Number 50, March 1997
Number 50, March 1997
As we are approaching the end of the financial year, teaching staff are reminded to speed up their recommendations for purchase of books, journals, back-runs or audiovisual materials. In our effort to build a digital library, we welcome recommendations for electronic resources such as CD-ROMs, full-text databases, and multimedia.
To ensure proper distribution of alerting materials such as publishers' catalogues and advanced notices, we have reviewed the existing procedures to make sure that selection aids are properly circulated to all teaching staff. Publishers online catalogues accessible through the Libraries Webpage provide another alternative as well as instant access to current and retrospective publications via the Internet.
Teaching staff are requested to send a constant flow of orders to our
Acquisitions Department throughout the fiscal year to facilitate a well-regulated
spending of the Library Resources Fund.
Users can now access publishers online information through the HKU Libraries Webpage. Over 1,700 publishers from around the world are listed, and users can freely browse and search from the online catalogues for retrospective as well as the latest publications. Detailed current title prices and publishers contact information are also available. Relevant information could be printed as desired.
To access Publishers Online:
1. Point your WWW browser to "http://www.hku.hk/lib"
2. Click on the Electronic Resources
3. Click on the Publishers Online
4. Select and click on the
a) Publishers' Catalogues Home Page
b) BookFinders
c) List of 1700+ Publishers Online
The HKU Libraries periodically receive free trials of electronic resources from publishers on the Internet. Members of the University community are most welcome to try and use these resources and forward to us their comments regarding the usefulness of these resources in support of their study, teaching and research.
Comments should be directed to the Reference Department "hkulref@hkucc.hku.hk"
1.Cambridge Scientific Abstracts
2.Financial Times Information Online Service
3.SearchBank
Taking advantage of new technologies, the University Libraries have taken the initiative to provide scholarly communication electronically. More electronic journals are now offered via the Libraries Webpage to expedite delivery of research information to the University community. A full list of the e-journals is available at http://www.hku.hk/lib/Electronic/EJournalAll.html under Electronic Resources. The e-journals cover a wide spectrum of disciplines spanning from the sciences to the social sciences. The listing has a total of 210 electronic journals, 59 of which provide full text of articles with the rest of the 157 titles offering table of contents/ abstracts of articles. Direct access is also made available from the web-based OPAC at http://library.hku.hk/. Users can conveniently view full text of articles while searching in Dragon simply by clicking on the pre-set link contained in a journal record.
Over the past few months, the Main Library has strengthened its electronic collection with a number of bibliographic databases. The Journal Performance Indicators on Diskette now made available in the Main Library provides journal statistics for 15 years of publication (1981-1995) and citation data on more than 7,000 of the world's most cited journals. Anthropologists would find of interest the database HRAF collection of ethnography. The House of Commons hansard on CD ROM and Index to the House of Commons parliamentary papers on CD-ROM provide useful information on UK politics. Other databases of general interest include the Australian tertiary libraries: an annotated bibliography and Hutchison multimedia encyclopedia 1996.
To encourage the use of electronic information at HKU, the Reference Department continues to offer a series of user education programmes. Interested users may find out more about the electronic instruction courses through various channels including the Email Alert Service, the HKU Libraries Webpage http://www.hku.hk/lib/, library notice boards and brochures despatched to teaching departments.
The Reserve Book Room of the Main Library has provided a request form on the Web, so that teachers can request online for materials to be placed on reserve. Teaching staff can fill out the Online RBR Request Form at http://www.hku.hk/lib/ under Highlighted Features. We encourage staff to use the online forms which are time saving and convenient.
The AV Department has 10 new Pentium PCs available for use. Two of the PCs have multimedia capabilities. We have over 350 CD-ROMs and software packages of computer-assisted learning materials available, on subjects as diverse as chemistry, foreign-language learning and geography.
Compact discs and audio-cassettes can now be borrowed for use outside the library by undergraduates, as well as by postgraduates and staff. Three items may be borrowed at one time, for a period of seven days.
This year the AV Department boosted its holdings of feature films - we now have 165 more feature film titles than last year, with more coming in every week. Feature films are available in both VHS and laser disc formats.
During the recent December break, both floors of the Dental Library, including staff office and public areas, were completely recarpeted. Library users welcomed this much needed "face-lift" as the new carpets will provide them with a much more pleasant environment to study in. Extra shelving have also been ordered.
The Dental Library has recently acquired the following titles to enrich its collection of electronic databases: The UK national medical slide bank on videodisc, Developmental and genetic aspects of clefting disorders on CD-ROM, Gross anatomy of the neck on CD-ROM, Histology on CD-ROM, and Clinical neurology on CD-ROM.
A major re-arrangement of books located on the sixth floor, Fung Ping Shan Library was made during Christmas. With the demolition of the wooden partition housing closed stack materials and the removal of ten study carrels, 334 bookshelves were added to the sixth floor, making room for another 70,000 volumes of books. Closed stack materials previously housed on the sixth floor were relocated to Fung Ping Shan compact shelves on the fourth floor.
Plans are being drafted for the new medical library project which will be part of the Medical Faculty complex to be built on the Northcote site in Sassoon Road. The new library is envisioned as a centre of environmental and technological state-of the-art excellence, fully equipped to meet the challenges of medical information delivery in the twenty-first century.
The Medical Library will actively support the new medical curriculum which the Faculty will introduce in the coming academic year. The curriculum, some of it problem-based, will require students to make more intensive use of the library and its resources. This will involve some reorganization of both space and collections, and user education courses will need to be extended.
