Today's science and engineering
students are tomorrow's professionals. The University of Hong
Kong Libraries understands this and providing their students
with the appropriate tools is important, so the decision on
whether to implement Knovel was an easy one.
"Knovel is highly developed to meet the special needs of
engineers and scientists," says Janny Lai, Electronic
Resources Acquisitions Coordinator at the University of Hong
Kong Libraries. "The collection includes quite a number of
important standard reference works and titles from
authoritative publishers, some of which are not available on
other platforms."
Knovel's collection of
books, databases and conference proceedings from over 40
publishers is the essence of their business. Publishers
including McGraw Hill, John Wiley & Sons, Springer-Verlag,
and Reed Elsevier all provide Knovel with scientific and
engineering information. This content is fed by Knovel into a
database, turning individual publications into a single
conglomeration of trusted resources. Individually, each of the
publications contains information that technical researchers
find valuable. Collectively, they become a single resource
that can deliver instant answers to specific questions. This
aggregated collection allows students to cross-reference
several reliable sources while researching on
Knovel.
 Knovel's information delivery
platform
Knovel Library
was designed the way that scientists, engineers, and
information professionals actually discover and make use of
information and Knovel recognizes the importance of uniformity
in delivering this information. People researching on the
internet do not have time to waste jumping to different
interfaces, or interpreting results that are displayed in
different formats because they came from different sources.
The reality is that people want answers they can trust,
regardless of the original source. Knovel therefore
incorporates all of the underlying content in its database
into a common format and interface. Databases, books and
conference proceedings all appear in the same format on Knovel
and can all be searched simultaneously. Researchers using
Knovel Library search with the power of a database, browse
with the familiar feeling of a book, find information quickly,
and then analyse and import results into their workflow with
powerful productivity tools.
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One of the most unique features of
Knovel is the suite of productivity tools that are embedded
into the database. Knovel brings static charts and graphs
alive, allowing researchers to immediately analyse the data
they find. They can manipulate charts like Excel spreadsheets,
sorting by specific field, hiding un-needed data and exporting
into other applications. They can also plot data points on
interactive graphs, and even use graphs they create in Knovel
to identify data points that cannot be found in the original
publication. The graphing tools on Knovel act like a
scientific calculator and graphs, and like tables, can be
exported into other applications. "Feature wise, Knovel's
fully searchable environment, allowing the search for
properties and equations, has been a great benefit to our
school," says Lai. "Other special features such as the Graph
Plotter are just not available with other ebook systems."
Interactive tools, including tables, graphs and equations
allow students to import research results from Knovel directly
into reports, papers and homework assignments.
Rebuilding a foundation for
research
While students and professors
benefit from Knovel within the walls of the University of Hong
Kong, the benefits continue after graduation. By implementing
Knovel, librarians at the University of Hong Kong and schools
worldwide are rebuilding a foundation for research that relies
on published works, rather than unpublished web pages.
Students tend to flock to the path of least resistance when
researching. Dr. Sam C M Hui from the Department of Mechanical
Engineering at the University of Hong Kong has recognized this
dilemma, incorporating some of Knovel's database and
engineering reference handbooks in his teaching. "I think they
are useful and convenient for the students since we do not
have to rely only on hardcopies to read the references," Dr.
Hui said.
While students and professors
benefit from Knovel within the walls of the University of Hong
Kong, the benefits continue after graduation. By implementing
Knovel, librarians at the University of Hong Kong and schools
worldwide are rebuilding a foundation for research that relies
on published works, rather than unpublished web pages.
Students tend to flock to the path of least resistance when
researching. Dr. Sam C M Hui from the Department of Mechanical
Engineering at the University of Hong Kong has recognized this
dilemma, incorporating some of Knovel's database and
engineering reference handbooks in his teaching. "I think they
are useful and convenient for the students since we do not
have to rely only on hardcopies to read the references," Dr.
Hui said.
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