2013/14
NTU LIBRARIES YEAR IN REVIEW
MESSAGE FROM THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIAN All of us, whether we are students, professors, administrators or researchers use information to continuously build our knowledge as we engage in learning, teaching and research activities. Our Library, like other leading academic libraries worldwide, not only provides access to valuable scholarly information resources but more importantly, supports our users in engaging with information effectively, turning it into knowledge that is unique to each of us. For example, we teach students essential information literacy skills so that they can use systematic approaches in gathering information when undertaking academic research, are keenly aware of academic integrity issues and in general, become better self-directed and life-long learners. For teaching staff, we explore with them new ways to enhance their work, for example developing course blogs and providing open educational resources and clearing copyright in creating online training course materials. For researchers, we find ways to enhance their presence in the scholarly communication environment through open access initiatives and anticipating data management requirements. In this annual review, we highlight some of the key activities that our Library engaged in during AY13/14 to help contribute to the success of our users. We designed the review for easy reading and with just enough information to give readers a flavour of activities of our library staff. We hope that you will find it informative and that it will encourage you to continue to make effective use of our library services and to work together with us on developing and improving our services to you.
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“Our Library’s mission is to enable staff and students in NTU to engage optimally with the ever changing information environment in order to succeed in their research, learning and teaching goals.”
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Choy Fatt Cheong, University Librarian 2
contents
01 02 03
Harnessing The Digital Environment E-books and Other E-resources Technology
Partnering in Research And Scholarship Facilitating Open Access To Research Preparing For Data Providing Quality Citation Services Supporting Digital Scholarship
Partnering in Teaching And Learning Ensuring Information/Digital Literacy Supporting Online Learning Initiatives Customizing Blogs For Course Support Creating Vibrant Learning Communities
04 05 06
Collaboration And Knowledge Exchange Library Leadership International Partnerships Campus Collaboration Papers and Presentations
Organizational Directions - Shifts, Emphasis, Strategies Streamlining Resource Acquisition And Discovery Redeploying To Support New Initiatives Subject Librarians In Action Investing In Expertise At All Levels
Library Statistical Highlights
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01. HARNESSING THE DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT Advanced digital collections and technology-enriched services are a hallmark of NTU Libraries, allowing anytime, anywhere access to resources and services from your desktop or your preferred mobile device. Our electronic collection is of world-class calibre, and our innovative use of technology underlies ALL library services and functions, helping our users adopt and adapt to an increasingly digital environment.
E-books and Other E-resources
E-books Our e-books collection is poised to outnumber print in the very near future with over 642,000 titles in our collection. Taking advantage of emergent pay-per-use and patrondriven-acquisition models add over 200,000 more titles. Depending on publisher models, many of these books can be downloaded to mobile devices for offline reading, meeting the preferences of our users for on-the-go access.
E-journals, databases and other resources Usage of our entire collection (e-journals, databases, e-books, etc) is consistently very high, evidence of the impact of such collections on the University’s teaching, learning and research. On average, our users download about 20,600 articles from our various resources per working day. Still... print resources also remain highly used, especially books in certain disciplines and textbooks in all disciplines. 4
01. HARNESSING THE DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT Technology Discovering the most relevant resources in an electronic environment is a challenge – our response is continuous improvement in interface design and functionality. An enhanced search interface to the Library’s main search engine, OneSearch (based on the EBSCO Discovery System), was designed and released, allowing users to easily narrow by type (books, articles, AV, etc.) and also to easily launch into more specialized databases when needed. Response from users have been uniformly positive. We have also implemented a book cover display widget to aid in online discovery of new titles; book return bins were upgraded with RFID technology for real-time updating of records; and a new “digital asset” module was implemented for the development of NTU digital projects. This module allows for the showcasing of NTU’s unique and innovative digital research output and facilitates the discovery and use of this valuable content by a global audience.
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Did you know... you are using RFID technology when you return a book in a library book bin?
