Choa Chu Kang Community Library
Encyclopedia
Choa Chu Kang Community Library, or Choa Chu Kang Public Library, is 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...

 on the 4th floor
Storey
A storey or story is any level part of a building that could be used by people...

 of Lot One, Choa Chu Kang
Choa Chu Kang
Choa Chu Kang is a major residential town and neighbourhood and is a suburban area in the West Region of Singapore...

. The library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...

 has an area of 2,394 square metres making it the largest community library within a shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...

 in Singapore
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...

. The library generates an average of 1.3 million loans each year.

1997 to 2008

The library was first opened on 22 February 1997 on the 3rd floor of Lot One. It was opened by the then-Minister for Health
Ministry of Health (Singapore)
The Ministry of Health is a ministry of the Government of Singapore responsible for providing information, raising health awareness and education, ensuring the accessibility of health services, and monitoring the quality of health services provided to citizens and visitors in the Republic of...

 and the Environment
Minister for Environment
The Minister for Environment and Climate Change is a Junior ministerial post in the Scottish Government. As a result, the minister does not attend the Scottish Cabinet unless his / her Cabinet Secretary is absent...

, Mr. Yeo Cheow Tong
Yeo Cheow Tong
Yeo Cheow Tong is a former politician from Singapore. A member of the governing People's Action Party , he served in the Cabinet from 1990 to 2006, and was a Member of Parliament from 1984 to 2011....

. The library had an area of 1,477 square-metres and a book collection of about 174,663 volumes and a journal collection of 9,837 volumes.

The library was the first in Singapore to install self-check machines for borrowing and returning of books. It was prototyped with Borrower's Enquiry Machines with CashCard payment in June 1998. The library also had a Customer Service
Customer service
Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase.According to Turban et al. , “Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer...

 counter which displays a picture of the last tiger to roam this part of Singapore.

The library was closed on 1 November 2008 for the relocation.

2008 onwards

The library was relocated to the 4th floor for a larger space area. It was reopened on 21 November 2008 by the Member of Parliament for Hong Kah GRC, Mr. Zaqy Mohamad. The new library had its seating capacity increased from 93 to 233. It also has new shelves and new books. The new library was 38% larger than the one on the third floor.

The library was inspired by the nearby farming industries in Choa Chu Kang
Choa Chu Kang
Choa Chu Kang is a major residential town and neighbourhood and is a suburban area in the West Region of Singapore...

, Lim Chu Kang
Lim Chu Kang
Lim Chu Kang is a planning area located in the northwestern part of Singapore.-History:Lim Chu Kang Village was founded by Neo Tiew , a Chinese immigrant who was the sheriff of the village. The village is on the banks of the Sungei Kranji and was controlled by the Lim clan. Neo Tiew also set up a...

 and Kranji
Kranji
Kranji is a suburb in northwestern Singapore, located about from the city centre.-Etymology:Kranji is named after a local tree, the kranji or keranji . Its abundance has rapidly dwindled since the first half of the nineteenth century.-History:The first Singapore-Kranji railway from Tank Road to...

. The design concept of the Choa Chu Kang Community Library steers towards the serenity of nature, with the use of green and wood tones.

Volumes

The library currently has approximately 190,000 volumes comprising magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

 titles, fiction
Fiction
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,...

 titles and non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...

 titles.

The Children's Collection has about 74,000 volumes while the Adults' Collection contains 95,240 volumes of books. There are about 390 local and international magazine titles and 10 newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

 titles.

The library collection will grow to 210,000 volumes by the first quarter of 2009.

Facilities

The library has facilities like:
  • Online Public Access Catalogue
  • Multimedia Stations
  • Self-service Borrowing Stations
  • Library e-Kiosks
  • Bookdrop
  • 'Storytelling
    Storytelling
    Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...

     zone' (For library staff and volunteers to read to children)
  • 'Talk zone' (For users to make and receive telephone
    Telephone
    The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...

     calls)

Opening hours

The library opens from Monday to Sunday at 11 am to 9pm. The library only opens till 5 pm on Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 Eve, New Year's
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome...

 Eve and the eve of Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year – often called Chinese Lunar New Year although it actually is lunisolar – is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is an all East and South-East-Asia celebration...

. It closes on public holidays. The bookdrop is open from 10 am to 10 pm daily.

Transportation to the library

As Lot One is just next to Choa Chu Kang MRT/LRT Station
Choa Chu Kang MRT/LRT Station
The Choa Chu Kang MRT/LRT Station is an interchange station serving the Choa Chu Kang area of Singapore. It is part of the North South MRT Line and it is also the terminus of the Bukit Panjang LRT Line...

 and Choa Chu Kang Bus Interchange
Choa Chu Kang Bus Interchange
The Choa Chu Kang Bus Interchange is a local bus interchange which mainly serves the residential neighbourhood of Choa Chu Kang. Located at Choa Chu Kang Loop and connected to the Choa Chu Kang MRT/LRT Station and the Lot One Shoppers' Mall, the interchange is operated under SMRT...

, getting to the library is very convenient.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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