Singapore Libraries Bulletin Blog : Library Association of Singapore

Welcome to the first weblog issue for the Singapore Libraries Bulletin published by the Library Association of Singapore (LAS)! Starting with this September 2006 issue, we are going totally virtual without printing hard copies to distribute to LAS members. We are making use of the weblog platform with the aim of being more interactive, as members can add their comments to the articles posted as soon as they read it. We hope LAS members will enjoy the Bulletin in this form. We invite your comments and your feedback!

Mark your calendar (29-31 Jan 2007) as LAS is bringing you an opportunity to update yourself with the topics to be discussed at the LAS Conference!

Loads of activities happened in Singapore and we also had our librarians travelling to Kota Tinggi, Manila and even British Columbia in Canada. Unfortunately, two of our librarians have passed on and we pay our respects to them.

Hope you enjoy the articles! We look foward to your contributions for the next issue in December!

By Yeo Pin Pin

The LAS Council and LAS Conference Organising Committee are pleased to announce the dates for the LAS Conference and Workshop 2007 – Librarians: Learning -> Strengthening -> Moving Forward.

• Conference: Mon-Tue, 29-30 January 2007 at Rendezvous Hotel
• Workshop: Wed, 31 January 2007 (location to be announced)

A Conference brochure and registration form will be e-mailed to all LAS members in early October. Conference updates will be placed at http://www.las.org.sg/lasconference/ (launching soon) for your convenience. An exciting programme is being planned and includes both local and international speakers. For additional information you may contact lasconference@las.org.sg.

Mark your calendar for this spectacular event!

Contributed by LAS Conference Organising Committee

The Library Association of Singapore (LAS) Gold Medal was awarded to Chew Siew San upon completion of the MSc (Information Studies) at NTU in July 2006. The Medal is awarded to the student with the best results in the Information Studies stream. Here is what Siew San had to say about why she choose librarianship and her experience at NTU:

“The library is a treasure chest for children. While librarians share this perspective, do the children equally understand and appreciate the value of information? In turn, how competent are the children in their hunt for these gems? With the array of activities vying for the their time, how do the librarians excite the children to embark on a learning journey? The role of the children’s librarian is a challenging and multi-faceted one, more than it first appears to. There lies the question of effectively connecting and engaging the children to the wealth of information, so that they grow up to be information savvy individuals with a passion for learning and reading.

The four precious years as a public librarian with the National Library Board gave me invaluable opportunities to interact with children, parents, teachers and their caregivers. The supportive library colleagues and exciting scope of projects in the areas of collection, reader advisory, programmes and outreach collaborations deepened my interests and understanding of the informational needs of the children. At that juncture, it was good time to marry the practical experience with a structured professional training. And this is the logical next step to take so that my role as a children’s librarian will be delivered more proficiently. It would fulfill my hope to be an effective facilitator who connects library resources to the children needs and curiosity; and at the same time integrating learning with an element of fun and involvement.

The one-year full time MSc (Information Studies) programme at NTU was the right choice. The modules catered for a wide range of professional interests and specialization. In addition, the conducive learning environment made the most impact in my pursuit of knowledge. The professors, lecturers and fellow course mates were the ones who made the real difference. Carefully structured lectures, recommended readings, interactive classroom discussions, electronic discussion forums, thought-provoking tutorials and practical lab sessions were a few of the many beneficial avenues of learning. Approachable, committed and supportive professors and lecturers made the programme a truly enriching experience that extends learning beyond the classroom. The friendly culture promoted open-sharing and saw fellow course mates brainstorming with one another in applying concepts, bouncing off ideas and synergistic teamwork.

After graduation from MSc (Information Studies), I rejoined the library and I look forward to working closely with the team of librarians to provide value-added services. The treasure box of information should live in the heart of every child.”

Contributed by Betty Ong

Ms Catherine Quinlan, University Librarian of The Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at University of British Columbia (UBC) gave a talk on 24 May 2006. The talk was held at NUS Central Library and well attended by over 40 people.

She suggested that we re-think how library space is used and not just as a place to store and access physical collections. She viewed the library as a symbol of learning which also acts as a neutral place for discussion and debate in addition to interaction with resource managers and reference librarians. She also viewed the library as a virtual place, providing information services and access to electronic collections, which was still an important concept in the digital environment.

These ideas drove the design for the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre which would be a place that integrated activities like information, technology, academic, research, learning, and teaching from academic units and student services. It aimed to support personal, interactive and collaborative learning activities and a wide range of learning styles. It would also provide access to physical and digital resources at and beyond the library and serve as the gateway to global learning spaces and resources for the university community and the community in British Columbia (BC).

