the GZ library building. Library staff made plans to move duplicate or earlier editions of sci-tech and business books and journals to GZ and to buy 100,000 new e-books and ~50 databases.

HKUST Library staff also worked in the hiring process for new GZ Library staff and to prepare tenders for techinal systems.

In 2020-21, the Special Collections enlarged its collection with 216 maps, additional atlases, and books. The arrival of a restored ancient Chinese map, “Complete Geographical Map of the Everlasting Unified Qing Empire” (大清萬年一統地理全圖) further enriched the collection. Selected maps acquired in recent years have been digitized and uploaded to the Rare & Special eZone for online access by the global public.