Viewing area in Media Resources Dept
LINUS July 1995
Lim-Yeo Pin Pin, LINUS Editor
The Media Resources Department was set up in October 1982 to provide audiovisual services in Central Library.
Viewing area in Media Resources Dept
It acquired audiovisual materials in support of the teaching programmes in the University. Acquisitions of effective teaching and learning audiovisual materials was started in 1986.
In 1988, the Media Resources Department implemented it own online public access catalogue (OPAC), developed by the Library Automation Unit using the Q&A software. With the implementation of the Library's OPAC in July 1990, users could search for media programmes on LINC.
Two new formats, compact disc and videodisc, were added to the collection for the first time in 1992. The titles purchased were in the areas of performing arts, medicine and management, and included interactive videodisc titles. In 1988 and 1993, the department upgraded its facilities and equipment to make them compatible with the new media programmes acquired.
Audiovisual materials are acquired, with viewing facilities provided, in all the special libraries of NUS.
A major on-going project of the Library is the microfilming of local newspapers which was started in 1953. In 1964, the Microfilm Unit as it was called then, started another on-going project to microfilm academic exercises and theses submitted to the University.
Photographic Unit at Main Library-1960's
In the early days, the Photographic Unit assisted the various university departments with photographic work in connection with research, publications and lectures. The work involved producing lantern slides and photographs, among other materials.
In 1966, the Library initiated a project to collect archival materials relating to the history of Singapore and Malaysia. The British Foreign Office Series and Colonial Office Series were purchased, mainly funded by grants from the Ford Foundation and Mr Lee Kong Chian. Southeast Asian newspapers are also acquired extensively.
The Library installed the ARTTel (Automated Request Transmission by Telecommunications) System in 1988. With this system, the Library was able to request documents from the British Library Document Supply Centre in Boston Spa electronically, thereby reducing the time taken to send requests by mail. An electronic mail connection with Australian libraries was established in September 1990 through the Information and Libraries Access Network (ILANET). In February 1994, the Library started ordering from UnCover, a commercial document delivery service in USA. UnCover is unique in that its database is on Internet, orders could be made online through the Internet and documents could be delivered by fax. With these additions, more than 80% of the requests for documents were being forwarded electronically, thereby shortening the turnaround time.
User education has been and continues to be an important aspect of the service in all the libraries since the sixties. As the Library is a large and complicated system that many users have not encountered before, it was necessary to teach users how to utilise the Library to find the information they needed.
From 1960 onwards, orientation programmes were conducted for new students at the Main Library. Instruction on how to use the catalogues and conducted tours were offered. A film show was also screened in 1964. It was substituted by a tape-slide programme in 1975 and by a video in 1983. Special tutorial classes lasting two hours on library resources geared to the needs of the Honours students in the Arts and Social Sciences Faculty were introduced in 1976. These classes are still being offered today. In June 1990, the Student Advisory Service was started for Honours students who needed in-depth assistance with their thesis topic.
For Law students in particular, doing research in the Library is an important aspect of their course. At the Law Library, starting in 1964, new law students were offered instruction on the general background of legal literature, the use of periodical indexes, encyclopedias, digests, catalogues and other reference tools. In recent years, due to the increased intake of postgraduate Law students, additional classes are conducted for them.
Teaching students how to use the library catalogue-1970's
At the Medical Library, the staff conducted courses on the use of the Library for Honours students and clinical students. These courses were also conducted, on request, for Public Health inspectors, senior staff nurses doing Ward Administration courses, etc. At the beginning of each academic year all new medical, dental and pharmacy students are given a talk on the use of the library with conducted tours during Orientation Week.
Getting information about what has been written locally and about the region is not easy. Library staff saw the need for periodical indexes for local literature and undertook to provide it.
In 1967, Medical Library staff started the compilation of author and subject indexes for all issues of local medical journals like Singapore Medical Journal, Medical Journal of Malaya and Journal of the Singapore Paediatric Society. The indexing of periodicals and other publications of medical, dental and health relevance contributed significantly to the publication of BIBLIOMED-SM : Supplement, 1974-79.
