The campus of NTU spans 200 hectares. It used to be the home of the Nanyang University. In 1981, after the Nanyang University and the University of Singapore were merged to form the National University of Singapore, the Nanyang Technological Institute (NTI) was instituted on this ground. Ten years later, NTI was reconstituted and renamed Nanyang Technological University.
The NTU Library comprises 3 component libraries, namely, Lee Wee Nam Library, Library 2 and Media Resource Library. We visited all except the Library 2.
The digital library project, iGEMS, was one of the focuses of our visit. Ms. Ng Chay Tuan, Senior Assistant Director of the Library, presented the features of iGEMS to us at the Lee Wee Nam Library.
The University portal, iGEMS, is an extension of the library's electronic resources gateway. It was developed by the Library, University's Centre for IT Services and a commercial company. It provides a common platform which integrates library resources and university information such as courses information, campus news and departmental events, etc. Upon login, the public portal becomes a personal portal -- My Portal. Every university community member can modify his/her own profile and configure the layout to accommodate his/her needs. Users may choose to receive latest campus information of their interest, such as new acquisition list from the Library, new titles from publishers, or seminar information from specific departments. Individuals may check their mailboxes, send emails, and add events or reminders to personal calendar via the portal. Users may also keep the bookmarks of their favourite web sites on the network so that they can access them anywhere. The portal also supports administrative functions like staff leave applications, salary checking and sport facilities booking.
On the library side, users may obtain help from librarians via netMeeting. When interaction is initiated between the user and librarian, the librarian can view the screen of user's workstation and take control of the search screen to show the user the correct steps. In addition, library electronic resources are integrated in such a way that users may type the search string once, then the system can perform the same search across different databases.
Besides iGEMS, the Video On Demand (VOD) service was another focus of this
visit. The VOD service is offered by the Media Resource Library.
This Library occupies 600 square metres of floor area. In addition to
conventional holdings such as videocassettes, audiocassettes, and multimedia
software, this library has also installed a live feed server. Lecturers in
NTU may be recorded, digitized and stored on the server. Users can view
the recording of these lectures on any networked PC on campus. Moreover, users
may also request to view other visual materials in offices or quarters.
Once a demand message arrives, staff will retrieve the requested video from
shelves and play it on a machine which transmits the video to the user's PC via
the campus network. Then users may enjoy the video at any station on
campus without borrowing the physical item from the Library.
Lee Wee Nam Library: view from main entrance