National Library, Singapore
Encyclopedia
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
is located on an 11,304-square metre site between Bugis Junction
Bugis Junction
Bugis Junction is an integrated development located at Victoria Street, Middle Road and North Bridge Road in Bugis, Downtown Core Planning Area in Singapore. The development consists of a shopping mall, an office tower and the InterContinental Singapore Hotel...
and the Bras Basah Complex at 100, Victoria Street
Victoria Street, Singapore
Victoria Street [Tamil]: விக்டோரியா ஸ்திரீட் is a street located in the Central Area of Singapore. The street starts at Victoria Bridge at the end of Kallang Road, after the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority building, in the north and continues as Hill Street at its junction with Stamford Road...
. The new building, a 16-storey, two-block development situated in the city's Civic District, replaces the old National Library at Stamford Road
Stamford Road
Stamford Road is a one-way road in Singapore within the planning areas of Downtown Core and Museum. The road continues after the traffic light junction of Nicoll Highway, Esplanade Drive and Raffles Avenue towards Orchard Road. It then ends at the junction of Fort Canning Road, Bencoolen Street...
, which closed on 31 March 2004.
The MRT station nearby were Bugis MRT Station
Bugis MRT Station
Bugis MRT Station is located on the East West Line of Singapore MRT. It is located next to Bugis Junction, which has a direct link to the mall. It has almost the same design as the neighbouring Lavender MRT Station, save for the different colours of lights used...
and Bras Basah MRT Station
Bras Basah MRT Station
Bras Basah MRT Station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit station on the Circle Line in the Museum Planning Area of Singapore. This station opened on 17 April 2010...
.
The library moved to its new home on 22 July 2005. It is the flagship building of the National Library Board
National Library Board
The National Library Board is a statutory board of the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, Singapore...
, it brings together the core functions of the old library by incorporating a reference library
Reference library
A reference library does not lend books and other items; instead, they must be read at the library itself. Typically such libraries are used for research purposes, for example at a university. See List of closed stack libraries...
, known as the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library (Chinese: 李光前参考图书馆), as well as a public library
Public library
A public library is a library that is accessible by the public and is generally funded from public sources and operated by civil servants. There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries...
, the Central Lending Library (CLL) under one roof.
Current building
Drama Centre
Drama Centre London is a British drama school in King's Cross, London, where it recently relocated after a major reshaping of the university. The school is part of the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design of the University of the Arts London and is a member of the Conference of Drama...
from Levels 2 to 5, which is managed by the National Arts Council
National Arts Council Singapore
The National Arts Council of Singapore was established in September 1991 "to nurture the arts and make it an integral part of life in Singapore.-History :...
. On the 16th floor, there is a closed viewing point called The Pod. It is only used for functions and events, and is not a viewing gallery. From the Pod, it has a panoramic view of the island of Singapore, outlying islands, and also neighbouring countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. There are also many gardens in the building but only two are opened to the public. They offer a good view of the city, and one is the Courtyard on Level 5 and the Retreat on Level 10. The building has three public panoramic elevator
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
s with a city view. The National Library Board headquarters is on the 14th floor of the building. The building has escalators from Basement 3 to the 14th storey. It has a carpark with 246 lots. On the first floor are the main entrance and a cafe, with a big space the Plaza and is sometimes used for exhibition space. A number of old bricks from the old building are in this new building.
History
The National Library traces its history back to the establishment of the first public libraryPublic library
A public library is a library that is accessible by the public and is generally funded from public sources and operated by civil servants. There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries...
as a result of suggestions by Sir Stamford Raffles
Stamford Raffles
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles, FRS was a British statesman, best known for his founding of the city of Singapore . He is often described as the "Father of Singapore"...
, the founder of modern Singapore. This library, renamed the Hullett Memorial Library in 1923, was co-located with Singapore's first school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
, Raffles Institution
Raffles Institution
Raffles Institution , founded in 1823, is the oldest centre for pre-tertiary learning in Singapore. It is an independent school in Singapore providing secondary and pre-university education. RI consists of a boys-only secondary section , and a coeducational pre-university section...
, at a site now occupied by the Raffles City
Raffles City
Raffles City is a large complex located in the Civic District within the Downtown Core of the city-state of Singapore. Occupying an entire city block bounded by Stamford Road, Beach Road, Bras Basah Road and North Bridge Road, it houses two hotels and an office tower over a podium which contains a...
complex. It moved to a separate Library and Museum Building in 1887 under the name of Raffles Library as part of the Raffles Museum, before moving to the Stamford Road
Stamford Road
Stamford Road is a one-way road in Singapore within the planning areas of Downtown Core and Museum. The road continues after the traffic light junction of Nicoll Highway, Esplanade Drive and Raffles Avenue towards Orchard Road. It then ends at the junction of Fort Canning Road, Bencoolen Street...
premises in 1960 under the name of the National Library of Singapore
Old National Library Building
The Old National Library Building was a historical building at Stamford Road in the Museum Planning Area of Singapore. Originally completed in 1960, it housed the National Library and was a national icon for many Singaporeans...
