Academic libraries must demonstrate empirically that library usage does contribute positively to student academic performance and, thereby, to the university’s effectiveness. While customary academic library assessment practices may not be sufficient for this purpose, the Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) Library undertook an experimental project, which intended to establish a mathematical correlation between student library material usage and their cumulative grade point average (GPA). Taking 2007 to 2009 graduates as samples, with 8,701 pairs of data, the HKBU Library was able to demonstrate its impact on student learning outcomes.

Academic libraries devote considerable human resources in delivering library instruction programs. This study attempts to determine if these instructional efforts have any measurable effect on student performance in terms of overall grades. Library workshop attendance and graduation GPA of over 8,000 students was analyzed at Hong Kong Baptist University. It was found that, if more than one or two library workshops were offered to students within the course of their program, there was a higher tendency of workshop attendance having a positive impact on final GPA. The results indicate that library instruction has a direct correlation with student performance, but only if a certain minimum amount of instruction is provided.

The collaborative aspect of digital humanities is one of the core values of the field. Specialists and organizations involved in digital humanities partnerships may include individual scholars focusing on a particular area, multiple scholars across disciplines, computer scientists, or digital humanities centers. Through a quantitative analysis of authorship in international digital humanities journals, this article demonstrates that libraries also have unique advantages that make them well positioned to contribute to digital humanities.

PurposeAfter being implemented for two years, HKBUtube (the official video streaming site developed by Hong Kong Baptist University Library) has become a popular source of videos for the university. This video site also begins to draw the attention of the community. When more libraries are starting to respond to the demand for mobile service, the HKBU Library decided not to remain aloof. Before committing itself to the provision of an additional platform, the Library carried out a proof of concept to investigate the likelihood of library users watching videos via a mobile app when the web counterpart was available. This paper aims to investigate this issue.Design/methodology/approachThrough building a small‐scale mobile app to showcase and display videos, this paper studies the use of the app and the popularity of watching videos via smartphones. To yield a more accurate result, a web counterpart was also developed for comparison of usage.FindingsThe data suggest that the usage between the app and website version was about the same. This study also demonstrates the power of Apple's marketing support, the large group of international users, and the effect of broadband speeds.Originality/valueUsage data presented in this paper support the importance of the provision of mobile video collections. This paper also offers practical information that can assist academic libraries in justifying and developing mobile services, in particular mobile media collections.

This book chapter will assess the state of digital humanities across Hong Kong academic libraries and evaluate the potential for international collaborations. A survey was administered to the eight member institutions of the University Grants Committee in Hong Kong to examine the level of engagement in digital humanities, support structure at their institutions, partnership opportunities, etc. Survey respondents indicated the importance of supporting digital humanities, but this importance has not been fully reflected on the institutional level. Hong Kong libraries have undertaken a range of activities to support digital humanities, and they embrace intra-institutional partnerships. Surveyed institutions also indicated that the potential for international collaborations, in particular, exists and is worth the efforts of further exploration. Their major challenges are building a strong faculty-librarian partnership, getting adequate financial and personnel resources, and enhancing staff experience and skills in this area.