In the past ten years, HKUST Library has been recognized world-wide for its progressive adoption and application of information technology, for its proactive and responsive services, and for its well-focused and cohesive collections. In this exhibition we will highlight some of the significant events in the Library’s short history. It is hoped that they will give a hint of the efforts of the Library staff – it is due to their commitment and dedication that we have achieved so much.
1991
- The Library opened with a collection of 100,000 books and periodicals
- First fully Chinese-capable multilingual integrated library system in the world
- First large-scale campus-wide CD-ROM network in Asian academic libraries
- First OCLC CJK cataloging installation in Asia
- First and only academic library in Hong Kong open to the public
1992
- First University art exhibition at the Library Gallery
- Installed the largest networked full text database system in the world
- Organized the first international conference at HKUST – New Information Technology ’92
1993
- Developed the First Course Reserve Image System in Asia
1994
- First and largest publicly-accessible electrically operated mobile shelving system in Asia
- Acquisition of several large Patent Image databases
1995
- First and largest academic networked CD-ROM Jukebox System in Asia
- Held the first in a series of Colloquia on Information Science
- First academic library in Hong Kong to set up a Web Server
- First Electronic Reference Library database server in Hong Kong
1996
- Opened the University Archives & Special Collections
- The only Library in Asia to participate in the Cataloging Internet Resources project
1997
- Established a regional mirror site for Ovid to serve Hong Kong libraries
- Provided consultancy service to OUHK’s Electronic Library Project
1998
- Developed several Digital Library Projects, including Digital Archives, Electronic Theses, and HKUST News Clippings
- Organized an International Seminar on Chinese Information Processing
1999
- Collaborated with Nanjing University to produce the first electronic Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index
- First Asian library to participate in the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC)
- Library instruction classes and orientations reached a record high of 257 sessions with 6,830 attendees
- Began a project to convert 106,626 Chinese language records from Wade-Giles to Pinyin (completed in 2000)
- The first Asian library to participate in the experimental Cooperative Online Resource Catalog (CORC) to catalog Internet Resources using metadata
2000
- Expanded collaborations with Peking University Library: book procurement project, staff development and exchange, reciprocal ILL
- Developed an Online Information Literacy tutorial for first-year students
- First & only Asian member library of the Name Authority Cooperative Program
- First & only Asian member library of the Cooperative Online Serials Program
2001
- Co-hosted the 2001 PNC Annual Conference and Joint Meetings with City University, HK; Academia Sinica, Taiwan; and the California Digital Library
- First Asian library to participate in the Collaborative Digital Reference Service
- Wireless network access extended to all floors
- Implemented XML based digital library databases