Allan Cho

Use of smartphones by art and design students for accessing library services and learning

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore art and design students’ use of smartphones for accessing library services and learning at the Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI). Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey involving 51 HKDI students was conducted to examine the students’ utilization of apps and the internet on mobile devices to find information for the purpose of academic learning, social networking, and collaborative learning. Findings – Survey results showed that while the HKDI students were all smartphone owners and active users of such mobile communication devices, only a minority of them “frequently” use these mobile devices for formal learning purposes. They demonstrated a keen preference to use search engines, social communications, and other diverse use of smartphones. Except for research and image/audio-visual needs, the rest of their needs and usage behaviour is similar to mainstream university students. Practical implications – The results suggest opportunities for the libraries to develop services and facilities that could better fulfil students’ information needs, and to improve the network coverage outside the library. Originality/value – This is probably the first study of its kind to explore art and design students’ use of smartphones for learning needs. In particular, the recent capability of smartphones and mobile internet speed are comparable with desktops, it is vital to re-examine the much changed environment and user needs.

Motivations for choosing librarianship as a second career among students at the University of British Columbia and the University of Hong Kong

The pathway to a career in the Library and Information Science field is rarely straightforward and unidirectional, but is often multi-faceted, with many circuitous detours along the way. There has been an increasing number of second-career in LIS emerging from many other non-LIS-related professions over the years. Many of these newcomers have made significant contributions to the LIS profession as they transfer their years of professional experiences, expertise, knowledge and skills from their former careers into the field. The purpose of this paper is to understand the perceptions and perspectives of the LIS students, and the various factors that influenced these midlife graduate students to consider switching from their current occupations to LIS as a second career.

Libraries in a digital frontier: preserving Chinese Canadian cultural heritage

As a three-year community-based research project at the University of British Columbia, Chinese Canadian Stories: Uncommon Histories from a Common Past is government grant-funded project by the Community Historical Recognition Program (CHRP) that brings together the expertise and resources of a wide range of UBC Library units and off-campus partners: from the digitization of archival material of UBC Librarys Rare Books & Special Collections; to the digital storage infrastructure of UBCs Digital Initiatives; to the community outreach and digital technology of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre; to the Chinese language online resources and community historical preservation expertise of the Asian Library. Through partnerships with community and civic institutions nationwide, this UBC-library led project focuses on three initiatives: a one-stop web portal, a series of community workshops, and digital interactive cultural game using cutting edge technologies. This paper is a progress report of the project.

Digital media internships: LIS Education 2.0

The one year Digital Media Intern Project was funded by a grant from UBCs Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund to support four SLAIS Interns (students in the MLIS program). Theywere charged with developing and delivering educational modules related to Web 2.0 for UBC students. A total of 16 workshops were offered, as well as training through a “This is Your Life 2.0” blog on which a series of mini-modules was posted. The project demonstrates that the dynamic and evolving nature of the Learning Centre is a perfect laboratory for educating information professionals for their changing roles in a new information environment, while the Learning Centre benefits from dynamic programs delivered by students for students.

Progressive Trends in Electronic Resources Management Among Academic Libraries in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT Due to recent technology advancement and particularly ubiquity of smart devices, user needs and habits of using library materials are also changed towards electronic resources, which facilitate anytime anyplace access as well as easier information search. For library management, digital resources facilitate long-term preservation together with savings of space and human costs. This lead to a trend of rapid development of digitization and electronic resources, leading to lots of changes in academic libraries. However, there are few studies providing a holistic view of this important trend, especially in metropolis of the East. To explore this trend, we interviewed four librarians in different departments from different universities in Hong Kong for a qualitative analysis on various aspects such as digital versus print, user expectation changes, and new management problems. Emerging issues of e-resources highlighted by the libraries includes acquisitions policies, budget implication, copyright, and access restrictions, consortium collaboration, manpower issues, workflow, and library system changes. We further discuss the practical implications of our findings, which are supportive to those disparate in other literature.

Behavior and informal learning at night in a 24-hour space: A case study of the Hong Kong Design Institute Library

This study explores the evening activities of students at the Hong Kong Design Institute in Zone24, a 24-hour opening learning space managed by Hong Kong Design Institute Learning Resources Centre, also referred to as the Library. In doing so, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of 24-hour learning spaces. Qualitative research was undertaken to identify and compare the students’ behaviors between daytime and night in Zone24. In addition, this study investigates how overnight activities in the learning spaces facilitate a student’s learning. The result of this study can contribute to improving librarians’ or administrators’ understanding of students’ needs at night in a 24-hour learning space in order to implement more effective programs and services for users.