From 21 – 23 April 2009, our very own librarian, Dennis Kweh, went on a mission as he raced around Singapore on his state-of-the-art battery-powered wheelchair, to raise funds for charity.

Below is the interview of his experience, challenges and plans:

Adventure 200 1 Person, 1 Metre, 1 Dollar, 1 at a time…is all it takes

By Dennis Kweh, Wheelchair Adventurer

Dennis Kweh with Penny Low, MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC

The big horn blew and I just zoomed ahead and said to myself, “Now, on the road for the next three days. Stay focused at all times.” I must say I was focusing on the path in front of me and managing this powerful machine carefully, overcoming road obstacles and not taking my eyes and concentration off at any time.

What are your exact thoughts at the starting line before setting off?

It was like a long preparation for something I’ve always wanted to do and finally the moment had arrived! All the encouraging speeches just before the flag off and being with my family, friends and supporters, it was a bit heady. I tried to calm myself as the flag off master gave the cue to be at the starting line. Did a quick look behind me to see where Ms Penny Low, MP for Punggol- Pasir Ris GRC was. She had sportingly agreed to join me on another motorised wheelchair for the flag off.

What were your difficulties during the course, both physical and mental?

One of the days, the hottest day of April, the temperature hit 35 degrees! This was hot enough to cook an egg! Being prepared for the hot weather, I wore light coloured t-shirts, applied sun block and wore a cap. These helped to make the journey abit more comfortable. I must say the first day was challenging as my escorts from the elite army division and I had to cover a distance of 92km. We reached Sembawang Bottle Tree Park at 11.00pm after being on the road for more than 10 hours at a stretch. Mentally, I was prepared as I let my feelings flow, not exactly taking in the passing scenes as I was concentrating on the next few metres ahead of me and travelling at a speed between 7-12 kmh, and taking in the experience moment-to-moment.

Which was the most challenging part?

Well I would say it had to be the last day or the third day. The footrest of the wheelchair just plonked off! I guessed the gruelling journey took a toil on the footrest. My escorts n improvised on the spot by using a nail found nearby and some nylon wires to put it back in place. Kudos to these great guys

Did you ever think about giving up during the course? What motivated you on?

Not at all. I mean this is premised on the spirit of adventure and doing a charity cause, the motivation is an end in itself. During the course, was there anything you craved for? I was well taken off by my escorts who ensured I was properly hydrated. A kind volunteer even cooked and brought us dinner throughout the journey. It was amazing as she did this totally out of her kindness and generosity. As for craving, well when I was passing through the long stretch of Lim Chu Kang and Neo Crescent, I did look out for durian trees in case we could find some fallen fruits. Being a durian lover, the local variety is the best. But no such luck!

What were your thoughts as you approached the finishing line? What were your thoughts after crossing?

When I was approaching the National Library building, I was told to drive very slowly so that colleagues and supporters could walk slowly in unity to SMU campus, the endpoint of the wheelchair marathon. It was ethereal. I could sense the spirit of friendship and camaraderie as we marched in one heartbeat to SMU. This was my exact feelings and thoughts at that time.

What do you most want to do now after completing the challenge? Any immediate or future plans?

Just to rest and catch up on sleep. I did think of some conceptual challenges ahead. This year’s Adventure200 was a land mission, maybe the future ones could be sea and air missions and later, perhaps go cross-borders. Well, many factors come into play: my health, sponsors and support to make future ones a reality just like the Adventure200 2009.

Lastly, here is a chance for you to say what you want to say to all who have been supporting you, ran beside you or cheered you on, and those who have donated generously.

My heartfelt thanks to everyone for all your support, encouragement and donations. It is heartwarming that civic society is very much alive and well as I experienced it. What I did is just a small part and it shows that coming together, a meaningful impact can be done for a charity cause. My take is we can be a catalyst to do something in our own unique ways to help somebody, one step at a time.

(Interview transcript extracted from the Spastic Children’s Association of Singapore’s Newsletter, Forget Me Not May 2009 issue)

Contributed by Dennis Kweh, National Library Board

Photo Credits: Sebastian Song, 2009

The LAS Dinner was held on the night of 16 October 2009 with Prof Tommy Koh as guest of honour at the Pod, National Library. This year marked the 15th year that he has been the patron of LAS.

