Issue 1
Sep 2019
Message from the University Librarian
The beginning of every new academic year always feels to me like a time of renewal. Following the quiet of the university during summer, it is invigorating to welcome back to campus friends, classmates, faculty members, and staff, many of whom we have not seen since May. It is especially exciting to welcome our first-year students, some of whom represent the first generation in their family to attend university and others who have come to study at HKBU from locations around the world. To everyone on campus this month, whether returning or arriving for the first time, the Library extends a warm welcome and wishes each of you every success in your endeavors during the coming year.
Even though these past summer months have been relatively quiet on campus, Library staff members have worked diligently to improve the experience of our users though updates, enhancements, and new services and collections. From the many improvements that I could highlight, I will mention just three:
New Library Website. Our website serves as the portal to virtually everything that the Library can offer to you: collections, both electronic and physical; digital content, an increasing amount of which we are developing within the Library; course readings, research help, group study room reservations, and access to materials in other libraries; interactions with Library staff members who are always ready to assist you; and a myriad number of additional interesting collections and services. Our new Library website came online in the last week of August, and it represents the first complete revision of our website in nearly a decade. We are extremely excited to unveil the new website just in time for the fall semester, and we welcome your feedback on how it is working and how we might make it even better. An article about the new website appears elsewhere in this newsletter.
Library of Congress Classification. In the past, the HKBU Library has assigned call numbers to our materials using three different classification systems, one for English-language materials (the Dewey Decimal System) and two for Chinese-language materials. The use of multiple classification systems for books came to an end in May of this year, when Library staff began assigning call numbers to all new book acquisitions using the Library of Congress Classification (LCC) system. LCC is widely used by research libraries, not only in the United States, but also in libraries throughout the Hong Kong S.A.R. The LCC system provides an advantage to Library users by shelving together English-language and Chinese-language materials about the same subject. Over time we will work to reclassify the existing collections into LCC, so that eventually all Library materials will be under the same system, and materials in both languages can be found more easily.
Library Orientations and Instruction Sessions. Every year our libraries offer more than three hundred instruction sessions on a variety of topics, with the largest concentration of sessions in the first half of the fall semester. Beginning last year, Library staff have created online versions for a number of our sessions, including some that are required of newly arrived first-year undergraduate and post-graduate students. Be sure to check out our series of “Library Survival Skills” sessions throughout September. For information about the Library’s instruction sessions, visit the Library website or contact us via email or chat.
During my tenure as University Librarian, I have been constantly impressed and inspired by the knowledge, dedication, and joy that my Library colleagues bring every day to every aspect of their work. Whether it be acquiring new materials, making those materials accessible, expanding our digital offerings, or proving answers and consultations, the capable staff of our Au Shue Hung Memorial (i.e. main) Library, our Chinese Medicine Library, and our Shek Mun Campus Library are eager to assist in whatever way we can to make your academic year 2019-2020 a success. Please think of the University Library as your Library, and don’t hesitate to contact us whenever we can help.
Kendall Crilly
University Librarian
An introduction to HKBU Library
It’s that most wonderful time of the year, when we welcome thousands of new students to their studies at HKBU. With this in mind, we thought it would be a good idea for this first issue of our Library Newsletter to include a brief introduction to the Library.
The Library’s mission is to support teaching, promote learning, and enable research at HKBU, as a partner in whole person education. We achieve this mission by delivering access to excellent collections and services, both physically and online.
We have three libraries at HKBU:
- Au Shue Hung Memorial Library (Main Library)
- Chinese Medicine Library (CML)
- Shek Mun Campus Library (SMCL)
Popular facilities at our libraries include:
- The Main Library Academic Commons, which opens 24 hours a day during the semester
- Group study rooms, which you can book online when you need a space to work on group projects. CML and SMCL have study rooms too!
- Computers, printers, and scanners. Check out our complete list of software available on Library computers. We also loan laptops!
Our libraries hold a rich collection of over 1.4 million items. This complements our access to a wide range of e-resources. OneSearch is a great way to start exploring our collections, but don’t forget to check out our subject guides to learn about specialized resources for your discipline.
A warm welcome to our new students and colleagues. Please don’t hesitate to Ask a Librarian if you have questions.
Christopher Chan
Head of Information Services
Library service survey coming in November 2019
How can we enhance our library services to help you reach your academic goals? We want to hear from all of our students, faculty and staff. To this end, the Library will conduct the LibQUAL+ Survey in November and early December.
LibQUAL+ is an international survey instrument developed by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) in the United States. Three key dimensions of service quality are measured in this survey: user service, library resources, and library environment. Apart from the core questions designed for you to rate our service performance on a scale of 1 (low) to 9 (high), a box is also provided for you to comment on different aspects of our library services.
The Library last conducted the survey in 2015 and more than 1,900 students, faculty, and staff participated. We collected valuable information and feedback and are looking forward to an even bigger number of responses in the upcoming LibQUAL+ Survey. Please look out for an announcement and participate! Your feedback will help us move forward in improving and providing an even higher quality service to the University community.
Maggie Liu
Head of Library Assessment
Need full text? Try Interlibrary Loan!
The Library has rich collections of electronic and print resources. However, no library can have everything. You may sometimes find that you need an article from a journal for which the Library has no subscription, or an out-of-print book that is not in our collection.
Fear not! In such cases you can make use of the Library’s Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service. We will work with our partner libraries in Hong Kong and overseas to get you the information that you need. In many cases we can complete ILL requests within one week. Best of all, the service is completely free for eligible users. The Library will absorb all costs, such as fees charged by other libraries and delivery charges for physical items.
Making ILL requests
Submitting a request is as easy as logging into the online system and filling out the request form. The ILL system is also embedded in OneSearch, allowing you to request items that you discover while using the Library’s subscribed databases.
For more information, check out the service introduction video above and the following links:
Ka Wai LEE
Head of Circulation and Interlibrary Loan
New Library website: The inside story
Almost one year in the making, a new version of the Library website was launched on 26 August 2019. This was the first major upgrade in almost ten years, and we hope you agree that it is a big improvement!
Previously, our website was designed and built entirely in-house by Library staff. With web technologies becoming ever more sophisticated, for the upgrade we decided to partner with a professional web design company with experience in designing complex academic library websites. A team of Library staff was formed to work with the company to bring the new site to life.
This was a long process that involved:
- Preparing detailed site requirements/specifications
- Creating the art direction for the new site
- Producing the HTML for the new site
- Migrating content from the old site
- Testing, bug fixes, and security checks
With hard work, good planning, and the support of the University’s Office of Information Technology, we were able to meet our target of launching the website before the start of classes in September.
Of course, the launch of the new website is not the end of the project, and the Library will continue to make improvements and enhancements. To do this effectively we need your feedback. A survey on the new website will be available soon. Please keep an eye out for it and let us know what you think!
Jennifer Gu
Information Services Librarian
HKBU Library fast facts
Last updated: 05 March 2025