Moving On: library@orchard in transit

With the new library@orchard coming, we want you to talk to us about your ideas, suggestions and feedback. It could be something you saw somewhere else in the world, in some other library, something that got your attention, something you always wanted libraries to have, something you think library@orchard shoud have….

You can even tell us what you liked about the old library@orchard and if you want us to keep certain things the same…All your feedback will be imiportant to us in coming up with the servce concept for library@orchard!

Write to us by posting a comment on our blog here and tell us what you want!

library@orchard is on the cards to be back. Today, MICA Minister Yaacob Ibrahim was at a community event with KidsRead children and volunteers at Clementi Public Library, when he announced the good news.

library@orchard, which closed on 30 Nov 2007, is scheduled to make an appearance in first quarter of 2014. It will be part of a new shopping mall which is coming up at the site of the old Specialists’ Shopping Mall. This will between Orchard Central and 313@Somerset shopping malls.

In terms of size, it’s going to be slightly bigger than its predecessor (which was about 1,600 square metres) at 1,700 square metres. And this time, it’s going to be over two floors of the mall – the third and fourth levels of the new mall. Like its former self, the new library@orchard will stay hip and trendy and reach out to users who either work, shop, live or just play in the vicinity of Orchard Road.

While the new library@orchard is taking longer than expected (see previous post),  all three of us, ie Jasna, Jillian and Lynn, are involved in opening a new library at the nex mall.

The Serangoon Public Library will be on the roof level (4R) of nex, making it… Singapore’s first rooftop library!!! It’s gonna open next March, but if you want a sneak peek at the site, do check out our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SerangoonPL

Btw, there’s also another library on Facebook and that’s our sister branch, library@esplanade (located at… you guessed it, the Esplanade!). Find them at www.facebook.com/libraryesplanade

Finally, there’s another library coming up next year. Hot on the heels of the opening of Serangoon in March, will be the Clementi Public Library (at Clementi Mall) in May.  

It’s a busy year ahead for library staff! Wish us luck!

With love, sweat, and tears,
Jillian (formerly the librarian@orchard, soon-to-be, the manager@Serangoon)

The latest news is that library@orchard will be back sometime in 2013 (fingers crossed). We’ll be located between 313@Somerset and Orchard Central, the cosy spot where Specialists’ Shopping Centre used to be.

Right now, it’s looking kinda… empty (especially next the rising behemoths), but like a phoenix, we’ll rise from the ashes! Or rather, mud!

Links to ST coverage:
Orchard library to return
Orchard library back by 2013

Some changes are afoot in the land of libraries… to put it simply:

1. You will not be able to borrow if you have any unpaid fines/fees in your library account, but once they’re cleared, your account will be restored immediately.

2. Renewals are free! (see details below for terms and conditions tho)

Hate fines? Go ahead, save yourself some $$ by signing up for our free SMS/Email Reminder Service !

Changes to NLB Library Policy
From 1 April 2009, the following policy changes will be implemented:

Disruption of Borrowing Privileges
Members with unpaid library fines and fees will have their borrowing privileges disrupted. They can immediately start to borrow again once they pay up the outstanding amount. With this policy, members can no longer accumulate unpaid library fines and fees.

Removal of Renewal Fee
The $0.50 renewal fee will be removed for each borrowed item to encourage members to renew their borrowed materials when necessary. The current policy of allowing each borrowed item to be renewed once will remain unchanged. Audiovisual materials also cannot be renewed. All borrowed items can only be renewed before or on the due date. Items which have been reserved by other patrons cannot however be renewed.

“Members who return borrowed materials promptly will not be affected and the policy changes will not cause any additional burden to the general public financially.”
(source: NLB press release OR http://tinyurl.com/8ebsud)

NLB hit the headlines recently for a rather curious incident (nope, not of the dog in the night time!). Heh, this isn’t a “to-park-or-not-to-park” post, but something that caught my attention in the follow-up article run by the same publication.Yes, there was a reference to a series of concerts held at library@orchard way back when in 2006. [Minor digression: Rock never dies and apparently, neither do bad memories. Did you know the brain remembers the bad experiences better than good ones? Here's a quick link to a short article. I think I've also read it in Mind Wide Open... ]Back to my actual point, the concerts.Co-organised by Stomp, they happened to be a series of rock concerts by local bands. Some nights, you’d probably think another earthquake’s hit Sumatra…Amazingly, some videos are still archived on the Stomp website, a round-up of different views can be found here. All the videos can be found at this other link, but much scrolling is involved (try somewhere around Oct/Sep 2006).Anyway, we’re gonna be coming up with 2 libraries at Orchard Road, so one of the things we are busy with now is thinking up what these 2 spaces are gonna be like.I’m thinking, hard rock concerts may not be the best thing to do, but those libraries shouldn’t feel as if you’ve just stepped into an examination hall, all you can hear is frantic scribbling and the flipping of paper.Thinking “aloud”:Is the public library only for solitary reading and studying?What about creative expressions and social learning?What should a library in Orchard Road be like? Should it be exactly the same as all the other branches?How would you, gentle reader, attract teens to use the library?Or, how would you convert those (young and old) who think reading is a waste of time? Obviously, running around with a slightly crazed look in one’s eyes, screaming “read dammit!” doesn’t really work…We did a poll amongst youths, and they were keen on both “a quiet environment” and “a lively, vibrant environment”, proving that at the end of the day, that’s the way the kueh-kueh crumbles: what people want is to have their cake and eat it.- Posted by Jillian, now hungry and looking for kueh-kuehs…

To be or not to be…

It’s been about 2 weeks since the library officially closed to the public, and today’s the last day that the bookdrops will be in operation (yes, sadly no more dropping off books at Orchard by the time Ngee Ann City closes tonight). I’ve got a bunch of tragic photos (the emptiness, the emptiness!) which I’ve yet to upload.