.
As Singapore gained its independence in 1965, and as the country's population spread into the suburbs, the library, in collaboration with the city's urban planners, established a presence in the suburbs by building a library branch in most of the new town
New town
A new town is a specific type of a planned community, or planned city, that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are uncommon in new...
s built by the Housing and Development Board. These branch libraries were each considered a physical extension of the original library at Stamford Road, rather than distinct institutions in their own right, thus the term "National Library" could be said to apply to the original institution and all its affiliates.
Central Lending Library
The only public lending library in the building and located in Basement One with an area of 6,407 square metres. It has a collection of over 200,000 books, and has the largest collection of fictionFiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
books on the island. Almost half its collection are fiction titles. It has a children's section and special rooms for events and functions in the library. It also has a collection of 726 magazines, 74 newspapers as well as audiobooks on CDs. Central Lending Library has the largest number of foreign newspaper titles in her collection of newspapers. It also has Chinese, Malay and Tamil books.
Two outdoor gardens in the library add to a sense of peace and greenery in the library. The distinctive red-brick façade of the old building is in one of the two gardens. Some 5,000 bricks from the old building have been saved and now line one wall of this garden.
Lee Kong Chian Reference Library
Lee Foundation
Lee Foundation is a charitable foundation in Singapore created to aid "the advancement of education, medicine and cultural activities; helping the poor; and assisting victims of fire, flood and famine", It also funded other philanthropic work...
donated S$
Singapore dollar
The Singapore dollar or Dollar is the official currency of Singapore. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively S$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
60,000,000. Therefore, the library is named after Dr Lee Kong Chian
Lee Kong Chian
Lee Kong Chian , was a prominent businessman and philanthropist and the founder of The Lee Foundation in Singapore. He was one of Southeast Asia's richest men in the 1950s and 1960s. He was the son-in-law of philanthropist Tan Kah Kee.-Early life:...
. With an area of 14,265 square metres, it has a collection of 530,000 print and non-print materials. The Library provides reference services onsite, or via email, sms, telephone and fax. It has a full range of facilities such as access to electronic databases, document delivery service, microfilm, reprography
Reprography
Reprography is the reproduction of graphics through mechanical or electrical means, such as photography or xerography. Reprography is commonly used in catalogs and archives, as well as in the architectural, engineering, and construction industries....
and audio-visual are available. Other facilities at the library include wireless access
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
to the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, as well as the use of reading and meeting rooms. Books from this library cannot be borrowed, but may be consulted on-site.
Sections
- Level 7 - Social SciencesSocial sciencesSocial science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
& HumanitiesHumanitiesThe humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
, ManagementManagementManagement in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
, ScienceScienceScience is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and TechnologyTechnologyTechnology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
Collection - Level 8 - The ArtsThe artsThe arts are a vast subdivision of culture, composed of many creative endeavors and disciplines. It is a broader term than "art", which as a description of a field usually means only the visual arts. The arts encompass visual arts, literary arts and the performing arts – music, theatre, dance and...
and BusinessBusinessA business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
Collections - Level 9 - ChineseChinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, MalayMalay languageMalay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
and TamilTamil languageTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
Collection - Level 10 - Donors' Collections, Asian Children's Collection
- Level 11 - Singapore and Southeast Asian Collection and UNLV's William F. Harrah College of Hotel AdministrationWilliam F. Harrah College of Hotel AdministrationThe William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration at UNLV is consistently one of the highest ranked hotel and hospitality colleges in the nation. The school is named after William F. Harrah, the founder of Harrah's Entertainment....
- Levels 12 and 13 - Rare Materials Collection (limited access, only with permission)
Drama Centre
The Drama Centre is owned and managed by the National Arts CouncilNational Arts Council Singapore
The National Arts Council of Singapore was established in September 1991 "to nurture the arts and make it an integral part of life in Singapore.-History :...
. It is a mid-sized performing arts
Performing arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
centre occupying the third, fourth and fifth storeys of the building. It has a theatre with a seating capacity
Seating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
of 615, a black box and three multi-purpose function rooms. The theatre is equipped with state-of-the-art lighting, rigging and sound systems. It also has an orchestra pit on a lift that can also form a front stage extension. With its plush seats and good acoustics, audiences are assured of a comfortable and enjoyable experience. The function area and its VIP lounge with exclusive facilities such as bar, pantry and toilets are excellent for seminars, meetings and private functions. A bar and box office located at the foyer are additional means by which the Drama Centre aims to assure patrons of the highest standards of service.
The National Library also supports the visual arts scene in Singapore: it has purchased several paintings by local artists, and these are hung on the walls of both libraries in the building. Artists represented include Goh Beng Kwan, Tay Bak Koi, Choo Keng Kwang and Chua Mia Tee.
The Drama Centre has staged many well-acclaimed dramas, one of which was Animal Farm.