The Library has been building its popular book collection for a while, in response to many calls for more leisure reading. The Popular Books corner on Library G/F has been up and running since June, with an inviting sample of general fiction, biographies, picture books, bestsellers, award winners, etc. Do drop by and dig up a good read. If you search SmartCat, pay attention to the Location filter. You can easily identify which of your results are popular books. Due to space constraints, many popular titles are still kept on LG3/4. If you have a favorite author or book that we do not already have, please send your recommendations to lbcoll@ust.hk.

More and more users prefer to read books on a portable device; it is a much lighter option and the device will support some nice and useful functionalities. This Fall, the Library will be circulating Kindles with preloaded popular books. Stay tuned!
 

For classical music lovers, HKUST Library has subscribed to two online streaming services: Naxos Music Library (NML) and Naxos Video Library (NVL). Naxos, a Hong Kong based record label, is renowned for providing a broad repertoire of CD and DVD in good quality. Streaming services now make their music accessible from anywhere, anytime.

Available for HKUST since 2006, NML is a musical treasure trove for listeners to explore. It provides access to nearly 75,000 CDs from the catalogues of over 400 independent labels. Every month, over 1,000 CD-length recordings are added, mostly in classical music with some jazz, world, and classic rock.

A newer service, NVL provides over 1,400 concerts, operas, ballets and documentaries on music from labels such as Opus Arte, Arthaus, Dacapo, and EuroArts. Videos are streamed at up to DVD quality. Subtitles and libretto are included when available.
 

Videos are leaving discs and heading towards "the cloud"! No longer subject to the constraint of physical form, HKUST Library now provides thousands of documentary and news videos in streaming format. This means no check-out and no need for a special player. The streaming documentary and current affairs video collection has 3 major sections.

• Hong Kong Current Affairs TV programs
  Since the mid-2000s, HKUST Library and other JULAC libraries have cooperated to record and share cataloing for licensed local television current affairs shows from ATV, RTHK, and TVB. Where once it was difficult for instructors and students to find material about local issues, we now enjoy a wealth of topical material usually available within a month of broadcast. Browse @ http://catalog.ust.hk/stream/, or see the latest additions via RSS feed at http://catalog.ust.hk/stream/xml/stream.xml
   
• World History in Video
  With 1,000+ hours of streaming video from 1,750 critically acclaimed documentaries, it provides a global survey of history from the earliest civilizations to the 21st century. The videos incorporate primary sources, like archival images and documents, and (in the modern era) interviews with participants.
   
• Filmakers Library Online
  This collection has ~900 documentaries from around the world, covering a broad range of humanities and social science issues. Learn more in the April 2012 issue of Library Notes.