‘Get inspired @ your library’ was revealed as the theme to this year’s inaugural Singapore Library Week (SLW) at the press conference on 24 October. Jointly organised by the National Library Board (NLB) and Library Association of Singapore (LAS), more than 40 academic, public and special libraries across the nation planned a series of activities under the SLW umbrella from 1 to 9 November.

Primarily targeting the youth and young working adults, “SLW aims at creating greater awareness of libraries and their services and programmes,” said Dr N Varaprasad, Chief Executive (CE), NLB. “At the same time, SLW hopes to promote librarianship and information science as a preferred career choice,” added Dr Varaprasad.

Ms Ngian Lek Choh, President, LAS, commented, “There are many other things that happen in libraries that people do not see. For example special libraries provide a lot of valuable information tools to their stakeholders. So it’s important for people to see, through SLW, librarians in action, apart from just shelving books.”

SLW Opening Celebrations
On 1 November , TAG (Temasek A Cappella Group), made up of students from Temasek Secondary School, kick-started SLW with smooth and harmonious a cappella renditions of ‘Lean On Me’ and ‘MMMBop’. Their rousing performance garnered loud applause from the large crowd gathered at The Plaza, National Library Building. It was truly a fantastic way to sync everyone into a celebratory mood!

The members of TAG in the midst of their catchy performance.

Dr Varaprasad then welcomed the crowd with a little significant piece of history. “This year is especially significant as it is the 50th Anniversary of the Raffles National Library Ordinance, which back in 1957 marked the beginning of free library services to the public,” he shared. A commemorative pictorial book entitled The People’s Library was launched in accordance with the anniversary.

There are a total of 140 libraries in Singapore, with 24 libraries under the NLB network and more than 100 academic, government and special libraries. “All these libraries form an integrated information ecosystem that is critical to Singapore’s knowledge-based economy,” said Dr Varaprasad.

Guest-of-Honour Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, launched the SLW festivities. “Libraries have helped Singapore become a knowledge and innovation-based society,” said Dr Lee on the importance of libraries. “Libraries also help us to imagine, to see new opportunities and contain the essence of lifelong learning,” he further shared.

GOH Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister, MICA, along with Dr Varaprasad, CE, NLB, signing the Dream Wall.

Achieving More through Inspiration
The opening celebrations certainly set out to celebrate libraries and the librarians who help manage them. Mrs Hedwig Anuar, affectionately known as the ‘First Lady of the National Library’ was honoured with the LAS Lifetime Contribution Award, following which, the guest speakers inspired the crowd with their success stories through their presentations at the youth forum, ‘Dream Inspired @ your library’.

Mrs Hedwig Anuar (middle) receiving the LAS Lifetime Achievement Award from Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister, MICA, as Ms Ngian Lek Choh, President, LAS, looks on.

Keynote speaker Mr Nickson Fong, founder of Egg Story Creative Production Pte Ltd, who has worked as an animator for a bounty of Hollywood movies such as Shrek, Godzilla, Starship Troopers and Stuart Little to name a few, said, “My staff and I spend a lot of time in the library researching for our films, and it is with passion and a dream that keeps me going.”

Mr Nickson Fong, founder of Egg Story Creative Production Pte Ltd, sharing his experience as a library user.

Ms Lavinia Tan, Singapore’s very own Globe Trekker host from Discovery Travel & Adventure, shared her personal take on inspirations and dreams. “You’re never too old to pursue your dreams, Know what you want to do, go for it and surround yourself with people who care for you and your dream,” she said.

Besides rallying the public to ‘Get inspired @ your library’, the crowd was also encouraged to make use of the opportunities offered throughout SLW as participating libraries open up their doors and offer ‘sneak peeks’ into the world of librarians and information specialists. Guided tours, book fairs, exhibitions, talks, movie screenings and even jazz performances were just some of the activities that were organised for SLW.

Fun competitions were also held in conjunction with SLW. For the media savvy, some of the online competitions included posting their stories on how the library or a librarian has made a difference in their lives, or uploading a 60-second video on SLW’s theme of ‘Get inspired @ your library’. Lastly, schools were invited to take part in the ‘Prove It’ contest, which aimed to make learning fun and challenging for students.

Dr Varaprasad mentioned that “through SLW, we hope to offer everyone the opportunity to celebrate libraries and librarians, recognising the invaluable contributions they make, and to inspire people to use the library more in achieving their personal and professional goals in life.”

Indeed, the tremendous efforts that were made during SLW enabled the public to get glimpses into the running of a ‘living’ library. Yes, ‘living’ libraries, where resources, knowledge and staff are ever dynamic and in place to help users fulfil their aspirations and realise uncharted possibilities. So get inspired—and achieve more in your life!

Singapore dreaming—young Singaporeans sharing their aspirations on the Dream Wall.

By Wong Wai Quen, NLB