Recycle Your Reading – Used books become new reads at the Book Exchange!
Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2009
Time: 10.30am to 6pm
Venue: The Plaza, National Library Building,100 Victoria Street
3 easy steps to exchange your used books for new reads:
- Bring your used books to any Public Library from 11 to 24 April, 11am to 8pm. On 25 April, used books are accepted only at the National Library Building.
- Drop off your used books and get a book exchange coupon indicating one-for-one exchange for the books accepted.
- Bring your coupon to The Plaza, National Library Building, on 25 April to redeem for used books dropped off by other book lovers.
Terms and Conditions:
- Each person can exchange up to a maximum of 30 used books. There is no age limit for participation.
- We accept children’s and adults’ fiction and non-fiction books (eg. cookbooks, travel guides and romance novels) in any of the four official languages. We also accept used library books bought from previous Library Book Sales. Textbooks, magazines and audio-visual materials will not be accepted.
- Used books for exchange should be in relatively good physical condition.
- Only coupons issued with a Book Exchange stamp are valid. Please check your coupons carefully after they are issued to you.
- Coupons issued are transferable. You may pass them on to your family members or friends to help you redeem.
- Lost coupons are not replaceable. You are advised to keep your coupons properly till the event on 25 April.
- Plastic/carrier bags and delivery service will not be provided on Sat, 25 April. You are advised to bring your own carrier bags and/or arrange for transportation of books redeemed.
For enquiries, please call NLB Helpdesk at 6332 3255 or email: helpdesk@library.nlb.gov.sg
Note: NLB reserves the right to change the terms and conditions at any time.
6 comments
Uncle Choo says:
Apr 20, 2009
On my visits to the various libraries during the book gathering phase of this Book Exchange campaign, I have made some personal observations that I would like to share here.
My aim is to highlight some things which I have observed with regards to this initiative, in the hope that these insights may be useful to help the NLB understand which factors contributed to the success (and/or failure, depending on what yardstick is used).
First of all, I would like to share my personal opinion about the response from the public, based on what I have seen at the various Book Exchange counters at various libraries, and from chatting with the staff manning these counters(from 11 April up till 20th April 2009):
It seems to me that the response from the public is very poor. This is not just a casual observation at one library branch, but a general overview after visiting VARIOUS library branches.
Despite a high profile mention of this initiative on TV during the Ch8 prime-time news, I noticed that the response has been dismal.
Why is this so? I shall attempt to share my opinions:
- Hassle (spelt with a very big capital ‘H’). This is the No. 1 reason why people are not coming forward with the books. It isn’t’ so much that they are selfish, but in order to help one understand why, one must first go back to understanding the fundamental Singaporean mindset – Singaporeans are LAZY.
In a fast-paced society such as ours that places top priority on self-reliance, Singaporeans tend to prefer to do things that gives the most bang for the buck. Instant gratification with the least amount of effort is the mantra.
Incidentally, I offer the same explanation behind the reason why I noticed that many of the Book Exchange counters in the various libraries are not manned on many occasions. Not only is the response to the book donation poor, even the take-up to man these counters is poor too!! (I’m sure many library goers would have noticed this too)
At the time of this writing, there are exactly five more days to go before the actual Book Exchange event(25th April 2009).
I shall attempt to be a fortune teller of sorts and make a prediction here. Based on my humble estimates, I reckon that the total number of books that will be available on 25th April for the Books Exchange will not exceed 6000.
Lest anyone thinks that such a figure(plus or minus 10%) is ‘very good already’, let us put that into perspective:
Assuming that each person representing his/her family is capable of grabbing 30 books, this means that this Books Exchange initiative would be a flop, serving only 200 miserable members of the public!
This one day event is planned to take place over a duration of 8hrs on 25th April. I foresee that the books will be all but wiped out before PM. Simply because there won’t be enough books in the first place.
Blame it on the LAZY Singaporean.
Uncle Choo
*Uncle Choo is a Singaporean who is an avid library goer. He loves to read and goes to the library every day. He will be attending the Books Exchange event on 25th April. If you are lucky, you may be able to spot him because he will be the first in line.
Atticus says:
Apr 24, 2009
I wonder if I can use up my 50+ coupons.
Perhaps NLB can add its own books for more choices.
$.$ says:
Apr 25, 2009
Hi Uncle Choo,
Firstly my apology for the poor English as I just learned them recently.
