Do you have a favourite spot in the Library? For me, the corner I like the most is the New Arrivals wall on G/F. Here, you come face-to-face with the latest books in our Library. The display is always so colourful and visually attractive, and I often encounter books that pique my curiosity. For example, today I picked up a book called Less is More, which is about the “Degrowth” approach to reverse the ecological crisis that we are facing. It may change how I see the world, or it may not at all. I won't know until I read it. But what I do know is that if I hadn't stumbled upon it in the New Arrivals section, I probably wouldn't have learned about the idea of "Degrowth". In librarians’ jargon, we call this “serendipity” – the way of encountering books and ideas by chance in libraries. In Chinese, I like to call it “碰緣分“.

Last week we introduced nine new SciTech and business books authored or edited by HKUST faculty and researchers. In this post, we feature the eleven new books in the fields of humanities and social sciences.

Now that you see the new Study Pods you might ask what happened to the microforms collection which used to be there? Simple - we moved it down to LG4! This took a long time and a lot of work. The carriages on LG4 had to be modified to handle the microform cabinets with their deep drawers, and then the existing compact shelving portion had to be dismantled and the floor fixed up for the pods. One exciting moment was when the movers dropped a whole drawer of microfiche and it went everywhere! It took a few days, but Library staff eventually got it all cleaned up and reordered back in the drawer. Edward Spodick Associate Director of Library Services lbspodic@ust.hk

While you were gone, we moved all the microforms down to LG4 and repurposed that space on LG1 for student study. Please welcome the new Study Pods - they're orange, and we're loving them! Nine pods have been installed, meeting different needs: 3 Solo Pods - 1-person pods for quiet study, online interviews, remote class attendance, and whatever else you might need them for 4 Duo Pods - 2-person pods for working with your project partner 2 Quad Pods - 4-person pods offering quiet space for small groups to work Remember - when you only need a place for online programs, use a small pod instead of a larger group study room - always be considerate of other students! All pods can be reserved using the Library's Room Booking System, just like study rooms. Every pod comes with seating, work surface, good lighting and ventilation, power/USB sockets, and a fair amount of quiet. Edward Spodick Associate Director of Library Services lbspodic@ust.hk

From August 2022 to July 2023, scholars from HKUST have published a total of 20 books, as indicated by our Institutional Repository.