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OVID Comes to HKUST
The Library will soon be introducing cutting-edge access technology from OVID Technologies, Inc. for several full-text databases. OVID provides abstract databases and full-text journals in a networked environment. OVID uses an advanced database search engine with hyper-linked documents that enhance retrieval capabilities and greatly benefit the researcher. Hyper-linking is an exciting feature where the citations in the abstract database are linked to the full-text of the journal. Then, in turn, the citations within each journal article are linked to their corresponding full-text. This Ovid Technologies - continued on page 3
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COLLECTION SPOTLIGHT: Full-text
Online Journal Subscriptions
Many full-text journals are now available on the Web. Some of you have had the experience of accessing full-text journals via the Library's Web server. You may be interested to know how many electronic journals Ce-journals) are currently subscribed to by the library, and how we decide which to acquire.
Similar to print journals, the Library goes through a rigorous evaluation process before subscribing to an e-journal. Typical factors considered include user-friendliness of the retrieval software; added value of the e-journal over the printed item; cost, if any (certain publishers allow print subscribers free access to the electronic version);
The Library of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
appropriateness to the collection; and whether the Library owns the data or not for the subscribed years.
Procedures to request subscription to thee-journal are similar to the print journal. Faculty are encouraged to fill out a New Subscription Request online or in paper form which is sent to Collection Development for consideration. Once the assessment is completed, they will be informed of the Library's decision. All full-text journals currently subscribed to by the Library can be accessed through the Library's Web server at http://library.ust.hk/res/resource.html. These include:
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Bio imaging
European Journal of Physics Inverse Problems
Journal of Biological Chemistry Journal of Micromechanics Journal of Molecular Biology Journal of Physics A, B, 0, and G
Journal of Physics Condensed Matter Measurement Science and Technology Nanotechnology
Network: Computation in Neural Systems Nonlinearity
Physical Review Letters Online Physics in Medicine and Biology Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion Reports on Progress in Physics
Semiconductor Science and Technology
Library Colloquium a Big Success
On December 6, 1996, the Library held its third Colloquium on Information Science. The event attracted about one hundredparticipants including faculty, students,
librarians, and library staff from a variety of
institutions. Two distinguished speakers, Ellis Rubinstein, Editor of Science magazine; and
Michael Keller, University Librarian of Stanford University and Publisher of
HighWire Press, spoke eloquently on the
Transformations in Global Scientific
Communication.
Mr. Rubinstein demonstrated several scientific publishing experiments on WWW
conducted by Science magazine and Stanford
University. Using Science magazine and
others cis examples, he remarked that
electronic publishing has opened up a new
arena for the publishing world. For example,
with the ability to create hypertext links to materials contained in another publication
or issued by other publishers, publishing is
no longer confined to the physical format of
an item nor materials in the same format, it
has the potential to limitlessly expand its
scope to produce the highest quality products
to meet the needs of the user community. Pointing out that librarians are expert
at soliciting information for users, he
emphasized the importance of fostering a
close working relationships among librarians
and scholarly publishers.
Continuing the same theme, Mr. Keller
discussed the new roles and responsibilities
research librarians might adopt in supporting
this transformation. He urged librarians to
assume an active role in promoting and
assisting faculty and scholars with this new
development and to become a partner in this
process.
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INTERNET: 'Usenet' Newsgroups
Like mailing lists, a Newsgroup (often
called a 'Usenet Newsgroup') is a collection
of messages between a group of people
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interested in a particular topic. But unlike mailing lists, these messages do NOT arrive in your electronic mailbox; they sit on a central server where you can go and read them. Universities and Internet Service Providers maintain these news servers for their subscribers. At HKUST, this server is
news.ust.hk
If you have a Unix account, type tin at
the login prompt, and you will probably find yourself deep into the Usenet in no time. In a VAX account, you can type netnews,
although this program is very slow and difficult to use. An increasingly popular alternative is to use the News component of the Netscape browser. Others use programs designed just for handling newsgroups, which download part or all of the messages in the groups you are interested in.
While you can do a keyword search in
tin by typing a slash "/" followed by the word
you are looking for, a more comprehensive source is the huge searchable database of newsgroup names at http://www.liszt.com/cgi -bin/news.cgi
Newsgroups are organized into a number of basic groupings. The major ones are ALT (a huge array of groups on
'AL Ternative' topics), COMPuters, MISCellaneous, NEWS (which contains news about newsgroups, not about world events), RECreation, SClence, SOCiety, and TALK. There are also a growing number of newsgroups based in Hong Kong, such as
hk.politics and hk.talk.sex. If you are interested in reading world and local news stories, the University subscribes to the Clarinet newsgroups - they all start with clari. Clari. world.asia.hong_kong is especially
interesting.
Several dozen newsgroups have been created exclusively for use at HKUST. These range from hkust.announcement to course
-related groups like hkust.cs.class.103
Give it a try- it's lots of fun! And unlike mailing lists, your electronic mailbox does not explode if you go away for a few days.
