..Adults 
No Comments Women play an important role in our society. There are observances established for women and/or girls throughout the year. A couple of them are fairly well-known internationally but some of them are somewhat unheard of.
Have a look at some of these celebrations of the fairer sex. Read more »
..Adults, History, Recreation, Singapore, Travel 3 Comments
Far Eastern Tourist Agency (1911). Information for Travellers Landing at Singapore
Long before Lonely Planet guides, tourist agencies and enterprising local residents already began publishing travel guides and handbooks for visitors to Singapore. Even in the absence of the Merlion, Integrated Resorts or even our beloved Zoo, there was plenty for visitors to see and do! Read more »
Think you know Jingle Bells, 12 days of Christmas and Rudolph at the back of your hand? Here’s 5 things you least expect of these familiar tunes that fill the malls this wonderful time of the year.
..Adults, Anything & Everything No Comments 
Did you know that they are different?
Both are titles used to address women.
Both are pronounced ‘miz’.
Ladies, which one are you?
Well, it all boils down to your marital status.
Ladies who are not married would use ‘Miss’, while the title of ‘Ms’ is regardless of your marital status. The use of ‘Ms’ was first introduced in the 1970s by the women’s movement as something akin to ‘Mr.’, whereby the marital status of a man does not matter.
Read more »
..Adults, Anything & Everything No Comments 
Ever thought about writing a novel but not really sure where to begin? Check out the following tips to get your creative juices flowing!
1. National Novel Writing Month (NanoWriMo)
If you’ve even thought for a moment about being an author, but had absolutely no impetus to start writing, why not join NanoWriMo? It will give you a push in the right direction, and perhaps even more.
..Adults, ..Children, ..Teens, Anything & Everything No Comments At the very basic level there is no real difference between solid soaps, liquid soaps, and shower gels with respect to the cleaning power. All types of true soap are composed of the same essential components — alkali salts of fatty acids and detergent properties. The detergent in soap, which is called a surfactant, allows oil and dirt to mix with and be washed away by water.
Liquid soaps usually contain moisturizers which is good for the skin compared to bar soaps. Which type of soaps to use depends on individual preference, skin condition and suitability.
Please refer to the following sites and books for more information about soaps.
WEBSITES
1. Bar Soap versus Liquid Soap
http://www.drversus.com/science/bar-soap-versus-liquid-soap.html
2. Dr Bronner’s Magic All-One FAQs on Soaps
http://www.drbronner.com/faqs_main.html
BOOKS
All Rights Reserved: Interweave Press, c1997.
1. Soothing soaps for healthy skin
Author: Sandy Maine
Publisher: Loveland, Colo. : Interweave Press, c1997.
Call No.: 668.124 MAI
All Rights Reserved: Greenwood Press, 2005.
2. Chemical composition of everyday products
Author: John Toedt
Publisher: Westport, Conn. ; London : Greenwood Press, 2005.
Call No.: R 543 TOE
All Rights Reserved: Atlantic Pub. Group, c2011.
3. The complete guide to creating oils, soaps, creams, and herbal gels for your mind and body : 101 natural body care recipes
Author: Marlene Jones
Publisher: Ocala, Fla. : Atlantic Pub. Group, c2011.
Call No.: 668.55 JON
To check the availability of the titles, please visit our online catalogue.
Posted by Mr Kweh Soon Huat, Adult and Young People’s Librarian.
..Adults, ..Children, ..Teens, Anything & Everything 1 Comment Event details:
Date: Saturday, 16 April 2011
Time: 8.30am to 6.00pm
Venue: The Plaza, National Library Building, 100 Victoria Street
Recycle your books at the Book Exchange! Drop off your used books* at any Public Library from 2 to 15 April, 11.00am to 8.00pm and get a coupon for every book** accepted. Present your coupon at the Book Exchange for a one-for-one exchange of books.
*We accept adults’ and children’s fiction and non-fiction books (eg. cookbooks, travel guides and romance novels) in the four official languages. We also accept used library books bought from previous Library Book Sales. Used books for exchange should be in relatively good physical condition. Textbooks, magazines and audio-visual materials are not accepted.
**Each person can exchange up to a maximum of 50 used books. For enquiries, please call NLB Helpdesk at 6332 3255 or email: helpdesk@nlb.gov.sg.