In his speech, Prof Koh talked about books, libraries and librarians. Looking at the statistics published by the National Library Board, he felt heartened that Singapore is doing well. He has seen Singapore develop into a centre for publishing and its citizens become more culturally literate. It is his dream to see Singapore progress to a higher level of literacy similiar to France which celebrates its writers as much as it does their politicians and scientists.

As a book lover, he naturally spent a lot of time in libraries. They include the libraries in the National University of Singapore, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, New York and Washington DC. Libraries are a constant in his professional and family life.

In his current position as Ambassador-at-large, he used the MFA Library and valued highly the services of the librarians, Lim Bee Leng and Lau Siew Kheng (former head of MFA Library). They selected relevant sources and obtained the the materials he needed for his speeches. He viewed them as collaborators. He hoped that libraries never become extinct.

He remembered kindly the librarians he had dealings with, which include Hedwig Anuar, Jean Waller, Wang-Chen Hsiu Chin, Peggy Hochstadt, Elizabeth Srinivasagam, Sng Yoke Fong. He also recalled being invited by Rosemary Yeap’s husband to their home for a lovely dinner.

He was proud to be the Patron of LAS and to love books, libraries and librarians. 

LAS also gave out 3 awards on 16 October.

1. LAS Lifetime Contribution Award to Rosemary Yeap in recognition for being a pioneer and leader in the Singapore library community for over thirty years.
   She is well known for her indefatigable spirit, friendship, guidance, passion and dedication to her profession.
2. LAS Professional Service Award to Sylvia Yap for her contribution as a dynamic, passionate and engaged leader, motivator, mentor and spokesperson for Singapore’s librarians, libraries and library users.
3. LAS Library School Scholarship to Herman Felani Bin Md Yunos to support and to encourage him to attain higher education in the library profession. This was the inaugural award of the LAS Library School Scholarship.

Contributed by Yeo Pin Pin

This is part of an ongoing but occasional series of interesting and/or inspiring quotes and info nuggets about libraries and librarians.

      Medicine for the Soul  - Inscription over the door of the Library of Thebes

     Research means that you don’t know, but are willing to find out.  Charles F. Kettering

     The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of past centuries.  Descartes

Singapore librarians gathered at the LAS seminar held on 16 October at the Pod in the National Library to hear about the technological innovations that have been implemented.

Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Library presented 2 innovations. Hazman talked about the new library database interface that NTU recently unveiled.  The new features on the interface include interactivity, more information and Web 2.0 tools. From the librarian’s perspective, the new interface empowered the librarians to change the information for each database on a WYSIWYG platform. They had embedded Google Analytics to help measure usage of the databases.

Somasundram from NTU presented their poster “From youth to youth”. A group of the NTU paraprofessional staff were involved in various platforms like MSN, Facebook, Wallpaper, blogs, Library Toolbar, repository submission. They assisted the library in connecting with their students on these platforms. One example given was the promotion of library events on Facebook.

In the recent E-resources Day held at NTU, the staff had a “Be Spotted” contest where pictures of students who attended the E-resources Day were uploaded. The pictures were tagged with the students names and this generated interest by the students to visit NTU’s Facebook account and to make comments and to get their friends to be aware of the library’s event.

The National University Library (NUS) presented two projects. Mee Lan talked about the 3-D maps of some of the libraries in NUS, created together with Peeksky Pte Ltd. The 3-D maps enabled them to create virtual tours of the library and some were used during the orientation period for new students to explore the library. Multimedia like videos, pictures or text could be included in the 3-D map. A user could also search using the call number of the box and be shown the location where the book could be found.

Aaron presented the concept of Subject Guides 2.0 which has features of interactivity, dynamic content, dynamic layout, collaborative and easy to update. After exploring the options available, which include subscription platforms and freeware, Aaron started incorporating some elements of dynamic content on his subject guides. He used SlideShare to upload his PowerPoint presentations. He used widgets to include search boxes, newly added titles in his guides.

Republic Polytechnic presented their experience and use of IM. Although a large portion of their queries were in-person, the number of people using IM has shown some increase.

