Are you ready to elevate your research and teaching capabilities with text and data analysis skills? Constellate, a platform for facilitating text analysis research, is launching its first-ever Skill-Build program in Sep 2024.

Kanopy is a streaming video database the Library subscribes to for you. I knew about it before, but I never really explored it until recently. There's a lot more there than I thought, and it's also much easier to use than I thought! Access to Kanopy is available from a web browser, or from a variety of apps for different platforms.  I use the app on my office PC, on my iPad and on an AppleTV at home. To check it out, you can view our catalog record, or go directly to the Kanopy website. Kanopy is constantly adding new films.  If you want to explore titles in our catalog instead of from the Kanopy's site or apps, you can browse them – over 20,000 film records have been added to PowerSearch!  Of course, Kanopy's website and apps will be the most up-to-date – title lists are always changing. Lots of current films are available, along with many, many awesome older classic films – I love black and white Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant films especially.  World Cinema is well represented - for example, one of my favourites is Akira Kurosawa, whose film Ran is available.

Curious about Marco Polo’s journey in ancient China? Our interactive project in HUMA5630 (Digital Humanities) brings his vivid travel narratives to life with maps, themes, and modern research, offering a unique glimpse into China through a European lens.

Another good read (author I'm fond of) is Marge Piercy. Like Ursula LeGuin, she also writes both poetry and prose. I came to her poetry, after enjoying her novels.  Most of her novels are set in the contemporary world when they were published, such as, Small Changes, but some in the historic past,  like Gone to Soldiers, and some are science fiction, like He, She, and It. Here's a poem she wrote that may help to inspire you: For the Young Who Want To, from her poetry collection, Circles on the Water (1982),. We have it  in the book collection (PS3566.I4 A6 1982). It starts off: "Talent is what they say you have after the novel is published and favorably reviewed. Beforehand what you have is a tedious delusion, a hobby like knitting." This poem is encouraging young people (or beginners of any age)  to keep at it, despite the discouraging atmosphere for the arts (or the life of the mind in general. So, I think it can apply to science or any  creative endeavorl. She has another great poem in that collection, called To be of Use, in which she described people who wholeheartedly enter into work, good work.  That poem ends with: "The work of the world is common as mud. Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.

The Library's Access Services staff are proud to give good support to teaching activities in Library space. A recent example is the Sustainable Design Thinking Certificate Program 2024 that took place on LG4 and LG5 in the Library. It was an interesting program that spanned over 7 days in June with a range of activities. This was the first major teaching program using the LG5 space – and it gave us quite a few challenges. First, we needed to make special access control arrangements for the participants.  With prior registration, they could access LG5 space via HKUST's QR Code App.  We also issued temporary library cards to participants from Guangzhou so they could enter the Library conveniently. The prototyping sessions were scheduled on Saturday and Sunday. Since 3D printing was essential for the sessions, our team ensured an experienced staff member would be on hand to provide smooth service through the weekend. Technical problems can happen anytime! And before the day of the closing ceremony, there was trouble with the audio system for the online meeting component. Library team members managed to help on the computer set-up, so that the communication between Guangzhou and Clear Water Bay campuses worked smoothly.