The new library is a 250,000 square foot facility with an Automated Storage and Retrieval System for its 1.8M items. It contains an auditorium, classrooms, learning commons, media lab & digitization facilities and a community concourse. It has ‘Learning Zones’ that connect library resources with teaching/academic spaces with space to showcase innovations by the community.

It was very enlightening to hear about the development of her library from information commons to learning commons. It was also heartening to hear that her library was able to get funding to open up its resources to serve the community and to increase the role that the library plays in the community.

Sara Pek from NLB had the opportunity to visit the Learning Centre and you can read her account. For more information and graphics on the library, see http://www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca/.

Contributed by Yeo Pin Pin

The Irving K. Barber Learning Centre stands as a significant investment in the rebuilding and expanding of the present Main Library, which was built in 1925. Three wings were added to the ‘historic core’ over the years. The building is a landmark piece of campus architecture. However, the old building was found to be seismically unsafe and reaching its capacity to serve the library users and staff.

In 2002, Mr Irving K. Barber, a wealthy industrialist who received his Forestry degree from UBC in 1950, gave CAN$ 20 million to the University of British Columbia to convert the Main Library into a high-tech library to serve the academic and broader community. Mr Barber’s donation was matched by grants of CAN$ 30 million from UBC and CAN$ 10 million from the provincial government. The fund is transforming the library into a multi-purpose resource facility that supports the university as well as the community throughout British Columbia.

The first phase of the Learning Centre was completed in summer last year. We could enter the Learning Centre through the East Mall entrance. Construction began in 2003 and the Main Library is closed at present and not accessible to public and staff. Collections and services from the Main Library have been relocated to the Learning Centre. We could see massive construction work at the Main Library nearby. (Phase 2 includes renovation of the historic core of the Main Library and demolition and reconstruction of the south wing). Students using the Centre do not seemed to be bothered by the noise. Although we could only see part of the completed Learning Centre, the following were the interesting highlights of the visit:

Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS)

The UBC Library has been building its electronic resources, however, print materials are still being acquired to support teaching and research at the University. To cope with the fast growing collection, an automated book retrieval system has been built at the Learning Centre.

Users can retrieve materials from the storage system by making a request through the Library’s online catalogue. The material’s barcode is used to track its location. Once the item has been identified, the bin holding the requested item will be delivered to the circulation desk via an automated crane.

A library staff retrieves the requested item from the bin and places it for pickup by the requestor. The whole retrieval process takes less than 5 minutes. We were told that to maximise the use of space in the bin, materials are shelved according to their sizes instead of their classification numbers. The bin also comes in various sizes. The ASRS, which is the first in Canada, can hold 1.4 million volumes, which is equivalent to 15 years of collection growth for the Library.

Information access beyond campus

The Learning Centre is accessible to and by all British Columbians. To support the community outreach mandate of the new Learning Centre, several programs are being developed to foster lifelong learning in the broader community. These include the information literacy guides and learning technologies to help the community navigate and access the resources at the university.

A multipurpose resource facility

The computer-enhanced environment integrates traditional library services with information technologies and evolves as a multi-purpose, 24/7 resource facility. It is equipped with high-speed wireless Internet access and video streaming. This one-stop facility will be the first such academic facility in Canada that supports information resources, services, research activities, collaboration and interdisciplinary learning in one building.

Woodward Biomedical Library

After leaving the Learning Centre, we visited the Woodward Biomedical Library. The supported scaffolds that looked like a maze leading to the library entrance amused us. There was some construction work at the library. The Woodward Biomedical Library is the principal library for materials in the life sciences and houses the largest health sciences collection in western Canada. The Charles Woodward Memorial Room holds special materials on the history of medicine and the natural sciences. There were large tapestries on display in the Memorial Room. One of the pieces, called Masters of the Spirit showed interesting imperfections as a result of the weaver suffering from stroke that affected his sense of perception.

Note: The author would like to thank Mr Simon Neame and Ms Sally Taylor from University of British Columbia for giving the tour at the Irving Barber Learning Centre and Woodward Biomedical Library and Ms Christine Quinlan for arranging the library visit.

Contributed by Sara Pek, Senior Reference Librarian, Lee Kong Chian Reference Library NLB with photos by Ronnie Tan, NLB

A simple email from Marshall Cavendish to the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Library turned into a public talk by Neil Humphreys at NTU School of Communication and Information before he left Singapore for Geelong, Australia.