Singapore Polytechnic presented their implementation of “More Services” into their online catalogue. After a user finds an item in the catalogue, there is a “More Services” link inserted into the item’s Status box. The link offers a customized list of services depending on the status of the item.  They have also included the level information in the location which has made it easier for their users to know where to find the item, e.g. Main Media (Level 1) and Main Lending (Level 3).

The National Library Board presented on the status of the Virtual Union Catalogue. The VUC is a collaborative effort and is based on the premise of real time information. The VUC group had worked on testing the system, looked at the problems reported and managed to fix some of them. One future development would be an interlibrary loan component in VUC. An interesting question was raised as to the possibility of the National Union Catologue being a free service vs a paid service which would be in line with the practice in some other union catalogues.

NLB also showcased some projects like “Library in your Pocket” and “Molly the Mobile Library”. The Library in your Pocket offers services to users to where they are via the mobile phone. The services include Library Blogs and even downloading of short stories to read on their mobile phones. They received about 900 queries since the launch in May 2009.

Molly the physical mobile library had been updated with new features and goes out to different locations to reach different segments of the population who may not otherwise frequent a library. Another project by NLB engaged teenagers to recommend a book via multimedia such as a video or slideshow. Between August and December 2008, 36 submissions were received and this generated comments and one comment even came from the author of the book recommended.  The project advocated reading and provided a creative avenue to engage the teenage segment of the population.

It was good to hear, share and learn from the innovations being done locally. As Ngian Lek Choh, Director NLB, who opened the seminar said, it is important for libraries and librarians to serve the users where they are, the way they want and to continue to provide information that brings value to the users.

Contributed by Yeo Pin Pin

‘Behind a Cultural Cage’ with Dr Pranav S Joshi

Saturday, 24 October, 2.00 – 3.30 pm .  Visitors’ Briefing Room, Level 1, National Library Building

Please register at http://golibrary.nlb.gov.sg, ‘Experience Singapore Literature.’

Dr Joshi is an environmental professional based in Singapore. Being passionate about the literary and cultural art, he tries to blend the colours of science and environment in his thinking universe. Besides novels and technical stuff, he also writes poetry during his free time, and does research on the origin of universe and the meaning of life.

‘Enjoy in the circus of the human society. You and me, we are cage dwellers!’ Are we born into life cages? Limited by the social elements and requirements of the stages of our lives? Do we live within our cages, walking with or against the forces of life? 

Sailing across the shores of India, Singapore, Malaysia and the US, ‘Behind a Cultural Cage’ is a literary, multicultural novel that describes the life story (or struggle!) of a Bengali Chindian – Chinese Indian man who wonder how much Chinese-ness and Indian-ness he possesses. He eventually comes to Singapore to build his life.

In recent years, there has been much talk about migration, globalisation and multiculturalism in the media, but nothing comes closer to what the story unearths. Do foreigners encounter an identity crisis in the human landscape of the country they migrate? Do their hearts hold tearful conversations with their land of ancestors? The novel explores these answers, revealing the realities of life in an astonishing way, often emitting the mist of humour.

Join the author as he shares his journey in ‘Behind a Cultural Cage’. What’s more, after the session, participants will be asked to share their personal experiences about living in their life cages and 2 lucky participants will walk away with signed, complimentary copies of the book!

Are you a Night Person? Are you a Day Person? Or are you both?

Embark on a unique experience at this Symposium on from 30-31 October 2009!

It’s for anyone and everyone who wants to find out more local content or just want to get excited learning about it! In this range of Experiences you’ll meet the ‘greats’ of the literary circles and with them jump in head first into the different experiences.

The Symposium has 2 parts:  Participants can choose to attend either the “Supper Club” or the “Breakfast Club & Explore Singapore Literature” or both!

Intrigued?

For more info & to register, access http://blogs.nlb.gov.sg/esl/symposium. You can also email to Athena_AZIZ@nlb.gov.sg for more details and on how to register.

Contributed by Athena Aziz, National Library Board

Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered about the stars and galaxies? Have you asked yourself how the universe was created and how it will end?

