MAKING IT HAPPEN ANNUAL REPORT 2011/2012 A LIBRARY IS AN ENCHANTING PLACE THAT IGNITES IMAGINATION. A TREASURE TROVE VISION AND OFFERING BOUNDLESS KNOWLEDGE, THOUGHTS AND IDEAS. A SANCTUARY TO REFRESH THE MISSION MIND AND SOUL. WHERE ONE LEARNS, DISCOVERS AND GROWS. Readers for Life, Learning BY DOING WHAT WE DO WITH PASSION AND CONSTANTLY ENHANCING OUR SERVICES Communities, Knowledgeable Nation AND PROGRAMMES, WE CREATE NEW OPPORTUNITIES. OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE PRESENT GENERATION. OPPORTUNITIES FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS. MAKING IT HAPPEN. CONTENTS 2 Message from Chairman and Chief Executive Officer / 4 Board Members / 6 Senior Management / 8 DEVELOPING INSPIRING COMMUNITY SPACES / 12 NURTURING READERS FOR LIFE / 20 CONNECTING TO A WORLD OF KNOWLEDGE / 26 REDISCOVERING OUR PAST / 34 FOSTERING A LEARNING COMMUNITY / 40 Partners Who Brought Our Books to the Less Privileged / IBC Generous Donors Who Enriched Our Collections MESSAGE FROM CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER These are exciting times for libraries. In Singapore, the library continues to PRESERVING MEMORIES FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS be a well-loved public institution with 36 million visits in FY 2011. At the We launched the Singapore Memory Project in August 2011 with a target to same time, a wealth of information is instantly and constantly available on collect five million memories by 2015. This initiative enables Singaporeans a range of mobile devices. Our visitors are getting more discerning about to play an active role in co-creating a shared narrative of our nation. We their reading and information needs. They also expect good, quick and have started strongly with a collection of 300,000 memories. More than efficient service from us. Increasingly, we see greater public interest in 120 partners have come onboard to lend their support. Beyond the numbers, co-developing programmes and services. These trends offer both challenges we are developing a treasure trove of life experiences authored by ordinary and opportunities for us. Singaporeans. The stories, photographs and videos will provide future generations with insights into how Singapore has evolved. It will also be a The National Library Board (NLB) has stayed ahead by continuously collective gift from us to them. scanning the environment and anticipating new patterns in our customers’ lifestyle, expectations and needs. We have been able to respond quickly by SHOWCASING OUR LITERARY HERITAGE AND HISTORY embracing a culture of innovation and inventiveness. More importantly, this To enhance the appreciation of our heritage, we continued with our series culture of pioneering new initiatives and service improvements has been of exhibitions focusing on literary pioneers of Singapore. This year, we part of our organisational DNA. organised exhibitions showcasing the literary works of award-winning writers Yao Zi, Abdul Ghani Hamid and P Krishnan. To acquaint our visitors It has been another eventful year for NLB. Our visitors have been reading with the rich history behind Singapore roads, we launched the Stories voraciously and our book and audio-visual loans have gone up to 37 million. Behind Singapore Streets exhibition. To coincide with the 70th anniversary This year, we had close to 9 million visits to our digital library. of the battle for Singapore, two exhibitions, Four Days in February: Adam Park the Last Battle and Images of Internment: The Eye and Art of William GROWING OUR LIBRARY NETWORK Haxworth were held. These exhibitions depicted the harsh conditions of war This year we have also brought the total number of public libraries up to and the courage and resilience of the human spirit. 24 with the opening of Clementi Public Library. It is the first public library to have Interactive Digital Storytelling Kiosks. We also laid the ground for CREATING NEW READING EXPERIENCES the upcoming library@orchard which is targeted to be opened in 2014. Our annual signature reading initiative, READ! Singapore has grown in Through the DEAR@Community membership scheme, we collaborated with strength and touched more than 215,000 people. To cater to an increasing more than 600 partners including grassroots organisations and educational number of mobile users, we launched the MobileRead application. So far, centres to create additional channels for the public to loan library books. 