Singapore Polytechnic’s Colours Extension

A Bustling New Colours Extension for Students

The New Colours Extension overlooks lush greenery

At the Singapore Polytechnic Library’s 50th Anniversary Celebration on 8 August 2008, SP Principal Mr Tan Hang Cheong unveiled 2 bold expansion plans to guests, staff and students of the poly attending the event. One was the construction of a single-storey pavilion at the quadrangle space located in front of the Main Library and the other was a brand new Hilltop Library to replace the existing BizIT library.

Students and teaching staff were pleasantly surprised that at long last, the space crunch in the 2 libraries would now be alleviated with more spaces for learning, social interaction and student-centred gathering opportunities for the meeting of minds and sharing of experiences.  Included in the plans was the much talked about cafe, a must-have facility which students have always wanted, and that will now become a reality in the Library.  In fact, as the plans were announced, work on these 2 projects actually started during that first week of August and would finish in the first half of 2009. 

While the construction work began to take shape, the Library staff lost no time in planning for a new collection of educational and board games and upgrading its multimedia collection to include the latest blu-ray discs. The Technical Services Staff workroom was also revamped and renovated during this time for improved work flow and efficiency.

Fast forward to 23 April 2009, the first week of our new Academic year, euphoria filled the air as excited staff and students explored the new Colours Extension to the Main Library as soon as it was declared opened. Occupying almost half of the quadrangle space, the tall tinted glass façade of the Colours Extension looks out into a lush carpet grass lawn with colourful Canna plants, young instant trees and smart outdoor seating. Inside is the spacious cafe dining area with colourful tables and 114 seats, a magazine lounge with spanking new white shelves for
reading general magazines and an exhibition area to showcase student projects

To better integrate the new extension with the ground floor, part of this area and the corridor space had been reconfigured to add other new facilities. These included a games room for playing board games, a posh 25-seater Media Theatre equipped with a high fidelity sensurround audio-visual system for teaching staff to conduct classes for students, a media viewing zone with the latest HD screens for enjoying blu-ray discs and DVD programmes, as well as a special room housing the collection of CDs, DVDs and blu-ray discs. Students may borrow board games from the new Loans counter, while a self-check machine nearby is available for the loan of multimedia materials.

With the additional new facilities, students now have more choices than ever to select from a wide variety of services and facilities to liven up their time in the Library. The Colours Extension. as it is aptly named after the Colours (Lifestyle) collection, is really the coolest new hangout in the campus. Since its opening more than 2 months ago, the Colours Extension has brought much buzz and vibrancy to the area.  No wonder it is getting a warm reception from students and staff alike.

Walking through the new extension, it is not hard to see why students have been heading there in droves with their friends to hang out, chat, or engage in activities such as playing games at the Funtasia room, catching a movie during breaks, surfing the internet or even discussing their coursework.  

Enjoying games in the Funtasia Room

And why not, since there’s always coffee and refreshments from the Hotshot Cafe to recharge their energies and stay upbeat while they relax and watch the large Cable TV showing world-wide news and discovery channel programmes.

Hotshot Cafe

Said one happy first-year student, Esther Gusti, from the School of Chemical and Life Sciences, “I like this place and come here about 3 to 4 times a week. The seats in the magazine lounge are comfortable, the magazines are well arranged and there are enough copies of newspapers to read.”

Jared Ong and Filzah Aziz, both first-year students from the School of Electrical and Electrical Engineering, find the Colours Extension “a good hangout, to catch up with coursework and play games such as monopoly”.

“I love the ambience,” says Goh Kian Yong, A Diploma in Media and Communication graduate said after dropping by the extension. “This is a good place for me to catch up with my juniors during my free time.”  

Now let the pictures do the talking…..

A comfortable magazine lounge.

The Exhibition area showcasing student projects

HD-viewing pleasure at the Media zone.

