LibConnect February 2016

Please click here if you are unable to view this page.

From the Desk of Gulcin Cribb University Librarian
		Happy New Year! 2015 proved to be an exciting year filled with lots of innovation, community partnerships and activities to enhance SMU’s research and learning. We were amazed to witness the month of November as being the most popular month in the life of Li Ka Shing Library, with over 190,000 entries in November. The Library has continued to be the most popular place not only amongst students, but also faculty and staff. Now that we have so many learning spaces which double up as community spaces too, such as the Hive and Learning Labs as well as the Quiet area on Level 5, multi-purpose use of the Library to achieve SMU’s learning, research and community goals is realized. We are excited about the fast developing plans for the brand new Law Library named after Madam Kwa Geok Choo. We are looking forward to offering library services in the new Library hopefully sometime in early 2017. We are proud to announce that full-text downloads from InK (Institutional Repository of SMU’s research publications) have exceeded 900,000. We are striving to be mindful of your information, learning, research, knowledge and library needs, so let’s hear from you about your expectations, needs, thoughts and ideas. We are listening. Best wishes, Gulcin Cribb

		Kwa Geok Choo Law Library Update One of the Library’s major projects for 2016 is the Kwa Geok Choo Law Library. To celebrate and honour the life of Madam Kwa Geok Choo, SMU has dedicated its Law Library to the memory of the late Madam Kwa Geok Choo. The Kwa Geok Choo Law Library building is currently at the building stage and is expected to open in 2017. The 2,600-square-metre Law Library will be located adjacent to the upcoming new School of Law building and facing the greenery of Fort Canning. It will have seating capacity for over 500 users, and will be fully equipped with modern technology and wired for legal research in the 21st century. The Kwa Geok Choo Law Library and the Li Ka Shing Library will provide access to over 90,000 electronic resources, including e-books, e-journals and databases, catering for multidisciplinary research and interests. The two libraries will also provide seamless access to information services and resources to the entire SMU community.

		New look for library website The Library homepage has been enhanced to present up front quick access to useful information, such as guides on how to get started on researching for projects, useful and relevant resources for different disciplines, contact information for subject experts for more advice, as well as a link to the Library Heatmap – a space finder tool where you can see at a glance where the less congested areas of the library are. Check it out and library [at] smu.edu.sg (subject: Library%20homepage) (let us know what you think)!

		PC booking system coming soon! A PC booking system will be rolling out in the month of February. You will soon be able to make a booking to use the PCs on Level 3, 4 and the Investment Studio, as well as see the 'queue' for higher demand terminals, such as the computers with financial databases. Look out for more information on the library website!

		Launch of IRIS Research Publications The Research Publications module in the Integrated Research Information System (IRIS) was officially launched on 4 January 2016. It is the first module to be rolled out for IRIS and will be the sole, official source for all publications by the SMU community (faculty, research staff and students). Some key features are: Dashboard to track publications by type and year Import of publication information from Scopus and Web of Science databases Citation information added to publication record if indexed by Scopus and Web of Science (coming soon) IRIS will eventually give SMU a more integrated solution to handle the University’s growing needs in research management, with Faculty CV as the next module to be released.

		Kanopy Looking for supplemental teaching and learning resources? Take this opportunity to incorporate business videos into your class and presentations. The Library has subscribed to Kanopy, an online video streaming service which offers over 3,000 streaming films and documentaries . Videos can be embedded and played, both on and off campus. (Access from the Library website > Databases > Kanopy )

		Heat maps from SMU LiveLabs See at a glance how 'hot' the different parts of the library is! The Library has been actively collaborating with SMU LiveLabs on a space finder app that shows how crowded a specific location in Li Ka Shing Library is in real-time. By partnering with SMU LiveLabs the library has been able to use data to consider issues like opening hours and utilization of space at a more granular level than it has been possible before. A link has been added to the new redesigned library website to allow you easy access to the heatmap, but we also highly encourage you to install the LiveLabs mobile app at http://centres.smu.edu.sg/livelabs/

		Thank you for your appreciation! It takes many nails to build a crib: "Having seen the libraries of a few other top universities in the world while on exchange, I realised, how much we've taken for granted the promptness & proficiency of the research staff, library assistants, printing staff, security staff and the cleaning aunties!" － A very grateful, soon to graduate SMU student