Jointly organized by the NTU Library and the School of Communication and Information, Neil’s Tour of Singapore … in 60 minutes was held on 29 August 2006. More than 200 people packed the lecture hall to catch Neil. Besides staff and students from the School of Communication and Information, people from Engineering, Science, Business and Humanities and Social Sciences also made their way down to the talk.

Neil shared some of the highlights of his ten-year stay in Singapore, his observations about the local media, and why he thought being a journalist in Singapore was still worth the while.

We laughed with him when he mistook a void-deck funeral for a coffee-shop, when he was called Mr “Coo-Coo Bird” by his young students and when he was nicknamed “tam pui” which means a spittoon by his ex-colleagues at the language school.

Addressing the Communication students in the audience, he offered both the pros and the cons of being a journalist in Singapore. He felt that the pros outweighed the cons. For pros, he listed making a difference, enjoying perks like movie junkets, and getting ample opportunities to grow. As for cons, it would be the thin line journalists walk in trying to decide what’s acceptable and what’s not.

After the talk, he spent the next hour signing books and posing for pictures with fans - his reward to fans for queuing patiently for their turn. He may be heading down to Australia in mid-September but, who knows, we might be seeing Neil back in Singapore in the near future, poking around with his pen and notepad. After all, he is now an honorary permanent resident of Singapore.

Contributed by Phoebe Lim Choon Lan, NTU Library

The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Library decided to kick start the new academic year with a big bang. A variety of promotional materials were lined up to welcome the freshmen, from 31 July to 11 August 2006. The Library Student Orientation Committee 2006 was formed to oversee this marketing project.

As we are all well aware these days, one of the main problems faced by librarians is how to attract ‘youngsters’ into their libraries. Hence, the challenge is to effectively market the library, so that it is attractive enough for the students. To start the ball rolling, NTU freshmen were greeted by their subject librarians in their individual school orientation programmes during the first week of orientation. A funky flash commercial was presented to the students to promote the library resources and librarians. This was effectively executed with the upbeat commercial designed by a NTU student from the Arts, Design and Media School, with the intention of reaching out to the ‘Generation Y’ students. Reports from the subject librarians have proven that the commercial was well-received by the freshmen, who have a newly-associated and relatively different outlook of the NTU Library.

In addition, the committee decided to create postcards, featuring our librarians, for distribution. Banners, created in line with the postcards and commercial theme: Lost for Info? Ask Us, were also erected up around the campus, to promote the library. In order to make these materials connect with the targeted audience, the committee once again employed NTU students to design them. This was to ensure that our publicity materials catered to the taste of the ‘Generation Y’, hence successfully creating library awareness within this group of users.

The end result was a big hit with the students. Not only did the materials catch their attention, but it also projected the library in a new light. The materials were funky enough for the students, yet not losing the intention of projecting our librarians as professionals. Students were pleasantly surprised by the retro design of the postcards, and also found the simple yet effective contacts information on the postcards helpful. The banners also proved to be effective, with students actually recognising the librarians featured!

All the subject librarians also joined in the fun, as a round of photo shoots were conducted in order to exhibit them to our users. During the shooting, subject librarians were grouped according to their area of subject, hence creating a series of subject clusters group photos. In order to make these clusters’ picture interesting, we decided to have a more relaxed and friendly photo concept, rather than the normal corporate and stiff group shots concept. We employed the usage of props to represent each subject clusters, and also came out with a colour theme for each clusters. The result was a fresh, clean and friendly presentation of all the subject librarians.

All the subject librarians also joined in the fun, as a round of photo shoots were conducted in order to exhibit them to our users. During the shooting, subject librarians were grouped according to their area of subject, hence creating a series of subject clusters group photos. In order to make these clusters’ picture interesting, we decided to have a more relaxed and friendly photo concept, rather than the normal corporate and stiff group shots concept. We employed the usage of props to represent each subject clusters, and also came out with a colour theme for each clusters. The result was a fresh, clean and friendly presentation of all the subject librarians.

Also, instead of the usual gifts that we normally give out to students such as pens or post-it notes, we decided to team up with a corporate sponsor, Brands Chicken Essence this year. This was to tap on the corporate image of the latest Brands commercial that advertised a student studying effectively in a library because they consume Brands Chicken Essence. Making use of the fact that Brands had already advertised widely on television, we decided to bring this concept to life by having our students receive bottles of Chicken Essence when participating in the various activities that we held. The committee also successfully encouraged participation in our orientation activities by having major prizes such as an Acer PDA or Brand’s hampers. This strategy attracted the freshmen to visit the NTU Library.