   
By Mary Goh,  Singapore  Polytechnic  Library

Impressions of Southeast Asian Libraries from papers presented at CONSAL XIV, April 20-23, 2009.

1. Vietnam – the Host Country
The Vietnamese Library Association (VLA) is very young, having only been established in 2006. Interesting to note is that association was founded at a conference that was also held in Hanoi (Pham, 2007).

The VLA members are working hard but finding that one of the problems they face is that they are now trying to perform the tasks that other institutions and organizations had been taking care of in the past. The other problems experienced are the lack of funds; and the very large geographic area which tends to make communication difficult.

“Setting an agenda for library development: the role of the Vietnamese Library Association” by Michael Robinson.

(Pham, T. K. (2007). Vietnam: Country Report: Annual report to CDNL. Retrieved June 1, 2009, from http://www.cdnl.info/2007/Vietnam_000.rtf )

2. Cambodia
In Cambodia it was reported that there is no library school to train the librarians. In light of the findings of a recent study conducted by Tam, Harvey and Mills (2007) showing that the skills taught by one country may not be applicable outside of that country, this could be a serious cause for concern. The extremely low salaries and resources available to library staff don’t help to entice people into the profession either.

Factors making the work of the Hun Sen Library of the Royal University of Phnom Penh in teaching information literacy skills all that more important:

• the decimation of libraries by the Khmer Rouge regime; and
• a lack of a proper library system in the primary and secondary schools

“Providing information literacy skills training at tertiary education as mean to advocate the value and services of Library in Cambodia” by Wanna Net & Khiev Sopheaktra.

(Tam, L.W.H., Harvey, R., & Mills, J. (2007). How relevant are library and information science curricula outside their geographic domain? Education for Information, 25(2), 73-91. Retrieved May 27, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database)

3. Indonesia
The Indonesian Library Association (ILA) seems to have its own particular challenges to face – Indonesia actually consists of more than 17,000 islands with only about 5% of its population being Internet users.

The democratic government that was elected in 2004 has had an impact on the ILA itself, with members now striving to overcome the old style of leadership and working hard to improve the image of the profession.

The Indonesian experience also shows that political and social unrest resulting in things like structural damage, intermittent power supplies, and lack of government financial support; all have a negative impact on libraries.

“Reinventing Library Association: Indonesia’s experience and perspectives” by Faud Gani & Zulfikar Zen.

4. Laos
Like Cambodia, Laos has no library school of its own and has to rely on foreign training which may not be appropriate to the country’s needs. The situation in Laos could also be compared with places in Africa where the efforts to modernize the education system have tended to overlook the need for libraries to be modernized as well. This leaves the libraries with a lack of resources; be they physical, electronic, or human.

As in Africa, however, the librarians in Laos are doing all they can to serve their patrons as best they can.

“Developing strategies to encourage information literacy and implement dynamic library services: suggestions for Lao PDR” by Nicole Gaston.

5. Malaysia
From Malaysia we heard how supportive the government is of the librarians’ efforts to help alleviate poverty through knowledge acquisition in the rural areas.

In over 1,000 rural libraries, life long learning is promoted by:
• supplementing the information found in the school libraries;
• providing information for small businesses;
• providing information and on travel and health and more; and
• giving Internet training.

“Rural libraries as agents of social restructuring in Malaysia” by Raslin Abu Bakar & Salbiah Mohammad Yusoft.

6. Philippines
Librarianship only became a profession officially in the Philippines in the 90’s, when guidelines were implemented for the continuing professional education of library staff. Librarians needed to register when passing the Professional Regulation Commission examination, upon which they were issued with a license to practice. This registration used to be mandatory but this provided too many opportunities for librarians to be taken advantage of, so in 2000 it became voluntary. Now, ways need to be found to encourage library staff to register.

“Ensuring a continuing professional education (CPE) among registered librarians in the Philippines” by Elizabeth R. Peralejo.

