Achievements

E-book usage recorded a slight increase of 1% in 2019 (97-chapter downloads per student FTE) while E-journal usage jumped 21% (223 article downloads per FTE).

The Library continued to play an active role in nurturing general education among the HKUST community, despite the challenges of moving online. In 2019-20 we organized more than 20 activities and programs, including 8 Exhibitions and 4 iTalks.

Exhibitions

• Glimpses into the Past: Chinese Seals and Seal Impression Catalogues through the Dynasties (May to Oct 2020) + 1 talk, 1 tour & 1 demonstration
• Stencil Paints by Yu Ping and Ren Ping (Mar to Sep 2020)
• Photographs by Jin Shouxian (Dec 2019 to Aug 2020)
• The City of Victoria – Old Maps and Photos of Hong Kong (Jul to Oct 2019; Oct 2019 to Feb 2020)
•  From the Consoling Lotus to the Red Plum: The Legend of Tong Tik-Sang’s Creative Career (Sep 2019 to Feb 2020) + 1 singing performance
•  Plastic Fashion: Participants’ Work Showcase (Jul to Dec 2019)

iTalks –  The Library hosted 4 talks face-to-face (fall 2019) and online (spring 2020) with over 400 attendees

• Oct 25, 2019 – 無言老師的生死學問 / 伍桂麟先生
• Nov 8, 2019 – 生死之約 / 伍桂麟先生
• Mar 6, 2020 – 死亡事件簿 / 伍桂麟先生; 李衍蒨女士
• April 28, 2020 – 與抑鬱共舞 / Dr. Christine Lau Pui-ting

The challenges of 2019-20 did not stop librarians’ collaboration with course instructors to improve students’ information literacy. By switching to online instruction on spring 2020, we continued to deliver library sessions and maintained good quantity and quality compared to recent other years.

• 258 sessions for 8,893 attendees in both face-to-face and online mode across both seemsters
• Spring 2020: 88 Zoom sessions delivered to 2,439 attendees.
• 52% of the attendees were UGs, 30% were RPGs, and 16% were TPGs

Research Support team redesigned the workshops using the four themes: Authorship, Copyright, Data, and Impact.

• There was a total of 48 sessions, with 1,888 participants 
  • Authorship: 18 session
  • Data: 12 sessions
  • Copyright: 15 sessions
  • Research Impact: 3 sessions

All sessions supported PDC for research postgraduates; and were conducted online from November 2019.

2019-20 saw many large-scale facilities projects launched and completed:

• The Research Carrels Replacement Exercise launched. This targets replacement of roughly 450 study carrels from the early 1990s.  Focus groups were held, and user feedback helped drive the completed design brief.  The project should be fully implemented during the coming year.
• Study carrels were also added to the Learning Commons Extension, in areas freed up by removal of the media counter and the elimination of obsolete media formats. 
• Some reference shelving on G/F was removed to provide additional study space, and other shelving was repurposed as study furniture for standing and highchairs.
• Toilet Upgrades were performed on all floors (except the LC, which was already renovated).  This brought them into line with modern standards.  Contactless flushing and motion-activated faucets were installed, along with improved ventilation and new partitions and fittings
• All classroom and presentation spaces were enhanced. All rooms were upgraded to the new campus Mic4Me system.  Simultaneous interpretation equipment was added to the multifunction room, along with upgraded tables and chairs.  Mobile foldable white boards were also provided for more flexible program utilization in teaching spaces.

Systems continued to develop the  Library’s linked data infrastructure and pioneered SPD as a linked data source.

• This facilitated semantic information retrieval of HKUST researchers’ outputs. 
• HKUST was the first library in the world to implement Schema.org based linked data for an institutional repository.

By interlinking with publisher’s open access policies data from Sherpa Romeo, the Library  enhanced SPD’s data analytics capability. This has helped the Library make informed decisions when negotiating transformative agreements with publishers, and supported our response to UGC for their open access consultation survey.

“The Library as Space” remained important, even with online-only teaching and learning.