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02. PARTNERING IN RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP More than providing resources for research, NTU Libraries also provide a growing suite of services to faculty and researchers to assist them in successfully undertaking, disseminating and increasing the impact of their research in a changing scholarly communication environment.
Facilitating Open Access To Research
Preparing for Data
Having long been a pioneer in providing and promoting open access, NTU Libraries welcomed the A-STAR open access mandate in August 2013. We coordinated a major outreach campaign to educate and support our faculty in complying with both the new mandate from A-STAR and the existing NTU open access mandate. Internally coined as our “OA Blitz”, subject librarians personally approached faculty to assist in depositing papers in our digital repository (DR-NTU) on their behalf, resulting in over 1,300 newly deposited open access articles. Over 8,000 new records were added this year and the repository registered more than 760,000 downloads. Photo by Eric Fischer/ CC BY 2.0 /Cropped from original
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NTU Libraries is an OA pioneer with DR-NTU being Singapore’s first OA repository back in 2006.
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Data management and curation is an exciting new area gaining increasing importance in major research institutions worldwide. The Library has been playing a proactive role in proposing systematic data management practices to support the University’s research integrity programme. This includes the drafting of a data management plan to aid accountability in the research process and email archiving rules for good record keeping. Our librarians have been able to transform their traditional strength in information organization, metadata standards, search and retrieval to support the research and data management environment.
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02. PARTNERING IN RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP
Providing Quality Citation Services
Supporting Digital Scholarship Research output has gone beyond books and articles, and capturing digital research output on behalf of their institutions is a new role for academic libraries. We embarked upon several pilot projects this year using two different digital project platforms in anticipation of this growing area of scholarship. Our pilot projects included photos, artworks, and original bibliographies, and we anticipate many more to come in the future.
Who better to ensure your citation count is as complete as possible? Providing support for citation services has expanded this year, as we worked closely with NSS-HR and School HR partners to offer a comprehensive citation report service for faculty who are candidates for promotion and/or tenure. Templates and procedures were drafted and accepted, and we are ready to offer the service with the next round of P&T in early AY14/15. We are confident that providing a standard, non-interpretative, high quality citation report will be a benefit both to individual faculty and to P&T Committees.
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03. PARTNERING IN TEACHING AND LEARNING Our librarians are skilled facilitators of learning in both traditional and non-traditional ways – providing instruction in research skills and academic integrity, supporting online learning with copyright and resource advice, assisting faculty in using social media to engage students, and in creating co-curricular learning spaces in libraries and online.
Ensuring Information/Digital Literacy
Supporting Online Learning Initiatives NTU launched its first MOOCs in 2014 and the Library was proud to offer its expertise to support this exciting educational endeavour. We worked closely with faculty and learning designers on copyright, licensing, sourcing for open resources, and attribution requirements on both MOOCs and other (internal) online initiatives.
With a suite of instructional services aimed to give our students the information literacy “edge” in our complex digital world, and about 70% of all undergraduate students benefiting from such course-integrated instruction at the request of our faculty, we were tasked by the Library Committee with proposing a strategy to ensure that 100% of undergraduates are skilled and thoughtful in this area. The proposal, “Supporting NTU Education with the Information Literacy Advantage: A Proposal for Undergraduate Student Learning” is in pending discussion by the Library Committee. We also focused our professional development efforts this year on teaching and learning, resulting in outcomes-based, activity-centered learning for our students.
Customizing Blogs For Course Support Our popular “blogs@NTU” service has expanded and matured in the area of course support this past year. Not only are we providing a platform, but our librarians are embedded into such projects, working closely with faculty and students to support a variety of learning goals. Our involvement ranges from providing advice on the structure and organization of course blogs, to embedding relevant resources and services, to teaching students how to create effective blogs to share information and communicate as part of their coursework.