However not to worry, based on my own experience as exchange volunteers in CTPL. We will most probably have enough book to last till end of events. In Central alone, we received average about 500 books (on bad days) and up to 900+ books on good days or weekends ( that numbers represent about 70-100+ donators)
Even in some library with lower visitors numbers, we received roughly about 200 books daily and higher on weekends (manned a few of those)
I kind of liked this since we don’t have any public libraries or such events back home.
So hopefully the event will go well till the end ^_^
@Atticus… O.o woah lost of coupons eh, no worry we lots of good books. We even got some limited edition set books (eg.Dan Brown boxed set). So hurry come early like Uncle Choo to get em…hehehe.
Cya at the event uncle Choo & Atticus.
Uncle Choo says:
Apr 25, 2009
At the time of this writing, Singapore’s first Book Exchange initiative by the NLB would probably have already ended just one hour ago.
This is my field report.
I am writing this in the comfort of home (despite sore fingers from lugging so many books back!)
So what does Uncle Choo think of Singapore’s first Books Exchange event held at the National Library at Victoria Street?
Well, first of all, do you still remember my pessimistic prediction in my earlier post that the total number of books available would not exceed 6000? Well, I was glad to see that the total quantity laid out was way more than that! Well done, everybody!!
The queue was terribly long before kick-off time and it gave me a shock at first! in my heart I was thinking, ‘no hope liao, sure no good books left’, but looking back now, it didn’t turn out that way at all, because, unbelievably, I managed to find some fantastic treasures like a BRAND NEW 2009 Mighty Minds Singapore Street Directory! And a Japanese-to-English/English-to-Japanese Dictionary(let me tell you, this is really a true gem, phrase books are common, but not this).
Also managed to pick up some great self-help books, and can you believe it – an Archie comic digest, and a ‘Lao Fu Zi’ comic too! Haha!
Logistics wise, I have nothing but praise for the organising team and staff of this event. If I could give you guys eleven stars out of ten, I would.
The space between the wagons was very generous (about the width of ten men, yup, I measured!).
The clever use of signages above each wagon categorised the books according to language/fiction/non-fiction/children. This made it very easy for users to home in to what they are looking for. There was definitely no confusion here, everyone was purposefully searching, no one was lost, everyone knew where to head to.
I have nothing buy high praise for the efficiency of the volunteer staff! You guys were even more efficient than the staff at those John Little/Metro Expo sale!! Haha!Even the layout of the ‘cashier counters’ was so thoughfully planned beforehand that they functioned so efficiently!
I thoroughly enjoyed myself and hope that this event will be repeated, hopefully to become a permanent annual fixture on NLB’s calendar.
If there is one single element that I can single out for special mention, it would be the most taken-for-granted, but in my opinion, THE MOST important element in this event. The MUSIC.
I have no idea what is the name of the young man NLB hired to be the Disc Jockey for this event, but let me tell you, the selection of music he played was absolutely FANTASTIC – from Peter Cetera to ABBA to pop hits from the 80′s, he not only helped to keep the mood at this event buoyant, but the great music helped to keep staff morale high as they went about their tasks.
I thoroughly enjoyed the music very much, please help to relay this feedback to the Disc Jockey of this event, I’m sure he’ll be pleased as punch to hear this. He sure knows the music of his target audience well!
In conclusion, I have only three words to say about this debut event. To quote from the fat Caucasian man in the corny M1 TV commercial, “I…. LOVE IT!!”
Uncle Choo
*Uncle Choo is an avid library goer. He goes to the library every day. However, he will not be going to the library for the next few weeks because he will be at home reading the 18 books he redeemed!
Michael says:
Apr 26, 2009
Hi Uncle Choo
was at the event too (ah but didnt have any coupons) but it was heartening to see the huge turn out and to see so many happy (and tired) faces as they get books for their children and for themselves. Maybe the library should do it on a regular basis (twice a year) to complement the current library book sales as well as the various events such as Bookcrossing?
Hasanah says:
May 3, 2009
Hi Uncle Choo
Wow! you’re such an avid reader. It is so rare especially in S’pore where everybody claims to be super busy all the time and no time to read(I suspect it is really bad time management). Anyway, I’m a member of The Heartlands Book Club at Bukit Batok Community Library. Come join us every last Fri of the month to discuss books. Hope to see you there…and you too Michael.