National Library Board
Encyclopedia
Abbreviation
An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase...
: NLB; ; Malay: Lembaga Perpustakaan Negara; ) is a statutory board
Statutory boards of the Singapore Government
The statutory boards of the Singapore Government are organisations that have been given autonomy to perform an operational function. They usually report to one specific ministry.*Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority...
of the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts
Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts
The Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts is a ministry of the Government of Singapore...
, 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...
. Tasked to manage the public libraries and to lead them into the Information Age
Information Age
The Information Age, also commonly known as the Computer Age or Digital Age, is an idea that the current age will be characterized by the ability of individuals to transfer information freely, and to have instant access to knowledge that would have been difficult or impossible to find previously...
where non-print resources are making their mark, the NLB is aimed towards the creation of "borderless libraries," an initiative aimed at bringing the libraries closer to Singaporeans, and to connect Singaporeans with the outside world.
The National libraries of Singapore house books in all four official languages of Singapore: English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Chinese
Chinese language
The 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...
, Malay
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
and Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil 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...
. Other than paper books, the libraries also loans CD-Rom
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
s, DVD-Roms, VCD
VCD
VCD is a three-letter abbreviation with multiple meanings, as described below:* VCD Athletic, semi-professional football team* Video CD* Voice command device* Value change dump * Vocal cord dysfunction* Visual Communication and Design...
s, video cassettes, audiobooks on CDs, magazines and periodicals, DVD-video
DVD-Video
DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs, and is currently the dominant consumer video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia. Discs using the DVD-Video specification require a DVD drive and a MPEG-2 decoder...
s and music CDs (the last at the Esplanade outlet). Its flagship institution, the National Library, Singapore
National Library, Singapore
The National Library in Singapore is located on an 11,304-square metre site between Bugis Junction and the Bras Basah Complex at 100, Victoria Street...
, has moved to its new premises at Victoria Street
National Library, Singapore
The National Library in Singapore is located on an 11,304-square metre site between Bugis Junction and the Bras Basah Complex at 100, Victoria Street...
since 22 July 2005.
History
Although the NLB was formed on 1 September 1995 only, its history began way back in the 1820s when Sir Stamford RafflesStamford 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"...
, founder of modern Singapore, first proposed the idea of establishing 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...
in the thriving colony
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
. This library was to evolve into the National Library of Singapore in 1960, before expanding into the suburbs with the setting up of branch libraries in the various 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.
Library 2000
In 1995, when the NLB took over the duties of the National Library of Singapore, it was also entrusted with bringing to reality the findings of the Library 2000 Review Committee, set up in June 1992 to review the public library system. This committee, headed by Dr Tan Chin Nam, considered the role of information technologyInformation technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
in contemporary library services for the next decade, with the aims of
- Establishing Singapore as an international information hub;
- Preserving and promoting Singapore's literary heritage;
- Providing for education, knowledge and research;
- And promoting a well-read and well-informed society.
The committee also took into consideration the library needs of public library users in general, the linguistic needs of an increasingly bilingual populance, the catering to the needs of professions who require extensive information databases, and the establishment of the library as a nucleus of national culture and heritage. After a year-long review, the Committee published their findings on 5 March 1994, which calls for six "strategic thrusts", which are
- An Adaptive Public Library System
- A Network of Borderless Libraries
- A Coordinated National Collection Strategy
- Quality Service Through Market Orientation
- Symbiotic Linkages With Business And Community
- A Global Knowledge Arbitrage
In addition, the report also speaks of three "key enablers" to bring about these changes, which are
- the setting up of a new statutory boardStatutory boards of the Singapore GovernmentThe statutory boards of the Singapore Government are organisations that have been given autonomy to perform an operational function. They usually report to one specific ministry.*Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority...
- staff development, and the
- exploiting of new technology.
The NLB was thus formed as a result of this report.
Basic membership
The NLB serves SingaporeSingapore
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...
citizens, Permanent residents and foreigners. Annual basic membership, which is free for Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents, allows borrowers to loan up to six items at any one time, which includes a maximum of 2 AV (Audiovisual) items. A one-time non-refundable registration fee of $10.50 is charged during registration. 21 days is the loan period given for books, and 14 days for magazines. If the borrower returns the book/magazine after the loan period, he or she will need to pay a fine of S$0.15 per day for books, and S$0.50 for magazines. The book/magazine may be renewed for free from 1 April, 2009 onwards, subject to the fact that the book/magazine is not reserved by someone else beforehand. All books/magazines can only be renewed once only.