A group of Singapore Polytechnic (SP) students, with such questions in mind, gathered at the SP Main Library on 8 Sept 2009 for a talk-cum-discussion forum entitled “Discovering the Wonders of Mathematics and Physics”.  The speakers were Ms Theo Bee Leng and Mr Quek Wei Ching, lecturers with the Maths and Science Department.

The SP Library regularly organises such talks and forums for students and staff.  The purpose is to engage users and encourage learning outside of the classroom, as well as promote library resources. 

The session began with a brief introduction by Ms Theo on various topics such as the Big Bang Theory, Black Hole, Ancient Philosopher – Descartes, Newton’s gravitational law, Einstein’s law of Relativity.  As she introduced the topics, she also shared related books from the library with the audience and her thoughts about them.

Ms Theo sharing with the students

When the presentation ended, the students were asked to choose from a list of 6 topics based on their interest. They were encouraged to use the Internet and the library books on display in the Funtasia room for research on the topics.  After their group discussion, the students then came together to discuss with Ms Theo or Mr Quek.  The 6 topics discussed were:

• Our Memory & the Universe in Us
• Is the Universe Created by Chance
• Black Holes in the Universe
• We breathe love through Genes
• The Sun in Space
• Dark Matter and Dark Energy

Discussion and group sharing with Mr Quek

Ms Theo sharing her views with the students

When the discussion ended, everyone proceeded back to the Media Theatre for a short presentation by Mr Quek on Astronomy. A student raised questions about black holes, and whether the universe is expanding or contracting (the universe is expanding if you are curious to know the answer). The session ended with Ms Theo strongly encouraging the students to read up on these topics during their vacation, as it will widen their scope of knowledge of the universe.

Contributed by Ooi Kooi Cheng & Khoo Ai Ling, Singapore Polytechnic Library

“I am looking for information about my great-grandfather who lived in the Strait Settlements during the turn of the 20^th century.”

“I’m researching on the fashion history of Singapore, and I need articles and pictures of fashion shows of the past”.

 Until recently, such enquiries could probably only be satisfactorily answered after poring for hours over volumes of books and rolls of microfilms. With the digitisation of The Straits Times, users can now tap into the rich information found in newspapers, and locate answers to these questions within a shorter time.

Since March 2009, users have had access to over 548,000 pages searchable text from the digitised Straits Times (1845-1982) and microfilms of some 200 Singapore and Malaya newspapers held at the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, through NewspaperSG (http://newspapers.nl.sg), an online initiative by the National Library.

Since its release, the digitised Straits Times has been particularly popular with family historians and researchers working on the various aspects of Singapore’s social history. Patrons have also found the website useful for locating pictures and advertisements of the past. We envisage that libraries with sizeable microfilm collections of the Straits Times will find the search facility useful for their patrons as well.

The service was made possible through a landmark agreement with the Singapore Press Holdings, sealed in 2007, which allowed the library to digitise and make available The Straits Times, from its earliest issue published in 1845, through the National Library Board (NLB)’s islandwide network of libraries for individual research and reference purposes.

Through NewspaperSG, library patrons can search, view and print full articles from the digitised newspaper collection through the multimedia stations (PC stations) in NLB libraries. Offsite users can also search the digitised content from the website, though the information provided is limited to the article title, date of publication, page number, microfilm number and a 50 words extract.

To further promote the discovery of archived Straits Times content through the Web, a “Table of Contents” of each Straits Times issue is generated and submitted to major search engines like Google for indexing. A number of users from Malaysia, Australia, Europe and the United States, have discovered NewspaperSG in this way.

The library is currently digitising the second half of The Straits Times (1983  – 2006). Issues from 2007 are digitally deposited and will be integrated with the rest of the digitised newspaper content.

Contributed by Gracie Lee, Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, National Library

The iGroup-InfoHost User Group Meeting was held on 18 September 2009 afternoon at Biopolis. Mr Lee Pit Teong opened the meeting and emphasized the need to learn from technology experts and to keep up our knowledge.

Paul Gandel from Singapore Management University and Syracuse University talked about “Branding Libraries for the Future”. Great brands have a vision that matters, reflect reality and are built from strengths. They communicate clearly, project a credible image and strike an emotional chord with their customers.