*points left* However the un-tragic poster pic in this post, comes from k5memo. (okok, the text has got a tinge of tragedy lah. )

So what’s been happening for the past 2 weeks? Staff and volunteers have been packingpackingpacking. Everything has to go somewhere, and the books were the 1st to go, by now most of them will be on the shelves of their new homes.

Currently, most of the shelves have been dismantled and all the equipment and furniture is in the midst of being transported to other branches as well. By next week, all the stuff that’s truckable would have left the library and soon we will too…

In the spirit of capturing the ephemeral and the lightness of beings, here’s a collection of links to the memories of the Moving On party as well as some reflections after. They come from: ex-staff, current staff, regulars, our citizen reporters, volunteers…

Happy reading!

Moving On: 30th Nov 2007
Cast no shadow, wheel no barrow by laichow (Youth.SG)
Lights Out by k5memo (aka Karen)
Bunnies are distracting by impulsive fool (aka Simin)
The End of a Chapter by chnrxn
library@orchard moves on by Ian Timothy
It’s a little late but… by Regina
Good bye Library@Orchard by Alice
Closure of library@orchard D-Day by the Rambling Librarian (aka Ivan)
Live blogging from library@orchard closing by Simply Jean
Closing of library@orchard by Yuhui
Library@Orchard is Moving On by Malcolm
Orc Lang Syne by luckypotter (aka Kenneth)
The Heart Never Lies by Jloe (aka Joel)
Library@Orchard by nurazreen
theres no space by NurAzreen (cousin of the above nurazreen!)
Back track to 30th November by la bibliothecaire
Death of a Library by Keviny
hmm.. by Claude
library@orchard… by Edric Hsu
Library@Orchard moves out of Ngee Ann City by Channel News Asia

The Aftermath:
A tribute to Library@Orchard by Aaron Tan
When the old national library closed… by mshow
Memories of library@orchard by wrkshy
Library@Orchard by classiclicious
Library at Orchard closes by e4saken (aka Gavilan)
A visit to Library@Orchard after its closure by Alice
~ by Audrey

- Posted by Jillian

Jillian: Olivia has sent us another guest post, this time on a programme she attended in November. Right now, the programme zone is filled with boxes, cartons, cabinets, and all sorts of barang-barangs, all waiting to go to their new homes in other libraries…

But here’s a snapshot of what it used to be. Enjoy! 

~* ~* ~*

24 November 2007
Moved by some Moving Images

On the way up to library@orchard…

W: Will the viewing be in a special room?

Me: It wasn’t mentioned. I think it might just be in the area next to the cafe.

W: I can’t imagine how they can do a film viewing session in an open space.

Me: There are usually some performances in that space. I’m not too sure either, it’s my first time.

W and I arrived to find a big crowd at the library on a Saturday afternoon to view 10 short films by 10 local film makers. It was interesting to watch what stories the film makers wanted to tell and how they presented their stories. I’m not a professional movie critic but I definitely enjoy a well-told story anytime.

Here is a pick of three of my favourite short films, in the order they were presented.

I was very amused by the comic sound effects used in Alaric Tay’s film ‘When We Were Bengs’. The film took on the theme of brotherhood in a fresh way. Like all siblings, Heng and Bee had their fair share of childish squabbles but they soon made up. The brothers bonded in touching moments of ice-cream sharing and para-para dancing with great gusto. There’s more information about this comedy here.

The director of  ‘Zo Gang’, Jacen Tan, cleverly used a typical morning of a Singaporean on his way to work to express some of the difficulties faced by film makers in Singapore. The dialogues in the film were peppered with familiar Singaporean lingo. It’s a film most Singaporeans can identify with. I also learnt a few basic things about film making. The trailer is available on here.

I was moved by Elgin Ho’s beautifully filmed and scripted ‘Nineteen Twenties’. He dedicated his film to those nineteen years of age, whom he believed will be stepping into a transition period in their twenties into adulthood. The good use of narration and music gave the film a natural story-telling feel. 

Elgin’s message ’If you listen with your heart, you will see what you hear’ was aptly portrayed in several scenes between the lead and his sister. It’s so true that as we grow older in a hectic city, we tend to neglect and be blind to the little things in life, e.g., birds chirping, leaves rustling in the wind, raindrops falling on rocks, and time spent with loved ones. Elgin’s film is available for viewing on YourFilm.SG.

I read that The Substation has been nurturing local film makers for 10 years. I applaud the film makers for their continued efforts to make good quality local productions. During the discussion at the end of the film presentation, Alaric Tay, Elgin Ho, Fai Rizal and Jacen Tan, shared about their passion for film making and their hopes for the Singapore film industry. 

Suffice to say that we have some talented film makers with unique stories to tell. I’m looking forward to many more local productions.

As mentioned there were some tech glitches wrt to the videos that were screened during last night’s Moving On event… but there’s always YouTube!

You are the One by Angela Jean (and friends):

Thank you Citizen Reporters! by Ivan Chew:

I [heart] library@orchard by Ivan Chew:

Read on for the lyrics to You are the One, the original song by lenniez that was used in the vid.

- Posted by Jillian
Read the rest of this entry »

In this post, we’re inviting all NLB staff, friends, members of public, random netizens to leave a farewell comment/gripe/wish/song dedication.

*Thanks Karen for dedicating Manhattan Skyline by the Kings of Convenience to us in the previous post!

- Posted by Jillian