At the Main Library, in 1966, an index of periodical articles dealing with Singapore and Malaysia was started by the Acquisitions Department. It was maintained on catalogue cards and arranged by subject. In 1968, the Reference Department took over the indexing and the cards were moved to their department.
Indexing for PERIND on MINISIS
In 1983, the index was computerised using MINISIS. Based on this database, the Index to Periodical Articles relating to Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, ASEAN : Humanities and Social Sciences and its supplements have been published since 1984. This PERIND database, now on Library InfoGate, is available to the whole campus from May 1995. It includes the indexing done by the staff of Central Library, Law Library, Medical Library and Hon Sui Sen Memorial Library.
Currently, the Law Library has 15 on-going indexing projects, the largest number compared with the other libraries on campus. The earliest project began in 1968, when the library staff started indexing the Singapore legislation, including the Industrial relations supplement to the Singapore Government Gazette. This resulted in the publication The Tables of the Written Laws of the Republic of Singapore, 1819-1971 in 1972, with annual cumulative supplements issued from 1972 and 1980. In addition, the Library also published An Index to the Awards published in the Singapore Government Gazette Industrial Relations Supplement, 1960-70 in 1978.
In 1971, the staff started indexing the cases found in the Malayan Law Journal covering the period from 1932 onwards. This index was much needed as no such index had been done before. Also started in 1971 was the index to articles published in local law journals. As a result of the project, the Index to Singapore/Malaysia Legal Periodicals, 1932-1984 was published in 1986. The project started with five journals and has grown to cover 15 journals.
Two computerised indexing projects on Malaysian Subsidiary Legislation and Malaysian Acts were introduced in 1990.
In February 1989, the Medical Library set up the CD-MEDLINE system with funds from the China Medical Board and SEAMIC. This allowed users to search the database by themselves without worrying about cost and was much easier than going through the printed Index Medicus. From October 1989 to 1992 the Library made dial-in access to CD-MEDLINE available to its members after office hours.
The Science Library started its CD-ROM service with the Science Citation Index in November 1990. The Central Library started its CD-ROM service with four titles in July 1991. At the same time, the Law Library and Hon Sui Sen Memorial Library started with one CD-ROM each.
In February 1992, the latest discs of the four most heavily used titles were put on the campus network, NUSNET. This allowed users to search the CD-ROMs from any terminal connected to NUSNET without having to come to the Library. Currently, there are 11 titles on NUSNET and a total of 156 CD-ROM databases held in all the libraries.
Behind the scenes, the acquisitions and cataloguing departments of the libraries started using CD-ROMs from as early as 1986. CD-ROMs were used to check for new books to purchase, to provide information for interim records in the library's database and also to get cataloguing information.
Library Online Information Search (LOIS) Service was set up in April 1982 at the Central Library. It started with one online service, Dialog, which gave access to over 180 external databases. The LOIS service helped the academic researchers retrieve information more quickly and comprehensively as compared with the manual system. Currently, LOIS subscribes to over 10 online services which gives access to more than 500 databases, and is available at all the libraries.
The Reserve Book Card was introduced in November 1972. Users were allowed to borrow one RBR book on surrendering the card and they were not restricted to reading it in the Reserve Book Room. This card was issued to all students until RBR loans were automated in July 1993.
RBR at the Main Library-1960's
By 1964, the Library provided photocopying facilities and it was well used by staff, students and Library departments. The charge was 30 cents per sheet. In 1969, the charge was further reduced from 25 cents to 20 cents per sheet.
Starting in 1976, the University of Singapore Cooperative Bookstore Society took over operation of the photocopying service previously provided by the Library. As photocopying machines became cheaper and more commonly available, all the photocopying services in the libraries were provided by commercial vendors with the price dropping to 10 cents per sheet. In the eighties, due to strong competition, the price tumbled to 3 cents per sheet.
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LINUS July 1995, NUS Libraries