Note: NLB reserves the right to change the terms and conditions without prior notice
Posted by Yen Yen Toh, Librarian, Adult and Young People’s Services
Found this question interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email to ask@nlb.gov.sg instead of sending a comment
..Adults, ..Children, ..Teens, Singapore No Comments The newest public library opened its doors to the public on 11th Mar 2011. Serangoon Public Library (SRPL) is located on the rooftop of Nex Mall at Serangoon Central. Click on the map below to see the location of SRPL.
With a floor area of 1,635 square metres, SRPL has a startup collection of approximately 150,000 items, which include books, magazines and audio-visual materials in the four official languages. The first public library in Singapore to have a dedicated area for gaming, SRPL aims to promote learning and a reading culture by tapping on the educational effects of games.
To celebrate the opening of SRPL, an exhibition titled “Serangoon: A place like no other” will be on display at the library. This exhibition showcases the heritage of the Serangoon area, as well as winning entries of the recently held “People, Places & Recollections” photo contest, where the community was invited to share photographs on the Serangoon area.
The library has also teamed up with community and grassroots organisations to organise thematic programmes that engage both the young and old through interactive learning. Library users can look forward to programmes on heritage and green living as well as storytelling sessions for children. For more information on upcoming programmes at SRPL, you may visit NLB’s
Go Library website.
And if you are on Facebook, you can visit SRPL‘s Facebook page. Go Like it today! 
Posted by Yen Yen Toh, Librarian, Adult and Young People’s Services
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If you have a different question, please email to ask@nlb.gov.sg instead of sending a comment
..Adults, ..Children, ..Teens, Environment, Myths & Facts 2 Comments Clouds may appear to us in various shapes, but most of the time, the clouds we see are white because their water droplets or ice crystals are large enough to scatter the light of the seven wavelengths (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet), which combine to produce white light.
Clouds will appear dark or gray when they are in the shadow of another cloud or when the top of a cloud casts a shadow upon its own base.
The darkness of a cloud also depends on the sky in the background. A cloud will look darker when it is surrounded by a bright sky and lighter when it is in front of darker sky. A dark cloud does not always mean that it will rain.
More often, the reason why we experience dark rainy days is because clouds are blocking the sunlight. Some of the brightest and purest light can be observed when dark clouds “break apart” and sunlight filters through.
Source:http://sci.odu.edu/sci
For more information on clouds, you can refer to these books!
All Rights Reserved, Tarrytown, N.Y. : Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, c2010
Cloudy Days by Trudi Strain Trueit
Call Number: JP English 551.57 TRU
Publisher: Tarrytown, N.Y. : Marshall Cavendish Benchmark
View item availability here
All Rights Reserved, Minneapolis, Minn. : Lerner Publications Co., c2010
It’s Cloudy Today by Kristin Sterling
Call Number: JP English 551.57 STE
Publisher: Minneapolis, Minn. : Lerner Publications Co
View item availability here
All Rights Reserved, Mankato, MN : Creative Education, 2011
Clouds by Bill McAuliffe
Call Number: Y English 551.576 MAC
Publisher: Mankato, MN : Creative Education
View item availability here
Posted By:
Ms Chen Wanying
Children’s Librarian
Children’s Services
..Adults, Family & Parenting 1 Comment From travelling to learning how to cook together, there’s some activities for the entire family to partake.. Here’s some that you might wish to check out:
1) The minichefs cookbook
Author: Claire McEvoy
Call No.: 641.512 MAC-[COO]
2) 1,001 children’s books you must read before you grow up
Editor: Julia Eccleshare
Call No.: 011.62 ONE
3) The travel mom’s ultimate book of family travel: planning, surviving and enjoying your vacation together
Author: Emily Kaufman
Call No.: 790.1 KAU-[REC]
4) The reading bug: and how you can help your child to catch it
Author: Paul Jennings
Call No.: 028.5 JEN
5) The creative family : how to encourage imagination & nurture family connections
Author: Emily Blake Soule
Call No.: 745.5 SOU- [REC]
*The images of the book covers are the copyright of the respective publishers.
Please use our online catalog to check the availabilities and locations of the above titles.
Other family & parenting topics that you might be interested in:
Mothers’ life skill guides : 306.8743 [FAM]
Divorced parents: 306.874 [FAM]
Cookery juvenile literature: 641.512 [COO] — this can be found in the adult section
You might also wish to check out our other post on parenting books for fathers.
Originally posted by Yen Yen Toh, Associate Librarian, Adult and Young People’s Services
Found this question interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email to ask@nlb.gov.sg instead of sending a comment