April 2026
Collection Spotlight: Expanding Ebook Collection
The Library ebook collection is further enriched by new packages from these major publishers:
De Gruyter Brill: Over 12,000 titles in more than 30 academic disciplines ranging from arts and humanities, law, business and social sciences to various STEM subjects are now available. The catalog is expected to grow to 15,000 titles as the year progresses.
Emerald: From May 2026, the current coverage on business and economics subjects will expand to Emerald’s full catalog of over 9,000 titles, with additional content in education and social sciences. The Emerald Insight platform also offers integrated access to all titles from Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Publishing which delivers authoritative content in civil and environmental engineering and material science.
科学出版社: As one of the most reputable scholarly publishers in Chinese Mainland, this collection of 25,000 titles has been a long-awaited resource. Full text is available for titles in mathematics, chemistry, material, environmental, and IT sciences. Limited preview, usually the first or second chapter, is available for all other unpurchased subjects.
Please follow this access path to explore these valuable additions:
Library home page → Browse by Databases → Subjects and Types → Ebooks → De Gruyter Brill; Emerald Insight; 科学文库(ScienceReading)
Reimagining Our Digital Front Door
On January 26, the Library reached a major milestone with the launch of our redesigned website. This wasn’t just a fresh coat of paint; it was a total transformation of our digital presence.
To ensure the site truly serves your research needs, we spent Fall 2024 gathering your insights through online surveys and focus group meetings. You asked for a more energetic appearance and a more intuitive experience, and we delivered.
What’s New?
Reorganized Information Architecture: We’ve overhauled our navigation from the ground up, making it easier than ever to find deep-layer resources.
Vibrant, Energetic Design: A modern color scheme and streamlined layout now reflect our active learning environment.
Finding Space Made Simple: Whether you need a quiet corner or a spot for collaboration, it is now much easier to find a place for group discussion via our dedicated space-finding tools.
One-Click Access: New shortcut icons provide instant paths to popular services like Room Booking and Tech Items for Loan.
Enhanced Visibility: Our latest acquisitions and essential resources are now front-and-center, ensuring you never miss a new addition to our collection.
Explore the changes today at https://library.hkust.edu.hk. We are still fine-tuning and value your input, please share your thoughts with us by emailing library@ust.hk.
A Brush with Personality: HKUST Chinese New Year Gala 2026
On February 25, the Library had the pleasure of teaming up with the Mainland Students and Scholars Society (MSSS) to run a bookmark booth at HKUST’s Chinese New Year Gala.
Behind the scenes, setting up the booth was a rewarding experience. I learned a lot while designing the promotional posters and working closely with colleagues on the logistics. Instead of sticking only to traditional red paper, we sourced a mix of paper shapes, blank bookmarks, and stamps so everyone could easily create a unique souvenir to take home.
To help beginners feel confident, we tried a simple idea that worked surprisingly well. My supervisor created handy QR codes linking to stroke-order animations (for example, a guide for 新年快樂). This made it easy for international students to pull up a quick visual reference on their phones and understand the character structures.
The atmosphere at the booth was joyful. It was especially heartwarming to see parents bringing their children to join in the fun, with many proudly sharing photos of their families’ creations on social media.
Of course, not everyone felt confident right away. Several students hesitated at the table, nervously asking, “Would my writing be too ugly?”
My answer to them was simple: every brushstroke has its own personality. Nobody starts out perfect – mine certainly isn’t. Calligraphy, like most things in life, takes time. Whether you are navigating a heavy course load or holding a brush for the first time, the key is to be patient with yourself and willing to take the first step. An imperfect first stroke is not a failure; it’s proof you had the courage to try.
Thank you to the MSSS for inviting the Library to be part of this wonderful event, and to everyone who helped everything run smoothly.
– Gary Lee, Librarian
We welcome your ideas for future library activities! If you’d like to share suggestions or collaborate with us, please feel free to contact us at library@ust.hk.
Library Digital Scholarship Roadshow 2026
Since spring 2022, the Division of Humanities and the HKUST Library have partnered to run the Digital Humanities Initiative (DHI), uniting faculty, library staff, and students to learn digital methods and develop humanities-focused digital projects. In spring 2024, the Library launched DS CoLab, a collaborative co-learning program for students and the Library’s Digital Scholarship team to explore digital tools and methods to tackle various challenges.
