Adventure 200 Singapore: A librarian’s quest to make a difference

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

Quotes about Libraries

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

 

Meet the Author Session @ National Library on 24 Oct 09

‘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!

Experience Singapore Literature Symposium: Supper & Breakfast Club

 

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

Discovering the Wonders of Mathematics & Physics @ SP Library

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

Digital Archive of The Straits Times (1845 – 1982) Now Available

“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

iGroup-InfoHost User Group Meeting 2009

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

“The Legacy of Tan Kah Kee and Lee Kong Chian” Exhibition in Johor Bahru

“The Legacy of Tan Kah Kee and Lee Kong Chian” exhibition was first held at the National Library Singapore from 18 July 2008 to 4 January 2009.  It highlighted the significant contributions of Tan Kah Kee and Lee Kong Chian to Singapore and their roles as entrepreneurs, promoters of education, community leaders and the strong legacy they left behind. 

The exhibition at the National Library attracted a total of 130,187 visitors.  Besides the exhibition, a conference, heritage trials and talks were organized to enhance the visitor experience.  In addition, a mobile version of the exhibition roved to the Woodlands, Jurong and Tampines Regional Libraries between January and April 2009 to extend the exhibition’s reach.

The success of the exhibition at the National Library Singapore inspired a commercial company in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, Tanah Sutera Development Sdn Bhd, to put up a similar exhibition at the Sutera Mall to showcase the vast contributions of Tan Kah Kee and Lee Kong Chian in both Malaysia and Singapore. 

The exhibition’s aim was to show the entrepreneurship and philanthropy of the pioneers so as to enlighten and encourage people to contribute to society.  The Library supported the exhibition by playing an advisory role in content as well as contributing some replicas and props for the exhibition. 

The exhibition at Sutera Mall (20 June – 19 July), also entitled “The Legacy of Tan Kah Kee and Lee Kong Chian”, was prominently located at the central atrium of the mall and attracted about 100,000 visitors.  It was officially launched by Datuk Tan Kok Hong, Deputy Chief of the MCA, together with the advisors for the exhibition – Ms Jane Wee, Ms Wendy Zoulu, Mr Han Tan Juan and Mr Lim Guan Hock.

Below are some pictures taken from the exhibition.

Contributed by Wong Chew Wee, National Library Board.

Latest Offering by NLB: Library in your Pocket

With the mobile phone fast becoming indispensable in our everyday life, lower data charges  offered by service providers and better capabilities in new phone models, NLB has embarked on the development of a service to stay relevant with its customers.

 

Library in Your Pocket is an easy-to-use mobile portal packed with popular library services, all packaged in a clean, uncluttered interface for ease of use, navigation and speed of loading. Now you can:

• search the library catalogue
• check your account
• renew and reserve books
• download and read short stories
• view and book events
• pose a question to librarians
• subscribe to NLB’s free e-notification and reminder service

Launched in February 2009, the mobile portal is currently on a one-year public trial, during which the project team hopes to gather feedback and ideas of improvement for future enhancements. To date, it has attracted an average of 4,000 unique visitors, most of whom have commented positively on the relevance and usefulness of the portal to their mobile lifestyle.

To access the mobile portal, simply open the Internet browser on your mobile phone and go to the following address -

Try Library in Your Pocket for yourself!

I REMEMBER.SG: Heritage Road Show IV – Sat 1 Aug 09 @ The Plaza, National Library

National Library Singapore is back with the Heritage Road Show for the fourth year running!

The theme this year, “I Remember Singapore” celebrates the 50th anniversary of Singapore’s self-governance from 1959 to 2009.

What do you remember from the years of growing up in Singapore? Do you recall the opening of the National Stadium in 1973?

Your experiences and stories form an important part of Singapore’s history and the National Library wants to hear from you! Your stories and photos may be selected and showcased on www.iremember.sg.  Cash prizes of up to $5,000 are up for grabs!

 

Highlights of the Road Show

Launch of “I Remember.sg”   2 pm – 4 pm

Witness the launch of the Heritage Road Show by Guest-of-Honour, RADM (NS) Lui Tuck Yew, Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts.

 

“I Remember.sg”  Goes On Air  11 am – 6 pm

Catch “live” interviews with our special guests as they share their memories in conjunction with Singapore’s 50 years of self-governance! Go retro with “live” band performances of hits as far back as the 1950s!

 

The “50 Firsts” Wedding Aisle  11 am – 6 pm

Do you know any couples who have been married for 50 years, 50 weeks, 50 days or 50 hours? Or whose marriage dates add up to 50? Come listen to personal stories of couples who are celebrating the magical “50”!

 

“Changing Landscapes of Singapore” Photo Exhibition  11 am – 6 pm

Take a breather and soak in the picturesque Singapore’s skyline, buildings, streets and landmarks.

 

Vignettes in Time: Singapore Maps and History through the Centuries

1 August to 31 October , Level 10, National Library Building

Vignettes in Time provides snippets of little-known histories of Singapore through maps. Displayed for the first time are many never-before-seen maps from the collections of National Library Singapore & Lim Shao Bin.

Contributed by Sharmini Chellapandi, National Library