I felt that the best way to hear what the youth are saying is to tap into a media of choice for the youth, i.e. blogs and not use our traditional communication methods of posters, brochures and other announcements to reach out to them.

I invite all to come forward and give us your suggestions and ideas about the 2 new sites of library@orchard and also share your experiences on the current library@orchard.

And in the next few months, you can look forward to a ‘rocking’ time at library@orchard as we celebrate and commemorate the closure at the current premises with a bang!

Come celebrate with us!

Yesterday evening (24 Jul) Jasna (library@orchard manager) and I were casually discussing about the library@orchard blog, after an unrelated meeting. We told Jamieson that we’ve obtained approval to start the blog. But since we couldn’t inform him (the network side) in time for the media conference, we’d just say there’s a blog coming up.

Jamieson looked at us for a while. Then he asked his million-dollar “do you want to have it ready by tomorrow” question. He felt it would be a wasted opportunity not to show the actual blog at the media conference.

So he volunteered to return back to his office that same evening. By the time he got the basics set up, it was around 11pm. I received his call and tweaked the blog a little, over MSN chat with him. At the same time, I SMSed Jasna and Jillian (who would be running the blog). They were still up, preparing for the next day’s media conference, I guess. Jamieson completed most of the blog set up around 2.30am.

Then this morning, Jillian spent more time posting pictures and content.

Back then, it wa our first lifestyle library with a brand-new programming focus - the Music and Wellness series which later was morphed into other programming strands such as the monthly Networking Nites, Business and Info Tech series (the latter was organised with Imperial College) and yes, the unforgettable Library Date event in conjunction with SDU! All these and more, with the latest collaboration with SilkAir on our travel series.

I remembered giving countless accounts to impressed visitors from overseas and local organizations (both within and beyond the library world). There were always new and innovative stuff being tried out at the library - and that was the fun part of being part of the crew for this place.

The success of library@orchard became part of the learning points for me when I had to introduce a teens library space (known as the V.A.T) at Jurong Regional Library in 2004, conceptualized by teens for teens.

Now, I am happy to say that I will be continuing the learning journey to design and deliver library services for our youth and the young at heart by being part of the Moving On journey of this library right to its 2 future library sites.

Will library@orchard be still known as library@orchard? I don’t know and perhaps our users can tell us how we should name our future library. What would you like to see or not see in these two new library sites? Let us know, yes?