From March 16 - 20 DHI and DS CoLab presented a roadshow highlighting how our community is experimenting with digital technologies to support research, enhance learning, and explore new forms of storytelling at HKUST.
Poster Exhibition
Throughout the week, the poster exhibition showcased a selection of projects from DHI and DS CoLab – a snapshot of the questions being asked, the methods being tested, and the different ways digital tools are being used.
VR and AR Hands-on Activities
Each day, visitors had the chance to join VR and AR hands-on sessions. These helped participants connect the posters and project narratives with lived experience – seeing how immersive technologies can support exploration, interpretation, and creative forms of scholarship.
The activities attracted over 970 visits. Staff and students enjoyed – often staying to discuss what they had tried. Many left with a clearer understanding of how the Library and Humanities faculty collaborate, and what kinds of outputs and learning opportunities these partnerships can produce.
DHI Talks
Running alongside the exhibition and hands-on sessions, the DHI Talks – "A Taste of Digital Scholarship" – featured four HUMA faculty presenting their digital humanities projects:
• Prof. Giulio Ongaro – Akha Voices in One Script: A Project of Digitalization and Standardization of Oral Texts.
• Prof. Tobias Benedikt Zürn – Visualizing the Huainanzi’s Intertextuality: A Hyperlinked Approach.
• Dr. Marco Caboara – Mapping Tartary: A Digital Exploration of European Cartography.
• Prof. Jianxiong Ma – Digital Humanities Study on the Bazi Basin Society in Southwest China and Highland Southeast Asia.
More than 60 of you attended the talks, generating strong interest and lively intellectual exchange between faculty and students. Participants praised the “great organization” and described it as “fascinating to learn about these projects.”
Thank you to everyone who visited the poster exhibition, participated in the VR and AR sessions, and attended the talks. The roadshow was a valuable moment to share projects, spark conversations across roles and disciplines, and strengthen the growing community around DHI and DS CoLab at HKUST. Stay tuned for more events from DHI and DS CoLab – and reach out to the Library if you’d like to collaborate.
iTalk in April : “Standing at the Front Line of COVID-19”
COVID-19 affected Hong Kong from 2020 to 2022, posing major threats to public health and environmental management.
On April 9 Dr. Kenneth Leung will discuss his role in the Hong Kong Government’s Multi-Departmental Response Team, detailing his involvement in virus transmission investigations, and sharing his personal journey throughout the pandemic.
As a senior officer in the Environmental Protection Department, Professor Leung worked closely with Professor Yuen Kwok-Yung in outbreak investigations across the city.
Professor Leung is now the Director of HKUST’s Sustainability/Net-Zero Office. Prior to joining the university, he was the Principal Assistant Secretary (Air Policy) at the Environment and Ecology Bureau and Assistant Director (Air Policy) at the Environmental Protection Department of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
This talk will offer valuable insights into the intersection of environmental expertise and public health management.
Join us for this enlightening talk on April 9 12:00-1:30pm at the Library LG4 Multi-function Room.
Ink in Action: Sharing Talks by the Imagining Hong Kong Artists
As part of the exhibition Imagining Hong Kong: Four Visions of Island Landscape in Ink and Color, the Library hosted a series of artist sharing talks offering a rare opportunity to hear directly from the participating artists about their creative journeys and artistic thinking. The talks complemented the exhibition by deepening viewers’ understanding of how contemporary ink artists interpret Hong Kong’s distinctive island landscapes.
Artists Chan Kwan Lok 陳鈞樂, Shum Kwan yi (Sim) 沈君怡, and Yau Wing Fung (Ross) 邱榮豐 shared how they approach painting Hong Kong’s island landscapes, drawing from both traditional ink practices and their own lived experiences. They spoke of how observation, experimentation, and memory shape their creative decisions. They made clear that ink painting is not just about mastering tradition, but also about responding to the world around us in meaningful ways.