63,000 READ! Singapore eBooks have been downloaded by iPhone users. We continue to encourage children and youth to read through innovative While growing our network of libraries, we have not forgotten those programmes such as Quest and Conquest, which are bundled with games who may not be able to make regular visits to the libraries. Molly, our and comics. Our kidsREAD programme conducted at 120 clubs has benefited mobile library bus, brings books and audio-visual materials closer to 16,000 children from low income families. their doorstep. We relaunched Molly with 3,000 carefully selected items, iPads, and an in-built book drop. It is also equipped with a ramp for the Our volunteer engagement and outreach programmes such as Project Deliver wheelchair-bound. So far, Molly has served more than 230,000 users from Me, Molly our mobile library, reading and language promotion campaigns 400 organisations including special education schools, volunteer welfare have been instrumental in connecting us with our diverse audience. organisations and homes. FORGING COLLABORATIONS EXPANDING OUR ERESOURCES We have forged fruitful collaborations and professional exchanges with Since the launch of our eResources in 2005, we have steadily expanded many foreign partners. These have allowed us to emulate best practices the range of products and services. We have amassed an eBook collection and create new pathways to deliver quality resources and services. A key of 2.2 million. This year, we added two microsites: PictureSG with 18,000 highlight of 2011 included the renewal of our partnership with the National images of Singapore and BookSG with more than 15,000 books and Library of New Zealand on the development of digital library services for magazines of yesteryear. Our readers also have a wider choice of digitised schools and the professional capabilities of our staff. Chinese novels, poetry, travelogues and magazines published between 1950 and 1970, which were donated by the Youth Book Company and the World We are also honoured to be given the opportunity to host the 79th Book Company. Besides English language newspapers, researchers can now International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions’ World look up past issues of the Lianhe Zaobao, Sin Chew Jit Poh, Nanyang Siang Library and Information Congress, which will be held in August 2013. Pau, Berita Harian, and Tamil Murasu at NewspaperSG. We look forward to hosting more than 3,000 delegates from all over the world, who will come to Singapore to explore and chart the future directions for libraries. 2 NLB / Making It Happen ANNUAL REPORT 2011/2012 PEOPLE AND ORGANISATIONAL EXCELLENCE THE WAY FORWARD These achievements were made possible by the passion, dedication and Moving ahead, we strive to deliver a good library experience for all our tireless efforts of our colleagues. Thus, it is with pride that we received customers by enhancing customer engagement and increasing collaboration the Singapore Quality Award. This is the second time that we have with partners. As knowledge sources rapidly become more complex, NLB’s bagged this award which recognises the overall strength of NLB as an library spaces, collections and resources provide our customers with the organisation, and in particular, our customer-centric culture and leadership assurance that they have the means for lifelong learning. Our customers in service innovation. are our most important partners in our journey to improve. It is by involving, consulting and co-creating with our customers that NLB hopes to continue being a well-loved public service. Ms Yeoh Chee Yan Mrs Elaine Ng Chairman Chief Executive Officer ANNUAL REPORT 2011/2012 NLB / Making It Happen 3 8 7 4 6 5 2 BOARD MEMBERS 1. 2. 3. 4. MS YEOH CHEE YAN MRS ROSINA HOWE-TEO JOO LIN MS GOH ANN NEE MRS TENG SOON LANG Chairman Group Director & Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President, National Library Board; Chief Innovation Officer, City Developments Limited Head (Group Quality & Permanent Secretary Land Transport Authority Service Excellence) (Education Development), OCBC Bank Ministry of Education 5. 6. 7. 8. MDM LIM YEN CHING MR ARTHUR FONG MR TIMOTHY TEO LAI WAH MR JOHN KOH Director Managing Director, Director, Independent Director, Curriculum Planning and Greater China Market Head St Luke’s Eldercare Ltd NSL Limited Development Division, Bank of Singapore Ministry of Education 4 NLB / Making It Happen ANNUAL REPORT 2011/2012 11 10 9 13 12 14 1 3 9. 10. 11. NOT IN PICTURE MR DHIRENDRA SHANTILAL MR KWA CHONG GUAN MR TAN HANG CHEONG MS ANN LAVIN Head (Policy and Government Affairs) Senior Vice President, Head, External Programmes Principal, Google Asia Pacific Pte Ltd Asia Pacific S. Rajaratnam School of Singapore Polytechnic Kelly Services (Singapore) Pte Ltd International Studies MR ZAHIDI ABDUL RAHMAN Nanyang Technological University Architect Zahidi A R Arkitek MR KOK PING SOON 12. 13. 14. Director MS RAHAYU BTE MAHZAM MR LIEW CHOON BOON MS LIM SUAT JIEN National Security Centre, PMO (NSCS) Partner, Senior Director, Managing Director, Television M/s Heng, Leong & Srinivasan Industry & the Arts MediaCorp TV Singapore Pte Ltd (Advocates & Solicitors) Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts ANNUAL REPORT 2011/2012 NLB / Making It Happen 5 2 4 7 6 5 3 1 SENIOR MANAGEMENT 1. 2. 3. 4. MRS ELAINE NG MR BEH CHEW LENG MR LEE KEE SIANG MR WILLIAM TAN Chief Executive Officer Senior Director Director Director Resource Discovery & InfoComm Finance & Administration Management 5. 6. 7. MRS KIANG-KOH LAI LIN MS JENNIFER YIN MR SUNDRARAJ THAVASIKKANNU Director Director Director Reading Initiatives Language Councils Communications & Development Secretariat 6 NLB / Making It Happen ANNUAL REPORT 2011/2012 11 8 9 10 12 13 8.