All in all, the publicity materials were well received by the students. Even the staff from other departments were astonished at the approach that the Library used to advertise itself this year. They were most impressed with the design and the way the library created these collaterals. The Library Student Orientation Committee 2006 was indeed pleased that we have taken this first step of connecting to the freshmen and the staff successfully, and would endeavor to do better in future library marketing programmes.

Contributed by Lynette Wo & Lee Meiyu from NTU Library

The Canadian Health Libraries Association (CHLA) is a national association with over 400 members representing health librarians and library staff in Canada. Health libraries have been playing important roles in supporting the information needs of healthcare workers, patients, caregivers and the public.

The CHLA Conference held 12-16 May 2006 in Vancouver covered topics like health sciences information management issues, health literacy and searching health literature and statistics. The following were some highlights of the conference:

Dr Sherrilynne Fuller, Director of Health Sciences Libraries and Information Center, University of Washington, spoke of the trends toward instantaneous access to information due to search engines like Google to satisfy health and medical information needs. Librarians should strive to meet and respond to the information needs of healthcare workers, patients and consumers by tapping on the variety of drug databases and diseases resources and locating the right answer to questions. The emphasis on evidence-based practice created new challenges to providing quality health information to support clinical decision-making and answering complex questions from increasingly informed patients and consumers.

Dr Richard S. Rosenberg, from the Department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia, reviewed the social impact of computers ranging from medical information systems, technology aids for the disabled to medical applications such as CAT scanners and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). He shared extensively on individual privacy and security, which is a major concern as a result of the collecting and storing personal medical information. There were challenges to the doctor-patient relationship arising from remote communication and treatment. New ethical issues which would arise from the human genome information with respect to treatments, release of information, cloning and genetic selection.

George Beckett, associate university librarian at Memorial University and manager of the Health Sciences Information & Media Service for the Faculty of Medicine, highlighted the use of data mining tools to provide valuable aids as well as to manage the increasing amount of information. These tools allow analysis of large sets of data in ways that were not possible previously. Health librarians should be aware of the potential of these tools and should be able to provide instruction on their use to library users.

Brian S. Alper, family physician and medical director of clinical reference product of EBSCO Publishing, defined evidence-based clinical reference as the provision of conclusions, recommendations or assertions based on the best current evidence. He cited requirements for clinical reference to be accepted as evidence. This included systematically identifying, selecting and evaluating the evidence and making conclusions based on such evidence.

Jessie McGowan, research librarian at the Institute of Population Health, University of Ottawa, presented the Just-in-time librarian consultation service. This study investigated the impact of the librarian enquiry service on primary care practices in terms of cost-effectiveness, clinician workload and improved access to information. The service provided answers to clinical reference queries, with a focus on questions answerable by standard resources in 20 minutes or less. Primary care clinicians sent their questions via their BlackBerry or via a web-based form. Answers were recorded in a searchable, web-based database used by the project librarians. The final outcome of the study was not available at the time of presentation. It was anticipated that the results of this project may be applied to other primary care practices.

Overall, the conference was well planned and smoothly run. It provided the right environment for discussions, networking and exchanging ideas with fellow librarians. Participating exhibitors also provided many educational opportunities and overviews of their latest products.

Contributed by Sara Pek, Senior Reference Librarian, Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, National Library Board

We attended the 13th Congress of Southeast Asian Libraries (CONSAL) held in Manila, March 25-30, 2006. The theme of the conference was CONSAL at the Crossroads: Challenges for Greater Regional Cooperation. This common platform brought together librarians from around the region to exchange ideas, to share experiences, to enhance existing inter-library cooperation and to formulate action plans in areas such as collection preservation and information literacy.

Library facilities for the less fortunate

We visited the National Library of the Philippines in Manila as part of the CONSAL programme. A very interesting part of the Library was its collection for the visually handicapped. There was a large selection of Braille books covering various academic subjects. These were printed wholly on white paper, catalogued as normal books and complete with classification numbers. The Braille collection was managed by a visually handicapped librarian. Furthermore, there was a machine designed to magnify the print of normal book so that partially visually handicapped users could read them more easily. The provision of such special facilities for the less fortunate members of society was an eye-opener. It highlighted the need to have an inclusive society.

Collection preservation

Another interesting part of the National Library of the Philippines collection was their archives and records. The National Library had many private and official papers of the past Presidents of the Philippines, all available for research and study. There were even books dating back to the Spanish era, the oldest of which was written in the 1400s. The great age of the books was impressive as it underlined the long history of the library. However the need for preservation of an old collection was also noted. This reminded us of the recent efforts by the National Library Board of Singapore to preserve its collection of rare documents by microfilming them.