7. Singapore
The smallest population, the highest number of Internet users, and one of the highest literacy rates are some of the reasons that Singapore is way ahead of many libraries in the 8 countries under study here.

In the presentation at the conference, the speaker spoke of how marketing with traditional and passive pamphlets is no longer enough for Singapore in this day and age. She then went on to showcase the sterling efforts being made in this area by the Singapore National Library.

“The Internet – challenges and opportunities for Southeast Asian libraries” by Sharon Koh.

8. Thailand.
The speaker from Thailand spoke of how the Sanamchandra Library at the Silpakorn University uses Web 2.0 in the form of:
• a staff blog;
• instant messaging for reference services;
• open source software;
• RSS feeds from the library website; and
• a wiki for sharing traditional Silpakorn stories.

“The journey to the next generation library” by Somkiat Chatchuenyot & Sompong Missata.

After Thoughts
After listening to presentations from people working with or in libraries in the Southeast Asian countries highlighted in this paper, I compiled a table with some of the facts from the latest version of the CIA World Factbook online.

I found it very interesting to compare how much of their gross domestic product each country was spending on education, and then looking at the population sizes alongside the literacy rates. Coming as I do from Africa, I was all the more interested to see that even the lowest literacy rate was way higher than most of the literacy rates found in Africa.

As a librarian who spends most of her working day finding information online, however, the percentage of Internet users in each of the Southeast Asian countries in this study was a little worrying. With very limited resources for purchasing library materials, even the chance of sharing information online is thereby curtailed.

Surfing around on one of these Southeast Asian libraries’ websites, I found that Internet access is offered for a small fee. My first thought was about all the wonderful databases from EBSCOhost, ProQuest and LexisNexis Academic, to name a few. But then my second thought was that these databases all provide mostly English information. And therein lies another problem – the majority of the people in this region do not speak English.

And to end off this sharing session, here are a few of the things I particularly noticed about Hanoi:
• the steering wheels of the cars are all on the wrong side;
• everyone hoots all the time but nobody takes any notice;
• the traffic looks absolutely chaotic but you can walk across any street quite safely;
• the city is very dusty and polluted but there is no litter;
• smoking is allowed inside the buildings;
• the food is almost as good as the food in Singapore; and
• many people likened Vietnam today with Singapore as it was 20 years ago.

All in all I really enjoyed my first time in Vietnam, and I would like to thank the Library Association of Singapore very much indeed for awarding me a sponsorship for my trip to the conference.

As shared by Debby Wegener,
Reference Librarian,
Temasek Polytechnic Library,
June 2008.

Competencies for Information Professionals

Janice Lachange, CEO of Special Libraries Association from the United States, gave a talk on what were the key competencies of an information professional needed to have in the 21st century. The talk held on 20 April 2009 at the Li Ka Shing Library, was well attended and jointly hosted by the Special Libraries Section of LAS, the Asian Chapter of the Special Libraries Association, the Li Ka Shing Library of Singapore Management University and the National Library Board.

Janice highlighted the role played by information professionals in finding, sharing and analysing quality information that is relevant to the organization.

I especially liked her formula:

Information skills + Critical thinking = Actionable knowledge

The competencies of an information professional included:

1. Managing Information Organizations
2. Managing Information Resources
3. Managing Information Services
4. Applying Information Tools and Technologies

She described successful information professionals as flexible, well-grounded in everything, experts in communication, with in-depth understanding of the information needs of their organization.

When asked which competencies were more important, Janice named leadership skills and business skills like budget planning and supervision skills. These skills need to be learnt and built up over time.

Janice talked about how SLA had created and developed Click University to meet its members learning needs in a risk-free environment.

A final piece of advice from Janice is to prioritize the things you need to do everyday and manage your time effectively. This would allow you to achieve the goals that you have set for yourself.

Contributed by Yeo Pin Pin

LAS AGM 2009

It was election time again for the Library Association of Singapore. The annual general meeting (AGM) was held at Rendezvous Hotel on 21 March morning.

