Media Conference on the Relocation of library@orchard
We held a press conference at the library@orchard to announce our relocation and future plans. Our CE, Dr N Varaprasad and Jasna were the main NLB speakers for the conference. Check out these slides and our press release for an idea of what the press were privvy to. The TV interviews should be up on tonight’s news programmes, and articles in tomorrow’s papers.
Read on for more pics!
(L) Jasna handling the media with flair (R) Me having my unimpressive Mandarin stretched to its limit by the Chinese press
(L) A library user being interviewed (R) Our blog!
Yet more pics available here! Courtesy of The Rambling Librarian (aka Mr Ivan Chew).
- Posted by Jillian
July 25th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
I grew up with library@orchard throughout my Uni days, and it is very sad to hear that the closing is really happening. I remember getting my dose of fiction, travel guides and lots of dog magazines from there. Will be keeping myself updated as The day comes closer. Sigh…
July 26th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
My office was near Library @ Orchard when it first opened and I spent most of my lunch time in the library, sometimes skipping my lunch altogether. Have not visited the library for a while, but still find it a great lost. It’s one of the few library in Singapore that I do not need to listen to noisy children running wild in the library.
I really wish NLB would consider a real library for working professionals & adults with not children/teenagers sector. It’s just a wild dream…
July 26th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
I just read from the press release that total book loaned in 2006 was only 710,000. That’s pretty sad isn’t it?
That’s only average of 59,167 a month and since most average readers borrow 4 items a time, we are looking at less than 15,000 borrowers a month or ONLY an average of 493 borrowers a day.
Hmmm….the Librarians need to seriously pump the borrowers details into a CRM and have a holistic view of the information. In my view, much tweaking of the library’s collection required.
July 26th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
Hi Kevin,
The second library may be your dream come true as it will probably be targetted at an working adult age group. But then again, there’ll always be some teens/kids around, even if we do not hold collections for them!
As for your comment about our stats, I don’t think we have stats on the average no of books a person borrows per visit, but from observations, most do not borrow the max of 4 (max of basic membership) per visit at library@orchard, probably bcos they are also shopping/meeting friends/watching a movie, and they don’t wanna carry so many books?
Wrt to the collection, we have to balance other factors other than pure demand, but if you have any book recommendations, we’d be happy to hear from you.
July 26th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
heh Verena, pop by more often lah.
July 26th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
Aahhh…. library@orchard was the place that i decided to be a librarian. When i was at my previous job, which was smack in town, i would always visit kino to buy books and when library@orchard opened, i was darn happy, that i didn’t have to spend money to buy my chick lit and trashy novels. i could borrow them.. and then while at the library i had an epiphany!!! I COULD be working in the library.. getting access to all the books.. and evening getting paid to read!!!
In all honestly, i tot that the library was and could be a great place to work as libraries in singapore has modernised so much since the librarian stamping books days! And of course.. librarians too!.. see the very funky OCCL thigh qi and you’d know!
Fond memories of meeting Neil Gaiman too!!!! I’m going to miss orchard
July 26th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
Just curious. Till it moves to the new location, what will happen to the books? Can the books still be borrowed from other libraries? Or we’ll need to wait till the new place is ready? :-\
July 26th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
SN: wah, i didn’t know abt this epiphany of yours! btw, i am thigh ji not thigh qi, although it’s pronounced “tai ji”
Anon-X: Most likely the collection will be added to surrounding libraries like Central Lending at Victoria St.
July 26th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
[…] still newish, but sarip has always likened the library@orchard. seems a bit sad that it’ll be closed in november. so soon […]
July 29th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
You know… Library@Orchard was the first and only library I worked with when I was a student and also part of reason I’m a librarian now. The NUS Literary Society put up an Evening of Music and Poetry there a some years ago. I still remember it with fond memories.
July 30th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
[…] magazine/ Jun-Jul 2007 (#72) I was at library@orchard the other day, just hours after their media conference. I decided to borrow a magazine, so that I’d have something to browse over […]
July 31st, 2007 at 11:14 am
[…] who left comments also told us what they liked about the collections at the library@orchard. Verena said the library provided her with a dose of “fiction, travel guides and lots of dog […]
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:38 pm
I’ve always thought of NLB@Orchard as being cool and trendy. Too bad that it’s closing down soon.
Some said it’s due to high rental?! I would think that the reasons could be multi-fold. Some other possible reasons could be low human traffic & parking issues.
Anyway, there’re many ways NLB can remain hip & connected to the public. Having this blog is one in that direction. In this WWW age, organisations/businesses should made there presence felt in the cyber world. Company selling baby products, e.g. http://babysoft.com.sg , has even moved their busniess online.
Making use of internet to connect with the public is certainly a wise move by NLB.
September 8th, 2007 at 1:50 am
Hi, has anybody check out on the website http://www.babysoft.com.sg mentioned by Jon above? I thought the design on the site was rather adorable. It suits young mommy like me.
October 27th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
[…] to be their official citizen reporters for the soon to close library@Orchard (they even have a “moving on” blog). This is great especially if you’re a library or book […]
November 30th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Thanks a lot for being the best NLB branch ever! Will really miss this fantastic place that accompanied me through my 8 past years:)