He recommended that libraries ask what is the role of the library, the role of librarians, the role of the organization, the role of the building (which might not necessarily be the same) and also these questions:

• Who are you?
• What do you do?
• Why does it matter?

He suggested taking advantage of the long tail of technology and to be better at using technology. Librarians could create value by shifting workload in the team to effectively do teaching, research and student engagement.

Richard Katz from Educause spoke on “The Scholar, Scholarship and the Scholarly Enterprise in the Digital Age”. He talked about the changes in scholarship and its implications for the future. A parallel could be drawn between scholarship and librarianship. Some universities are facing empty classrooms as student choose their mode of learning and this mirrors what some libraries are facing with empty libraries as students choose their mode of accessing information.

Scholars may not need to be in universities to do their work and he talked about what would draw them back. Universities could be a platonic gatekeeper, providing a Kantian separation of academia and society, providing a hierachy of facilities and being an educational factory. He postulated that education would stay put but the university in the future would be less of a physical place but more a place for ideas.

The panel discussion facilitated by Paul Gandel with Choy Fatt Cheong (NTU), Leong Mun Kew (NLB), Ruth Pagell (SMU) and Sylvia Yap (NUS), opened with the question of what could be done collectively for library services. Ruth proposed that libraries be seen to be working collaboratively and Choy proposed having librarians as a common resource that could be rotated among libraries like “cloud librarians” in line with the concept of cloud computing. Leong proposed that we create differentiation, use technology to lead and to create new platforms. Sylvia proposed finding out what about end user needs and then building the roles of librarians around their needs.

This led to the question of what library schools are teaching their students and what skills were needed when they joined the workforce. The skills mentioned were domain expertise, technology expertise, information management skills and facilitation skills.

Sylvia highlighted that they want their librarians to be seen in the user’s space and they focused more on outreach to faculty and students. Choy highlighted that they have changed the structure of NTU Library to create more subject librarians who also do library operations. The intention is to embed the librarians in the school. Ruth highlighted that there were contradictions in wanting to put librarians in different spaces, to have more roles beyond the traditional and to partner faculty. Librarians would need to learn new skills and new roles while keeping their core skills and domain knowledge. Paul put forth the idea of having a few librarians that set the brand, very much like what the F1 drivers do for their industry to market cars, while the rest of the librarians serve their local community.

The afternoon ended at Water & Wine with a cocktail party serving of course wine and water paired with scrumptious bites created by their new executive chef.

Contributed by Yeo Pin Pin

Johannes Widodo, Associate Professor with NUS Dept of Architecture took a group of LAS members on a walking tour of Kallang, Beach Road and Jalan Sultan on 19 September 2009.

There was a heavy downpour at the start of the tour but we gamely carried on with our umbrellas up and rain gear on. From Lavendar MRT we crossed over to Rochor and heard from Prof Widodo about the bustling metropolis that existed along the coast and Kallang River. He brought history to life as he described the Javanese, Bugis and Boyan communities and the activities like ship building, brick making, rice cultivation during the period Raffles landed in Singapore.

We crossed over to Beach Road and stopped at the Hajjah Fatimah mosque with its distinctive tower and mix of architecture styles. Due to the soft nature of the ground the tower could be called Singapore’s “Leaning Tower of Pisa”.

Fortunately the rain stopped soon after and we continued our journey to the Istana at Kampong Glam. There is a banyan tree on the street called Sultan Gate and within the tree are the remains of the original gate post of the Istana.

Sultan Gate

We proceeded to the Sultan Mosque and walked through streets that were formerly part of the palace compound. The names of the street reflected the history with the areas that used to be the gardens in the palace such as Jalan Pisang (banana) and Jalan Pinang (betel nut). At Haji Lane, we heard about how Singapore was a stopover for Indonesian Muslims who were on their way to Mecca and the area had lodging houses for the pilgrims with a thriving business by the Javanese acting as guides and agents.

Crossing over Victoria Street, we ended our tour at the royal cemetery. There is a raised area marked by yellow tiles containing the tombstones of the royal family. Prof Widodo had many engaging stories to tell of the period and we enjoyed the tour. He strongly encouraged librarians to collect and to make available the primary and secondary sources on the history of Singapore of which much has been torn down and no longer exist.

Contributed by Yeo Pin Pin