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03. PARTNERING IN TEACHING AND LEARNING Creating Vibrant Learning Communities
We take pride in our role as co-curricular educators providing a range of learning opportunities for the NTU community, in our physical spaces and online. Not only did we curate 46 exhibitions on a range of topics over the past year, but the vast majority of them are in collaboration with students. Student curated exhibitions provide a double learning opportunity - for those students sharing their work, and for those who are subsequently exposed to this work in public spaces. Beyond exhibitions, we organized 45 talks and events on an eclectic variety of topics including creative writing, society and politics, 3D printing, art, MOOCs, and our series of Academic Publishing talks which are very popular with PhD students and early career academics.
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Learning outside the classroom is alive and well at the Library with over 90 talks, events and exhibitions last year.
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04. COLLABORATION AND KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE NTU Libraries is a highly respected, internationally engaged academic library evidenced by requests for our training programmes, our high number of international visitors, and our active participation in local, regional and international library organizations and conferences. We are very proud that our librarians contribute to the excellent reputation of NTU, at home and abroad.
Library Leadership
International Partnerships
As a leader in academic libraries, NTU Libraries was invited to provide an international training experience for 22 academic librarians from across China, with a specific focus on subject librarian services and scholarly communication trends, areas in which we are known to have strong expertise. Our Professional Internship Programme for International Librarians (PIPIL) was offered this year (every 2-3 years) and was fully subscribed yet again with future library leaders from around the region. We get many requests to run this month long intensive programme more often than we can manage – a sign that it is well regarded and highly appreciated in the region.
Two new MOUs were signed with Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Xiamen University for the purpose of collaborative projects, professional development and resource exchange. As part of regional and international library groups AUNILO, LATN and IATUL, this year we have engaged in projects on library support for open education, professional development strategies, and information literacy.
Campus Collaboration Librarians work closely with many campus partners to achieve university goals. Beyond those examples found in other sections of this report, this past year WKWSCI took our hugely successful student FYP Exhibition from the Communication and Information Library “on the road” to Junior Colleges to help in recruitment activities. Our Chinese Library has worked with the Chinese Division on a multi-pronged approach to promote their Chinese-Writer-in-Residence program with events and a blog to collect and collate all materials related to the programme over time. We provided a total of 6 lectures on library management to senior Chinese university administrators in collaboration with the Nanyang Centre of Public Administration. Beyond our international librarian visitors, we also introduce our library to a range of visitors as part of broader campus initiatives. 10
04. COLLABORATION AND KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE Papers and Presentation NTU librarians are active conference presenters and invited speakers, sharing our knowledge and learning from our global professional colleagues. Chia, Y.B., Sum, W.Y., Tan, , Wee, J.F. & Wilcox, E. (2013). Enhancing learning using emotional capital theory. Poster presented at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress 2013 satellite conference “Redefining and refining information literacy and reference services in the digital age”, 15-16 August. Singapore. Chia, Y.B. & Wee, J.F. (2014). Altmetrics is an indication of quality research or just hot topics. Paper presented at the 35th International Association of Technological University Libraries Conference, 2-5 June. Espoo, Finland. Choy, F.C. (2014). Organizing librarians for greater user engagement. (Invited speaker) 59th Indian Library Association Conference, organized by Roorke Institute of Technology, 22-24 Feb. Roorke, India. Choy, F.C. (2014). Libraries as a total learning system in the digital age. (Invited speaker) CIVICA Annual Symposium 2013, “Navigating the Digital Minefield – Perspectives of Professionals”, organized by CIVICA and MoE, 6 Nov. Singapore Choy, F.C. (2013), New media in academic libraries. (Invited speaker) 3rd PERPUN International Conference, 28-29 Oct, Penang, Malaysia. Choy, F.C. (2013), Social media engagement in libraries. (Invited speaker) iKMS Pre-Conference on Social Media Applications, organized by Information and Knowledge Management Society (Singapore), 2nd Oct, Singapore. Choy, F.C. & Cmor, D. (2014). Open access in Singapore – drivers and trends, players and progress. (Invited speaker) COASP Asia Conference, 2-3 June. Bangkok, Thailand. Cmor, D. (2014). R/Evolutionary opportunities for subject librarians. (Invited speaker). Office of Academic Resources Conference, 28-29 May. Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. Cmor, D. and Chia, YB. (2013). Making professional development “sticky”. Library 2.013 Conference, 18-20 October. Online. http://www.library20.com/page/2-013-recordings Cmor, D. & Litwan, R. (Spring 2014). Should we retire the catalog? Reference & User Services Quarterly, 53(3). Men, Y. L., & Chia, J. (2014, June). NTU’s “playbook” for promoting & populating our institutional repository. Poster session presented at COASP Asia Conference, Bangkok, Thailand New Media Group, NTU Libraries (2013, August 17). Social media strategy in academic libraries. Workshop delivered for 79th International Federation Library Associations and Institutions World Library and Information Congress (IFLA WLIC): future libraries infinite possibilities, Singapore. Sam, L. C. F., Ramakrishnan, R., & Venkatachalam, K. (2013). Information services for the engineering community: explorations in the hybrid environment. 79th International Federation Library Associations and Institutions World Library and Information Congress (IFLA WLIC): future libraries infinite possibilities, Singapore. Sum, W.Y. & Chia, Y.B. (2014). Using a portfolio platform as a tool to engage: A case study of Nanyang Technological University School of Art, Design and Media. Poster presented at the 35th International Association of Technological University Libraries Conference, 2-5 June. Espoo, Finland. Wee, J.F. & Sagun, K. K. (2014). 23 MobileThings: A Case Study. Paper presented at the M-Libraries Conference, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 27-30 May. Hong Kong.
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05. ORGANIZATIONAL DIRECTIONS SHIFTS, EMPHASIS, STRATEGIES Agile shifts in response to changing higher education, research and publishing environments allow NTU Libraries to continuously feed a vibrant community of scholars hungry for learning, research and knowledge, whatever the format, whatever the device (Is a print book a “device”? Sure it is!)
Streamlining Resource Acquisition and Discovery
Redeploying To Support New Initiatives
With the changing nature of information resources and workflows, three divisions (acquisitions, serials management and bibliographic services) were merged to form one operational unit – Acquisitions & Collection Management. The restructuring has resulted in more efficient utilization of human resources, improved user service via a single point of contact, streamlined financial transactions, minimum double handling, and higher productivity through job enlargement, job enrichment and staff empowerment. Changes such as these ensure a versatile workforce, trained to meet new environments.
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Electronic resource management involves license negotiations, mass record ingestion and management, integration with authentication systems, and setting up paths for user discovery and access.
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Streamlining “back-room” processes allowed us to redeploy to new library services in need of resources. Four librarians and two staff members were shifted into our Scholarly Communications Group in order to forge new services in the areas of data management, digital projects, copyright and open licensing advisory, and citation services. With a focus on NTU research and scholarship, this group will be instrumental in assisting our faculty in successfully engaging in new scholarly communication paradigms which will increasingly focus on activities beyond traditional publishing.
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05. ORGANIZATIONAL DIRECTIONS SHIFTS, EMPHASIS, STRATEGIES Subject Librarians In Action
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Did you know... Research shows that an important information resource is “someone I know”. We strive to ensure staff and students know their subject librarian!
Investing In Expertise At All Levels
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Our subject librarian model continues to work well for us, as both core services and new initiatives were delivered to our users in the context of disciplinary needs and behaviours. Communication and relationship building was undertaken through targeted outreach programmes such as the freshman ”personal librarian” programme, and one-on-one orientations for new faculty and research staff. In the past year, subject librarians taught discipline-specific information literacy classes, partnered with faculty and students on co-curricular learning activities and events, and played a key role in educating the NTU community about the A-STAR open access mandate and open access in general, again, in the specific and unique contexts of disciplinary norms.
