Newsletter No. 418

10 No. 418, 19.5.2013 請掃描QR碼閱讀全文版 Scan the QR code for the full version Ms. Louise Jones University Librarian What brought you to Hong Kong? Shortly after completing my first degree in psychology at the University of Manchester, I spent a year teaching English in the remote and rather unlikely—that was in the 1980’s—city of Harbin, in the northeast of China. I thoroughly enjoyed my stay there, and the experience was much enhanced by my next job, with the London-based Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding, where I spent five years working as their librarian and organizing activities related to educational exchanges and cultural programmes between Britain and China. During this time I completed a Master’s degree in Information Studies, and also a Master of Public Administration at Warwick University some years later. Then I took up work with the National Health Service (NHS), specializing in medical librarianship. After that I worked as the medical librarian for the University Medical School and the NHS in the region. I became the Director of Library Services of Leicester University in 2007, at an exciting time when a major library building project took place, modernizing both the building and library services. Then, the East Asia beckoned again and the opportunity of running the library system in a major research university on the China coast presented itself. With my children grown-up I was looking for a career change with new challenges, and accepted the appointment at the Chinese University. Nowadays digitization is the buzzword among librarians. How well have we been doing at CUHK? As a matter of fact we are doing pretty well. The most recent figures show that 90% of our new acquisitions are already available electronic, be it journals, books or primary archival material. Digitization and the bundling of all titles from a publisher into a ‘Big Deal’ has enabled us to subscribe to additional titles and acquire back issues with greater ease and to some degree less expense. But that doesn’t mean we have stopped buying print just yet; last year we acquired over 65,000 titles of printed book. However we have reached a tipping point. The quality of e-books is now much better than before, and there are almost four million e-books available via our catalogue, two million of them in Chinese. We are also in the process of digitizing our rare books, with emphasis on books printed in the Yuan and Qing Dynasties, and volumes related to the culture, history and folklore of southeast China. Digitization of rare books is very important not only for preservation purposes, but also in making such books more accessible to both scholars and general readers across the globe. How does digitization affect the acquisition of books and journals? The availability of books and journals in the electronic format is revolutionizing the academic publishing industry, and that bears directly on us as librarians. Academic monographs are expensive and can have short print runs. Publishers are now making these titles available electronically first. The Library makes a range of e-books available, but we only pay for them once they have been downloaded a number of times. It’s called ‘patron driven acquisition’ and has been shown to be a more cost effective purchasing model. For readers who still want a printed copy of a book some libraries are offering a ‘print on demand’ service which is environmentally friendly. Are students being helped to make full use of electronically obtained information? In the past we have helped our students learn to track down specific information that has often been hard to find. We are ‘flipping’ this approach and will help students to manage and appraise the vast corpus of literature they encounter on the net. We see ourselves as having a role in assisting our users