SENG instructors made use of E-Classroom A for invigilating 5 sessions of online examinations. The built-in cameras in the iMac workstations with a good supply of headphones (with microphones) were the main attractions of this venue. Library staff provided on-site support.

Teaching assistants from SSCI and SENG reserved 58 sessions of discussion rooms to conduct online tutorials from February to April 2020.

In response to changing needs and resources, the Library did some successful re-alignment, streamlining operations in several departments.

• The Learning Commons and Media Resources units merged & streamlined counter services.
• The Department of Resource Management transformed the 2 functional teams (Acquisitions and Cataloging) into 2 process teams (a Monographs team and a Serials & Media team).
• The Library as a whole reduced staff from 93 to 89.

2017-18 saw an all time high of 9,313 attendees for the Library’s information literacy programs.

•  9,313 people attended 268 sessions of face-to-face instruction.
  • 56% of the attendees were UGs, 26% were RPGs, and 17% were TPGs. 
  • 65% of UG workshops were given in collaboration with the CLE classes.
• Blended & E-Learning
  • 123 Library guides – 179,789 views
  • 60 objects –  37,127 views

For the 4th year in a row, the Library received compliments from CTLQ on its 2017-18 Annual Report on Teaching and Learning. 

• “Commendable for making decisions based on data and external input.”
• “Exemplary action plans covering major areas of concerns identified through self-reflection and external input, demonstrating a commitment for service enhancement…”

The Library re-deployed 4 staff to form a new unit devoted to supporting HKUST’s researchers, and its overall research mission.  Notable among its efforts were:

• My Favorite Lectures @HKUST
• ResearchBridge blog
• Researchers Series  seminars and events

To improve the Library as an inspiring place for study, research, self-enrichment, and collaboration, we carried out different projects ranging from HVAC, to increasing study seats, and upgrading equipment. Highlights include:

• The Media Counter was replaced by new study furniture
• Replaced all iMacs in e-Learning Classroom A & Mic4me put in teaching venues.
• 2 new photocopiers for the G/F, along with new book scanners and a 3D scanner
• Old chairs were re-upholstered (sustainability!)
• Half of LG4 was upgraded with new Air Handling Unit.
• Impoved user safety by continuing the replacement of 4,500 8-pound ceiling tiles.

From the Shared Integrated Library System, library staff created two linked data Triplestores, HKUST Library Catalog and JULAC HKCAN, to allow better discovery with Knowledge Cards and identification of authors with Chinese names.

HKCAN has become a significant cataloging source of Chinese names world-wide. We led the final phase of HKCAN ravmp project and enabled it in the Alma Community zone for use by the cataloging community across the globe.

In 2018-19, the number of people who visited the Library, both physically and online increased.

• The exit gate counts increased 5.8% to 1,985,217
• Virtual visits increased by 7.8% to 3.2 million. 

This shows that HKUST community continues to visit and use the Library for studying, learning, and other  activities besides borrowing print books.

In 2018-19, the Library organized and hosted more than 50 talks, tours and workshops for the HKUST community. These included art exhibitions by HKUST students, staff, and professional artists, talks by HKUST authors, and well known non-HKUST people, and other educational and cultural enrichment activities.

• 11 Exhibitions, with associated talks and art demonstrations that 795 people joined
• 10 Library iTalks, with 680 participants

In 2018-19, the Library enhanced its use of games to increase user engagement and fun.

We updated the physical “Explore the Library” game and enhanced it to have online and VR versions. Library staff also partnered with students doing their Computer Science & Engineering Final Year Project to create a game called, OtherSide.

OtherSide is a single-player RPG .in which users can battle monsters with AR on their phones inside the Library, and learn about spaces and services as they do it.  It was among the 5 winners of  Best FYP for 2018-19 in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and among the 5 winners of Best FYP video for 2018-19 . The students handed the game over to the Library for further development and use.

In fall 2018, the Library launched a training project for our staff to explore Google’s Applied Digital Skills, a free project-based video and online curriculum.

Working in small groups of 2-3 members, 59 Library staff participated in this training project over several weeks. Groups producing the best results were nominated to present their outputs, and the best of those won awards for their excellent work.