One of the most engaging parts of the talks was the demonstration segments, where the artists walked us through how certain effects are created – showing brush movements, ink layering, and the careful balance between control and spontaneity. Seeing these techniques up close helped demystify ink painting, especially for students new to the medium, and revealed how much intention and skill go into each mark on paper.
The talks also explored how traditional ink painting continues to evolve. Connecting classical techniques with modern perspectives, the artists demonstrated how ink art remains relevant, flexible, and deeply connected to contemporary life.
If you missed the live sessions, recordings of the artist sharing talks are on our website. Whether you are studying art or simply curious about how ink paintings come to life, they offer an inspiring and accessible way to experience Imagining Hong Kong beyond the exhibition space.
- Artist Talk by Chan Kwan Lok
- Artist Talk by Yau Wing Fung
Travelling in Maps: Exploring Tourist Asia (1890 –1950)
Travel has become such a routine part of modern life that it is easy to forget how recently leisure tourism emerged. Before the 19th century, long-distance journeys were perilous undertakings, driven not by pleasure but by a greater purpose, whether religious devotion, commercial ambition, or coercion. It was only with the rapid expansion of modern transportation networks, particularly railways and commercial aviation, that traveling for fun became a realistic possibility.
Our new exhibition at the KPS Gallery invites you to explore this transformative period through a fascinating medium: travel maps. Travelling in Maps: Exploring Tourist Asia (1890 – 1950) presents a selection of maps of tourist destinations across Asia, including Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Taipei, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand.
Produced between the 1890s and 1950s, these maps belong to a transitional era of expanding transportation infrastructure, yet still predate the rise of mass tourism in the 1960s. Commercial aviation was in its early era, and it took days to fly from Europe to Asia. One of our exhibits shows the flight route from Paris to Saigon (today’s Ho Chi Minh City), which involved multiple stops. In this context, flying to Asia for leisure was still very much a privilege of the upper class.
Travel maps are more than simple navigational tools. They reveal how Asian cities and landscapes were spatially visualized for leisure travelers. What did mapmakers choose to highlight, or leave out? A map of Siam (today’s Thailand) highlights Buddhist sites, wildlife, waterfalls, and beaches. It shows people dressed in Western attire sightseeing and enjoying leisure activities, while workers in traditional clothing labor in the fields. How did religious sites, local people, and everyday activities become tourist attractions – and for whom? Exploring these exhibits offers a unique window into the cultural assumptions and geopolitical dynamics that shaped early 20thcentury tourism in Asia.
Whether you are interested in travel, aviation engineering history, cartography, visual culture, or Asian studies, this exhibition has something for you to discover. The exhibition will be available until May 29. Don’t miss it!
Honoring Our Student Helpers
On March 31, we hosted a Helper Appreciation Party to celebrate the invaluable contributions of our student helpers. This event recognized their hard work and dedication, and we proudly presented the Outstanding Student Helper Award to five exemplary students:
• BINGWA Terry Namarome (MECH)
• LAW Yuan (CPEG)
• NG Fuk Yee (CHEM)
• AN Zhi Qing (CIVL)
• WONG Meng Hwei (LFS)
Terry joined UASC in October and contributed notably to the “Travelling in Maps” exhibition by finding effective solutions for displaying valuable items and showcasing excellent handiwork. Her aerospace engineering background supports her preparation and display of model aeroplanes, but it’s her dedication and passion that stand out.
Yuan has worked in Resource Management since January 2025 and has shown excellent performance, reliability, accuracy, and independence. She excels at workflow chart creation, and promptly identifies and reports issues, making her a strong candidate for the Outstanding Student Helper Award.
Fuk Yee, a diligent student helper with University Archives & Special Collections (UASC) since last summer, reliably handles various tasks including data entry, OCR archival content checking, and supply management. Her photography, artistic, and framing skills have enhanced library projects and exhibitions, and she demonstrates growth, commitment, and precision.
Zhi Qing and Meng Hwei served as Access Services (AS) helpers from Fall 2024 to Fall 2025 and are now interning abroad. They consistently displayed positive attitude, professionalism, responsibility, initiative, punctuality, and strong teamwork – earning strong feedback from AS staff.
Associate University Librarian
lbspodic@ust.hk