to exploit the internet fully and ethically. Take social media as an example. There is evidence that having a social media presence, even as simple as blogging about your research, is an aid to enhancing citation counts. Classic citation analysis is complex enough and users need support, but one can see that altmetrics, measuring article downloads, tweets, social bookmarks is a brave new world. Students need all the support that can be given in order to find their place in the e-society, and faculty need support in the rapidly changing world of scholarly publication. What other innovations are being introduced to the services at the University Library? The Learning Garden at the University Library—a most wonderful innovation which I can take no credit for, conceived when the Library extension was being planned and now a much welcome collaborative space for students and for the Library to make new offerings. It is allowing us to reconceptualize the Library. We still offer quiet, contemplative space; and if alumni visit the redecorated Main Reading Room they will feel at home. But the huge reference desk that dominated the room has gone. Library colleagues tasked with advisory and consultation work can be found roving as much as stationary, to engage students who need their help in new, proactive ways. We are already working very much in partnership with the Independent Learning Centre, promoting writing skills through a series of Hong Kong authors workshops. I also look forward to dialogue with the Students Union and various student societies with a view to forming workable liaisons—the use of the library for book clubs, workshops, etc., are some of the possibilities, helping the Library play its part in generating a reading culture on campus. What leisurely pursuits do you wish to continue while you are here in Hong Kong? In the first place, I love good food, and I am fascinated by the large variety of colourful produce that one finds in the local wet market—I will certainly try to cook some of the seafood that are not found in my part of the world! I am also a keen rugby fan, introduced to the game by my sons, and I’m looking forward to the Sevens next year. I enjoyed gardening very much while I was in England, and I would like to try my hand at tropical plants on my balcony, which for the time being will do as a substitute for my garden at home. Photos of Ms. Louise Jones in this issue by Cheung Wai-lok 李露絲女士 大學圖書館館長 是甚麼把妳帶到香港來？ 在曼徹斯特大學取得心理學學士學位不久，我便到中國東北的哈爾濱，教了一年英文， 時維1980年代。我很享受那段日子，隨後五年，我在以倫敦為基地的英中了解協會的圖 書館工作，並兼負籌辦促進中英教育和文化交流活動。其間我在華威大學修讀了資訊 學碩士學位，數年後再唸了公共行政碩士。接着，轉到英國國家保健計劃任職，專責醫 學圖書館工作。在此之後，我任職於萊斯特大學醫學院及萊斯特區域國家保健計劃的 醫學圖書館。我在2007年出掌萊斯特大學圖書館，其時圖書館正進行大型興建項目， 籌劃大樓及圖書館服務的現代化事宜，實在讓人興奮。未幾，東亞又向我招手，給我管 理中國沿岸一間研究型大學的圖書館系統的機會。孩子既已長大成人，我也想在事業 上來個轉變，迎向新的挑戰，遂接受中大的聘任。 數碼化已成為圖書館人員間的流行術語，中大在這方面表現如何？ 我們着實做得不錯。最新統計顯示九成新增館藏已有電子版，包括期刊、書籍或原始 檔案資料。向同一出版商大量訂購電子版及印刷版，讓我們可較輕鬆地添購更多書籍 及舊期號，支出也可省減些。 但這不表示會停止購置印刷本，去年我們便增添了約六萬五千項紙本書籍，已到達臨 界點。館藏書目中有近四百萬的電子書，其中一半是中文的。 我們亦在把善本書數碼化，特別是元清兩代及關於中國東南部文化、歷史和民俗學的 書籍。善本書數碼化十分重要，除有助保存，亦可供世界各地學者和讀者閱讀。 數碼化怎樣影響採購書冊和期刊？ 電子版革新了學術書籍出版業，直接影響我們的工作。學術專著價格昂貴，且印數不 多。出版商現多先出電子版，圖書館先備列各種電子書，但只在某書目經過若干次下載 後，才需付款。這稱為「讀者主導的訂購」，可說最具成本效益。為了照顧那些仍想讀印 刷本的讀者，有些圖書館提供「隨需列印」的服務，符合環保。 圖書館有協助學生善用各項電子資源嗎？ 過去，我們協助學生檢索特別難找的資料，現在則轉個方向。互聯網上的文獻浩如煙 海，我們要幫助他們善加運用和敏於識別。我們有責任協助用者有操守地充分利用互 聯網。以社交媒體為例，證據顯示，即使簡單如在網誌談論你的研究，也可助增加引述 次數。傳統的著作引述分析非常複雜，用者需要支援。可是，現今信息計量學涵蓋著作 被下載、發文、社交標記等社會媒介影響，又是另一門學問。學生需要各種支援，以在 浩瀚的網絡世界中定位，教學人員也需協助以應對瞬息萬變的學術出版環境。 大學圖書館還推出哪些新猷？ 「進學園」這個廣受歡迎的絕妙構思早在籌劃圖書館擴建時便出現，我不敢掠美。「進 學園」帶來圖書館的全新概念，為學生提供學習共享空間，也利於圖書館創新嘗試。我 們仍然提供寧靜的思考環境，要是校友回到圖書館，會發現新裝修後的主閱讀室像家 一般，過往佔據參考書室的大桌子已移走，同事們既長駐回答查詢，更穿梭往來，主動 協助學生。我們已與自學中心結成夥伴，藉舉辦一系列的香港作家工作坊，以提升學生 的寫作水準。我期望稍後與學生會及各學會商談合作形式，如在圖書館舉行讀書會、工 作坊等，為推廣校園閱讀文化盡一分力。 在香港有甚麼消閒活動？ 首先，我愛美食。香港菜市場的五彩紛呈的食物讓我着迷，我定要買些家鄉沒有的海鮮 回家試着烹調。我亦是欖球迷，那是受了兒子的影響，我熱切期待明年舉行的國際欖球 七人賽。在英國我也熱衷園藝，現在暫將陽台充作老家的花園，會種些熱帶植物。