The new LAS Council comprises:

• President – Puspa Yeow
• Vice-President - Gene Tan Hwee Yong
• Hon Secretary - Wong Choy Ming
• Asst Hon Secretary (Chair, Membership) – Soh Lin Li
• Hon Treasurer – Yit Chin Chuan
• Council member (Chair, Business Development) – Catherine Tan
• Council member (Chair, Website) - Kamaludeen Mohamed Rafi
• Council member (Chair, Programmes  & Social) – Sim Chuin Peng
• Council member (Chair, Special Libraries Section) – Susan Song-Lim
• Council member (Chair, Training & Development) – Isabella Trahn
• Council member (Chair, Publication) – Yeo Pin Pin

The Special Libraries Section, chaired by Susan Song have formed their committee: 

• Hon Secretary – Kwok-Foo Yan Chuin
• Committee member – Charlotte Gill
• Committee member – Carol Sim Seok Cheng
• Committee member – Tay Chiew Boon

Ms Ngian as LAS president highlighted the key activities of the year, which included the LAS Conference held on 8-9  May attended by 225 members and the Istana Reception held on 9 May. It was reported that over 40 members applied for the Professional Development Scheme.

As Mr Choy Fatt Cheong pointed out, it was heartening to note that LAS membership has grown to over 470 and registered a growth of 21% over the previous year.

The meeting spent time going over the constitution amendments, which were passed unanimously after some discussion and changes.

Mr Joe Kennedy gave an overview of the Law Libraries Community and invited members to use the platform to start their own communities. Standard and Poors gave a presentation on Compustat.

The meeting ended with a buffet lunch and loads of catching up with friends and peers.

PIONEER BATCH OF PRACTISING PROFESSIONALS

45 members have been granted the award of Practising Professional (PP) by LAS. The PP award certifies that the member has completed a minimum number of acceptable continuous professional development activities that indicate that he/she has attempted to keep up-to-date in professional practice.

LAS@NTU Career Fair (4-5 Feb 2009)

The Special Libraries Section, LAS, NLB and CommonTown have Launched the Law Librarians Community

Launched on Thursday, 11 December 2008 at the Singapore Management University, 28 eager law librarians and supporters congregated to get the first glimpse of the Law Librarian Community developed by the Special Libraries Section, Library Association of Singapore; the National Library Board; and CommonTown.

Two Individuals Receive LAS Sponsorships to attend the CONSAL Conference in Hanoi

LAS Council is pleased to announce that Ms Debby Wegener from Temasek Polytechnic Library and Ms Winnifred Wong from National University of Singapore Central Library have received full sponsorships to attend the Congress of Southeast Asian Librarians (CONSAL) XIV Conference to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam on 21-24 April 2009.

Street Names of Singapore – An exhibition by National Library of Singapore

Have you ever wondered why a street was given a particular name? In early Singapore, the Municipal Councillors or Commissioners were in charge of naming the streets. Streets were commonly named after prominent people, usually as a mark of appreciation for their contributions or service to the community, society or state. Behind the street names are stories about the people they were named after, their lives and achievements and the part they played in making Singapore what it is today.

Seminar on “The Science and Art of Green Building Design” and Launch of Architectural Book on the National Library Building

The National Library Board (NLB) organised a seminar on “The Science and Art of Green Building Design” on 22 July 2008, which focused on the various architectural design aspects of ‘green’ building design and its significance in an urban environment.  The seminar aims to share NLB’s experience in designing a ‘green’ building and to create awareness of the benefits of ‘green’ building designs. NLB was awarded the Green Mark Platinum Award bestowed by the Building & Construction Authority in 2005 and the First Prize in the ASEAN Energy Efficiency Award under the category of ‘New and Existing Buildings’ in 2007.

Dr N Varaprasad, Chief Executive, National Library Board