Our expertise is the most important service that we offer to our community, so we have continued to ensure that continuous professional development and upskilling is a keystone of our regular work. Alongside a variety of personalized learning plans and activities, we held 45 internal training/briefing sessions during the year. This included our monthly series of half-day professional development seminars for librarians, and intensified service excellence training for support staff both generally, and specifically on referral and triage, which is crucial when providing research assistance services. Several of our support staff have been working towards their WDA Higher or Advanced Certificate in Library & Information Services, resulting in excellent service that is grounded in solid knowledge of library operations.
askalibrarian@ntu.edu.sg
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06. LIBRARY STATISTICAL HIGHLIGHTS RESOURCES
280,506
Loans of materials
Material type Books (print), vols Books (electronic), title Audio-visual materials, items
Total
% Increase
906,269
4.22
642,188
26.05
73,122
35.87
AV
713
0
58,941
4.24
Databases, title Exam papers
223
0.90
21,404
6.46
Student theses & reports in DR-NTU
35,321
11.8
Open access staff publications in DR-NTU
14,744
42.9
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USAGE 1,728,238
By Library
No.
%
98,064
5.67
Business
222,610
12.88
Chinese
141,626
8.19
Communication & Information
37,753
2.18
Humanities & Social Sciences
96,935
5.61
1,109,906
64.22
21,344
1.24
Lee Wee Nam (Engineering & Science) Wang Gungwu
No.
%
16,137
Bookings for facilities in learning commons By types of facilities in learning commons
Research consultations
331
2.00
10.91
Research enquiries
3,218
19.50
16,889
6.02
General enquiries
12,947
78.49
5,155,069 No.
E-journals, databases and e-books
2,643,616
DR-NTU
608,563
Library website
1,358,480
Library Catalogue
972,551
1,847
No. of instructional sessions conducted
By Mode (Research enquiries) In person
2,003
63.75
Phone
137
4.09
1,067
31.83
11
0.33
10,025
77.43
Phone
748
5.78
2,162
16.70
12
0.09
Social Media By Mode (General enquiries) In person
Social Media
Users
%
College of Engineering
3,256
43.88
College of Science
1,135
15.30
College of Humanities, Art & social sciences
2,062
27.79
Nanyang Business School
512
6.90
Total floor area in all libraries (m2)
Others
455
6.13
No. of seats in all libraries
9,549
59.17
Multiscreen monitors
4,439
27.5
Language learning rooms
1,312
8.13
College of Humanities, Art & social sciences
Recording room
596
3.69
Nanyang Business School
Cinema (including ADM Library)
241
1.49
1,571
95%
29,026
Total no. of FAQs accessed
By users from:
Learning pods
6,686
15,065
No. of users trained in instructional classes
%
%
83.07
No. of sessions accessing to
No. of document purchase requested & fulfilment rate
16,496 No.
By Type
30,603
No. of full-text document downloaded
No.
Bookings for media stations (BUSL, ADML & CMIL)
Total number of enquiries answered
233,014
SERVICES
Visits to all libraries Art, Design & Media
Circulating collection Reserves
Periodical titles (print) Periodical titles (electronic)
By Type
130
No. of blogs created for users
91
No. of exhibitions, events & talks held
FACILITIES 15,065 1,847
No. of computers for users in all libraries By Library space
627
Floor area
Seats
Computer
1,295
79
22
Request from
No.
%
Art, Design & Media
College of Engineering
731
96
Business
2,735
415
132
College of Science
163
97
Chinese
1,040
145
24
510
91
Communication & Information
354
38
10
33
92
Humanities & Social Sciences
97
Lee Wee Nam (Engineering & Science)
Others
129
953
114
20
7,604
1,009
415
Medical
150
20
6
Wang Gungwu
352
12
4
Instructional Commons
582
15
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Produced by Nanyang Techological University Libraries 50 Nanyang Avenue, North Spine 3 Singapore 639798 www.ntu.edu.sg/library Š 2014 15