In January, an ongoing campaign was launched to make the Medical Library once again a peaceful place for study and research by creating an awareness amongst users of unnecessary noise and chatter. This has reduced noise levels considerably and the majority of users are also co operating by keeping portable phones switched off in the library, and by using pagers in vibrating mode only.
On December 27th the Music Library moved to its new location on the first
floor of the Hung Hing Ying Building. The new location has about twice the
floor space of the old rooms on the 2nd floor of the Main Building. This
means we have a more seating and shelf space and some new equipment such
as a photocopier and two additional computers: a Macintosh and a multimedia
PC. Although located in the same building as the Music Department, the Music
Library, as always, welcomes all University members with a valid student
I.D. or library card.
The Music Library has also changed its loan policy for undergraduates: compact
discs can now be borrowed for use outside the library. The loan period for
CDs is three days; three audio-visual items may be borrowed at one time.
The loan period for teachers and postgraduates has been extended to seven
days.
To welcome the Year of the Ox, staff of the Fung Ping Shan Library prepared an exhibition of Spring Festival and Lunar New Year emblems from February 5 to 28. The exhibits included a selection of books, paper prints and original wood prints of the Lunar New Year Emblems from six famous cities in China. A bibliography was also prepared for distribution to library users.
Two exhibitions presented by the British Council were on display in the Main Library lobby from January to March. The exhibition "Fact and Fiction" from 6 to 23 January 1997 was a prelude to the Literary Festival and aimed to encourage teaching of English literature at secondary level. The exhibition entitled "Contemporary Poets" on display from 3 February to 11 March 1997 provided an introduction to the development and variety of contemporary British poetry dating back to the 19th century.
Ms Ruth Wong Shuk Ching, BA CUHK; DipIM-Lib, MLib NSW took up appointment as Assistant Librarian II on February 1, 1997.
Miss Catherine Kwok Sin Yu, Assistant Librarian II, resigned on February
15, 1997.
Mrs Sng Chan Yok Fong, LLB (Hons.) and Cert. Post-Graduate Practical Course
in Law Singapore; M. Law. Libr. Washington took up appointment
as Sub-Librarian on March 13, 1997.
Ms Betty Wong Wah, Assistant Librarian I, will leave on March 31, 1997, on the expiry of her contract.
On February 12, 1997, two members of the Libraries staff received Long Service Awards at a University presentation ceremony. Mrs Maria Tang Lai May Yee, Senior Library Assistant and Mr Leung Kai Kwong, Library Assistant III, were both presented awards and certificate for 25 years service.
Mrs Mary Leong, Medical Librarian, attended the University Health Sciences Librarians' Study Day at Thames Valley University, London, on January 28, 1997. The seminars focused on the challenges of information skills teaching in the electronic age, and some interesting and innovative computer-assisted learning products were demonstrated.
Dr Kan Lai-bing and Mr David Palmer attended the Pacific Neighbourhood Consortium Meeting held in Taipei, February 16-19, 1997. Included in the agenda were discussions on library cooperation among PNC members, Internet publishing and digital library initiatives.
Dr Kan took the opportunity of her brief stay in Taipei to visit the National Central Library, and discussed cooperative issues with the Director, Professor Tseng Chi chun, and his senior staff Mrs Teresa Wang Chang and Mr Cheng Heng-hsuing. The Librarian also met with the Director of the National Palace Museum, Dr Chin Hsiao-i and the Director of the National Taiwan University Library, Mr Wu Ming-der, and Mrs Nancy Ou-lan Chou, Director of the National Chengchi University Library with a view to consolidating existing cooperative relation the HKU Libraries has with them or exploring new possibilities.
Mr Y.C. Wan, Special Collections Librarian, was recently elected to chair the Education and Training Committee, Hong Kong Library Association.
Mr Wan attended the EASTICA Workshop on Archival Standards Description from February 18-19, 1997. The Workshop was co-organized by the Public Records Office of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Museum of History and Centre of Asian Studies, the University of Hong Kong.
| Date |
Visitors/Institutions |
| December 5, 1996 | Delegation from Tsinghua University Library led by Mr. Cheng Huan, Deputy Librarian. |
| December 13, 1996 | Visitors from the Institute of Scientific & Technical Information of China, led by the Deputy head of the Information Services Section, Mr. Huang Xiaohu. |
| December 30, 1996 | Dr. Du Qian, Director of Library and Information Centre, China Europe International Business School. |
| January 13, 1997 | Professor Raj Reddy, Dean of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. |
| January 17, 1997 | Vistors from the School of Management, Fudan University including Mr. Yang Yong Kong, Mr. Tao Ming, Mr. Li Yuan Xu, and Ms. Zhao Wei. |
| February 15, 1997 | Ms. Mya Thanda Helen Poe, Chief of the Asian Division, Collection Services, U.S. Library of Congress. |
| February 24, 1997 | Professor Liu Zhongshu, President, Jinlin University and some members of senior staff. |
| February 24, 1997 | Delegation from Nanjing University of Technology led by the Vice President, Mr. Su Zhi Ming. |
| February 28, 1997 | Mr. Zhang Ben Shen, Deputy Director of the English Department, South China University of Technology. |
| March 4, 1997 | Delegation from Guangzhou University led by the Director of the Scientific Research Office, Mr. Mie Chai Song. |