Meet the Team behind the Library's Systems and Digital Services! Franky, Joey, Adrian, Andrew, Leo, Sam, Terry, Martin, and Holly.   Among many other things, they manage over 55 computer servers with well over 70 individual applications – from simple things like LDAP identity lookup to complex beasts like our Room Booking System. Most of those servers have been running on CentOS7, which will reach its end-of-life by this coming Summer. Since these applications are mission critical, all these servers need to be upgraded to a new OS (operating system). That is a crazy big job to manage, when every application has to be tested and adjusted to work on the new server. All the people in that photo are heroes to me. Except the guy in the red jacket – that's me and I just offer support and encouragement. Everyone else there does the real work. To make things more complicated, several of the larger applications need to be upgraded just to work on the new OS - a double set of upgrades!

If you look, you often find wonders at the Library – big and small, indoors and outdoors. Admire this full moon captured on November 27 by my colleague Ada, Head of Resource Management.  It was taken from the Library Garden.  Doesn't it put us all in awe? I am entranced every time I see the Moon rise over the sea by our campus. At HKUST, you can find many spots that give you an open view facing east, such as the lookout at Atrium ("Mushroom Window") and the Fok Ying Tung Sports Center at Seafront. To me, my favourite spot is of course the Library Garden! When the weather is comfortable, like recent days, the Library Garden is a beautiful place to take a break from your study, to have some fresh air, to hang out with friends, or just to have some time alone with the view, daytime or night. And, don't forget, you can say "Hello" to George too! Ada took this poetic photo a little after 6pm.

Do you know there was a commemorative stamp of HKUST in 1989? I did not, until I saw it today in the Library! The stamp was presented in a first day cover of a set called "Hong Kong Building for the Future," issued on October 5th, 1989. Colored in gold and featuring the academic building, it portrays a budding campus aspiring to be a world-class university. Our University Archives curates a collection of artefacts to preserve the history of the university. Some of them are now being shown on the Library 1/F. Besides the first day cover, another exhibit I find fascinating is the original sketches of the graduation gowns. Thanks to archives colleagues who organize the display, we get to see these interesting items that inspire us to reflect on the growth of HKUST. By the way, "Hong Kong Building for the Future" was a set of 6 stamps. The other five were Cultural Centre, Eastern Harbour Crossing, Bank of China, Convention and Exhibition Centre, and Light Rail Transit.

We've got drinking and water fountains all over the Library.  And every one has both hot and cold water. But the hot water is not hot enough for my tea – I want really, really hot water! No problem – the "secret" hot water supply is on 1/F :-) Basically, all the water fountains except the one on 1F are too accessible to children to let the water be too hot, so they are all set to be around 60oC. The one on 1/F is higher, and set farther into the wall out of reach of small hands, so it is set for around 90oC. Of course, as soon as we rolled that out, a student complained that they tested the water with their finger and got burned – so now it has a warning sign.   We have not found a good place to do this in the Learning Commons yet, but at least you now know where to go for your heat when the main Library is open. Ahhhhh...... Edward Spodick Associate Director of Library Services lbspodic@ust.hk

Yesterday we changed all the furniture in the study pods – except for the orange high chairs in the solo pods. We work hard to get you the best furniture available – and we were not satisfied with the defaults provided by the vendor. The new seats in the duo and quad pods have improved upholstery cushions and nicer fabric – and we moved from 2 tones of grey to a green-grey combo. All the tables were also replaced, with unneeded holes removed and a better study surface which should show fewer marks from your laptops. I hope you like them – and feel free to let me know if you have suggestions for other improvements! Edward Spodick Associate Director of Library Services lbspodic@ust.hk