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MEDIA: New Workstations
Multimedia CO-ROM Station
In addition to the two existing interactive
workstations, a new multimedia station will
soon be arriving at Media Resources &
Microforms. The new setup, powered by a
Pentium PC, will be equipped with full-motion
video, soundblaster card, high-speed CD
-ROM drive, and a 17-inch color monitor. The
station will be dedicated to the use of in
-house CD-ROM products, including those
that come with a growing number of the books in the Library's collection.
Viewing Carrel For The Visually Impaired To assist the visually impaired, a special viewer/computer will be installed in the Media
Resources & Microforms area. The idea was
initiated by the Student Affairs Office and it will become a reality with the assistance of both SAO and CCST. At this carrel, the combined viewer/computer will magnify text and images for both print and electronic formats.
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WEB: Access to the Library
Online Catalogs
Users can now access the Library Online
Catalogs through the Web at http://
ustlib. ust. hk/
The Web interface to the Library Online
Catalogs contains similar functions to the Telnet interface. The main features include: UST's Library Online Catalog, Other Library Catalogs, View Your Circulation Record, Reference Databases, Course Catalog, and
Course Reserves.
Book renewals and searching in Chinese using BigS through the Web interface are now working. The Chinese capabilities should
become much more developed in the coming months.
Web access to the Library Catalog is a little slower than telnet access because all traffic is routed through a Web server. Yet its interface is more attractive and more user friendly in certain cases. The hypertext structure of the Web provides the convenience
that it is always just a "click" away.
Ovid Technologies -continued from page 1
allows the researcher to move effortlessly from one article to the next. OVID users will also benefit from the common Web interface
and the ability to do cross-searching of various
databases at the same time. Other features
include linking the abstracts to the Library's
holdings information, and the downloading of abstracts and articles to an e-mail account. Although OVID's current emphasis is in biomedicine, and most of their full-text
databases only go back to 1995, they are
rapidly expanding into the sciences and have
plans to add 400 full-text science journals in
1997.
In order to take advantage of this state-of-art technology, the HKUST Library will transfer a number of existing database subscriptions to OVID in January, and make them available through the Web client These
databases, previously restricted to PC users,
will now be available to UNIX and Macintosh
computers as well. They include MEOLINE
Express, ERIC, Compendex Plus, Applied Science & Technology Index, and General Science Index. We also plan to become a mirror site for OVID in February 1997 providing access to OVID Technology for other institutions in Hong Kong.
http://www.ovid.com/
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Service Notes Online Forms
A number of online request forms have been added to the Library's Web server. These include forms for Online Search Requests, Document Supply Service, Library Materials Request, New Subscription Request, Patents Request, and Photocopy Service Request. They can all be found at http://library.ust.hk/
service. h tml#form
Online forms provide you convenience and serve as time savers. Sending in your requests online is a lot faster than using campus mail, and all online requests are processed daily. When ·submitting a request online, a copy of the request will be emailed to your account. If you have more requests to send, just press your browser's "Back" button and it will generate another request form that contains everything entered from your last request. In this way, you do not need to re-type the personal data (name, email address, etc.) but just type in information regarding your next request.
Another online form is for Comments and Suggestions. Your ideas on other kinds of useful online forms would be most welcome!
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Library E-Mail Accounts
Are you still sending paper memos to the Library? Consider using e-mail! The Library has twelve (12) departmental accounts, specially designed to handle your requests. They are all on the VAX system, so remember to add @usthk.ust.hk if you are using a UNIX account.
If you have any reference questions, LBREF will be glad to help. Is there a problem with your Circulation record? Send a message to LBCIRC. LBACQ LBASC LBBI LB CAT LBCIRC LB COLL LB ILL LBMEOIA LBONLINE LB REF LBRSRV LIBRARY
Acquisitions I rush processing Archives & Special Collections Library Classes
Cataloging Circulation
Collection Development Document Supply Service Media Resources
Online Searches Reference Questions Reserve Collection
General comments/suggestions Of course, you can always send your message to LIBRARY, and it will be routed to the correct address.
University Librarian 2358-6702 MINMIN
LBMKWONG LBHOLLIN LBDONW LBCAROL LBLTLEE LBJOTSUI
Min-Min Chang Ming Kan Wong Richard Hollinger Don Wassink Carol Liheng Linda Lee Josephine Tsui Louisa Kwok Victoria Caplan Diana Chan Acquisitions 2358-6711
Archives & Special Collections 2358-6785
Bibliographic Services & Projects 2358-6709
Cataloging 2358-6737
Circulation 2358-6771
Collection Development 2358-6704
Document Supply Service 2358-6755
Media Resources 2358-6786 Reference 2358-6765 Systems 2358-6 7 41 4 LB LOUISA LB CAPLAN LBDIANAC LBLKT K. T. Lam