The importance of collection preservation was highlighted during the Conference itself. An appeal was made for book donations to help rebuild the libraries of Sumatra which had much of their collections destroyed by the tsunami. This demonstrated the importance of digitising and preserving the collection against accidents and disasters.

Importance of digital resources

A theme continually and extensively explored at the Conference was the implementation of digital resources, such as electronic journal databases. Many of the libraries in neighbouring countries were greatly interested in obtaining these resources for their users, but the main obstacle was the high cost of subscribing to such digital publications. This also emphasized the value and importance of our own electronic resources collection and the need to publicise such resources further to our users and the general public. There were also discussions on implementing new technologies, such as weblogs to better reach out to users. This underlined the constant effort which must be made to engage and to meet the changing needs and profiles of library users.

Kaisa-Angelo King Heritage Center

We enjoyed touring the Kaisa-Angelo King Heritage Center, a unique Chinese Museum cum Library in Intramuros, Manila, which showcased the precious heritage on the early history of the Tsinoys and Mestizos (Chinese-Filipino). The artifacts, antiquities and gallery displays of the rare prints and photographs of national leaders of Chinese descent gave us insights into the influences of the Chinese immigrants on various aspects of Filipino culture, such as painting, sculpture, ceramics, book printing, religion and the economy.

The most striking exhibit was the magnificent map illustrating the migration route of tribes from Southern China to the Philippines during the Ice Age via a land bridge. The early immigrants traded along the coast of the Philippines and eventually settled down and emerged as the Chinese community. It also depicted the historical account of the Sultan of Sulu Paduka Batara who traveled to the Chinese Imperial Court in Beijing to pay tribute to the Ming Emperor Yong Le in 1417. He later fell sick and died in Dezhou in Shandong province in China, leaving behind some direct descendents who settled in China.

The Chinese Library, an integral part of the Museum, housed 7,000 books, documents, magazines, dissertations and other articles and manuscripts of Chinese Filipinos and overseas Chinese. The Library boasted a comprehensive collection of research done on the Filipino Chinese community, by both local and foreign scholars. It was very interesting to note that the librarians themselves were heavily involved in the research on the Filipino-Chinese community.

The Center plays a pivotal role in preserving the Chinese culture and most importantly, integrating the Mestizos and Tsinoys into the local population. This meaningful trip left us with indelible impressions of the Chinese in Philippines and the significant role of the Library in preserving the culture of the Tsinoy community.

CONSAL has promoted the professional image of librarians, bridging the gap to encourage communication among regional librarians and information professionals among the Southeast Asian Libraries. Through peer-to-peer idea exchanges on issues related to library management and development, we learnt about the great need for library cooperation in terms of knowledge preservation around the region, the importance of resource sharing, along with an increased awareness of the need to keep abreast with novel developments like library weblogs.

We were also enriched by the numerous vendor exhibitions and talks in terms of product knowledge and the cutting-edge technology in the library marketplace. The visits to the libraries in Philippines were also very useful as we deepened our understanding of the services they offered and the additional role played by senior librarians as researcher. In all, it was an enriching and valuable experience for us.

Contributed by Annelissa Tan-Chin Mien Chiew & Tan Han Yong

Adrian Khoo Lay Kuan was awarded the LexisNexis Gold Medal which comes with a cash award upon completion of his MSc (Knowledge Management) with NTU in July 2006.

Based in Singapore, Adrian Khoo is currently Regional Head of Graduate Training and Development in Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of Barclays PLC. His job is to manage the learning and development needs of the Graduate population of the bank in the Asia Pacific region. These Graduates, known in other circles as “Management Associates” are specially-selected high-potentials, chosen and groomed for their academic achievements and experience, to take on roles in the demanding investment banking industry.

Adrian currently has over nine years of experience in the learning and development field, having previously worked in local telecommunications provider, MobileOne as Learning and Development Consultant and DBS Bank as Training and Development Manager.

Adrian has a Bachelor of Arts and Social Science from the National University of Singapore, a Diploma in Human Resource Development (Gold Medal) from the Singapore Institute of Management, and a Masters of Science (Knowledge Management) from the Nanyang Technological University. His expertise includes knowledge bases and learning management systems, having designed and developed an immensely successful platform in his previous experience with DBS Bank. His research interests include knowledge sharing and leadership. His next academic paper, Knowledge Management and Leadership - Is there a style that works best? is awaiting publication in an international journal.

Contributed by Betty Ong