Achievements

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.

In 2017, the HKUST community downloaded over 1 million book chapters from our e-book collection. At the same time, e-journal article use remained strong (less than in 2016, but still more than in 2015).

This increase in the e-book chapter downloads is a logical result of the Library’s efforts to continue to increase the e-book collection, which has risen from ~259,000 titles in 2014 to 574,000 in 2018.

Pleased with how the Library used her previous donation to renovate the 1/F Special Collections Gallery and digitize our map & rare book collection, in 2017 Dr. Ko Pui Shuen donated $HK 4 million to develop the Library’s Special Collections further.  The money will be used over the next 3 years to create and deliver:

• A reference book on the western maps of China
• An interactive website to explore the antique maps
• Two international workshops for academic exchange on the cartography of China
• Purchasing additional Chinese and western maps of China for  the Special Collections
• Exhibitions, featuring the items acquired with these new funds

The Library is extremely grateful to Dr. Ko and appreciates the efforts that HKUST’s DAO also contributed in facilitating this generous donation.

In 2017-18, the Library instruction and general education efforts reached the largest number of students ever, surpassing our previous high with the double-cohort in 2012.

• Information Literacy workshops: 262 sessions for 8,426 attendees
• Library Talks: 15, with 875 participants
• Library Exhibitions: 6, with 823 tour participants

The Library held six new exhibitions, with  over 700 people attending different associated activities like talks, demos, and guided tours.

1. From Canton Trade to Colonial Hong Kong: The Pearl River Delta before and after the Opium War (8 June 2017 – 31 August 2018)
2. IELM 4320 – Design Thinking (6 July – 13 August, 2017)
3. Building a University Through the Lens of Lee Ka-Sing: A Photographic Exhibition (16 August -10 Setember 2017)
4. Picturing Hong Kong: Ink Paintings by Contemporary Hong Kong Artists (14 September 2017 – 31 January 2018)
5. Happiness in the Making – An Exhibition of Works by Rosanna Li Wei Han (7 February – 2 April 2018)
6. Crossing Boundaries: The Calligraphic Art of Manny Ling (12 April -18 June 2018)

Responding to the administration’s feedback on the Library 2016-17 Teaching and Learning Annual Report, the Library studied print book and ebook usage and academic reading format preferences. It found

Since 2010, there has been a marked shift from print to ebook use.

• In 2010, usage per FTE: 30 print vs 31 electronic
• In 2017 usage per FTE shifted to 11 print vs 87 electronic

The Library launched the Academic Reading Format International Study (ARFIS) in September 2017, and found 

• Print is not dead, most HKUST students like and use it and find it better for their learning.
•  Students value format flexibility & it’s important  to provide e-copies and print

The Library held its first photo competition in spring 2018, open to HKUST students, alumni, and staff.

Prof David Cheng CHANG (Humanities), Prof Agnes KU (Social Science) and Mr Spiro KWOK (Photographer, Publishing Technology Center) served as the adjudication panel.

The theme of the contest was “Day & Night @ the Library”.

The Library designed and installed a more attractive and interesting physical display to allow users to browse and choose newly arrived books. At the same time, staff developed a new program to make it easier for users to browse new books 24/7 from whatever device they choose from the New Arrivals web-page.

To take advantage new efficiencies made possible by the new Shared ILS, HKUST Library staff worked with the JULAC Change Manager in  2017-18 to do process re-engineering in three areas: Electronic Records Management; Thesis and E-Thesis submission; and Weeding.

Electronic Records Management  – (ERM) involves the ordering, acquisition, organization, and usage maintenance of the Library’s electronic resources (e-journals, databases, etc.).

Over several sessions, staff mapped out 11 different “as is” ERM work processes and then developed “should be” process maps and responsibility matrices, which improved workflow and communication for ERM.

Thesis Submission – Processing MPhil and PhD theses involves many departments and units within the Library, as well as outside the Library. The JULAC Change Manager helped the different library units work to streamline & and speed up the process of handling thesis submission.

To give an idea of the scope of the complexity, here are the stakeholders involved:

• Within the Library 6 units: Acquisitions, Adminstration, Cataloging, Circulation, Reference, & Systems.
• Within HKUST: Academic departments,  PGSO, ARO, & individual students
• Outside HKUST: ProQuest, and commercial binders

As part of the greater collaborations resulting from the new Shared ILS, HKUST Library joined the  other JULAC Libraries in the HKCAN (Hong Kong Chinese Authority (Name)) work-group, and took a leading role in data cleanup. During the migration process, the Library developed programs to synchronize the HKCAN content with data from Library of Congress, merged HKUST’s 58,827 Chinese authority records to it, and automated data clean up.

Why is name authority important? Many people use variants of their names (Nick names, professional names, nom de plume, etc.). Libraries want their users to be able to search one name, and find all the things that person wrote, performed, etc. Hong Kong Chinese names can be even more complex, with various romanizations, traditional and simplified versions, using nick-names, “English” names, initials, etc. HKCAN is a major resource on author names in Chinese languages.