The Li Ka Shing Library was privileged to have Catherine Lim launch the inaugural talk for FridayBuzz@theLibrary on 15 February 2008 from 1pm to 2:30pm.

FridayBuzz@theLibrary is a series of talks jointly organized by the Li Ka Shing Library and the Office of Student Life with the support of individual faculty in the School of Social Sciences at the Singapore Management University. The aim of the talks is to highlight cultural, literary and social issues in Singapore for our students and the rest of the SMU community and highlight the library’s role as a social and cultural centre.

Catherine regaled us with stories of her political involvement in Singapore and shared her views on political freedom.

She wrote her first political article on “The PAP and the People - A Great Affective Divide”, Straits Times, 3 September 1994 followed by “One Government, Two Styles”, Straits Times, 20 November 1994. She got a strong reaction from the government. One morning, she opened her front door to pick up her newspaper and was shocked to see the headlines screaming “PM : No erosion of my authority allowed : Respect for office must be upheld”, Straits Times, 5 December 1994. For a while she feared for her freedom and visions of being detained crossed her mind. However, nothing untoward happened to her and she continued to write. She has her own blog at http://catherinelim.sg/.

She reasoned that she had passed the “test” and was therefore left alone. She was genuinely interested in the welfare of the nation, she was not connected to or funded by any political groups or external body and she stayed clear of the out-of-bounds markers set by the government.

In fact, as time passed, she saw a softening of the attitude of the government towards her and was encouraged by it. She recognized the strengths of the government; pragmatic and efficient with great problem-solving skills. However, she felt that for a society that was “citizen-compliant and government-dominant” would have people who were only loyal to the “good life” and would lack any real commitment to the country.

Over 90 staff and students attended the session and they engaged Catherine with many questions, ranging from how to become more politically savvy to whether she would encourage someone to become a writer. Catherine felt strongly that political education would be one way to get citizens to be more politically savvy. She encouraged students to be open and to question assumptions. She believes that one must have ideals to strive for and to engage with, for it is these ideals and the struggle to achieve them that would create the sense of identity.

We prepared a book display and bibliography in conjunction with the talk. Three lucky students walked away with book vouchers. The honorarium for the speaker was donated to the Breadline Group upon Catherine’s request.

The next talk is set for 14 March 2008. The topic will be “Media Killed the Theatre Star” by T. Sasitharan who is Director of the Theatre Training and Research Programme.

Yeo Pin Pin
Li Ka Shing Library
Singapore Management University

Millennium, Encore, and eProducts to Drive New Campus Initiative

Singapore Management University (SMU) in the nation and city of Singapore has selected an entire suite of Millennium ILS and the Encore discovery services platform products from Innovative Interfaces to create an integrated Digital Library (DL) for the University’s Li Ka Shing Library.The DL will combine traditional Integrated Library Management System (ILS) applications with an institutional repository driven by Innovative’s Symposia product and new web services tools on campus. The Li Ka Shing Library has also purchased eProducts from Innovative: Research Pro federated search, Web Bridge LR link resolver, and Pathfinder Pro in-context resource suggestions. It will publish RSS feeds of new library materials and patron-specific messages about requests through Innovative’s Feed Builder and My Record Feeds respectively, an integrated feature of Millennium.

The Digital Library at SMU

As a 21^st century library, the Li Ka Shing Library emphasizes services and access to information rather than providing access only to large collections of hard materials. To accomplish this, the Library and the University’s Office of Communications and IT are implementing the DL to offer value-added e-services that facilitate research, teaching, and learning and support the University in generating a world-class, leading-edge research and learning organization. The DL at SMU will bring together digital and non-digital intellectual assets that benefit the University and its stakeholders using interactive, collaborative, personalized tools. The President and Provost of SMU are champions of the DL project. In addition the DL Taskforce received input from our key stakeholders, including senior management, faculty, administrators and students.

Innovative Solutions

Unlike other libraries that have implemented ILS and DL components over many years, SMU looked for a system that integrated traditional ILS functions with repository and web services functions that could be implemented all at one time, and with minimum staff development time. “Two years ago we recognized that we needed not only an ILS but also a total package that included the newest tools to make the users’ library experiences similar to their internet experiences,” says Ruth A Pagell, University Librarian at SMU. “During selection, we focused on DL capabilities and partnerships. We benchmarked and evaluated potential vendors based on conference reports, study visits with other libraries, and meeting these potential vendors with our users. Innovative eventually emerged as the clear choice.” SMU will also implement Encore as a simple discovery tool for the variety of sources the DL will integrate with Innovative’s technologies. Says Pagell: “Innovative provided us with this option and was keen to partner with us to push development of interfaces with internal existing knowledge tools, especially in developing a more robust institutional repository capability. We can also grow with Encore to keep the library’s web interface relevant for our users.

About Singapore Management University

Incorporated on 12 January 2000, Singapore Management University (SMU) aims to groom outstanding business leaders and creative entrepreneurs capable of excelling in a rapidly changing and dynamic world. Today, SMU is home to over 5,400 students and comprises six schools: Lee Kong Chian School of Business, School of Accountancy, School of Economics, School of Social Sciences, School of Information Systems and School of Law. SMU offers bachelor’s, master’s and PhD degree programmes in business and management-related areas, ranging from Accountancy, Economics, Finance, Wealth Management, Law, Information Systems and Social Science. It also has a dedicated Office of Research, a number of centres of excellence, and provides public and customised programmes through Executive Education. Collaborations with leading institutions, including the Wharton School, Carnegie Mellon, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago, allow SMU to draw on academic and research strengths across all major disciplines. The SMU campus is a state-of-the art facility located right in the heart of Singapore’s civic and business district. www.smu.edu.sg

About Li Ka Shing Library

The Li Ka Shing Library is the University’s intellectual and learning centre, providing academic and professional information resources and services that support the research and learning needs of the SMU community. Its goals and strategic initiatives are to enhance Research and Scholarship, Teaching and Learning, Community and Place, and Technology and Access. It meets its goals by integrating appropriate technologies with a broadly educated and experienced staff committed to customer service. The Library works closely with SMU’s Office of Communications and IT, which spearheads the development of an information technology-intensive environment to provide a rich computing experience and enable the University to achieve its vision of excellence and prominence in teaching and research through IT. The Library is named after Dr Li Ka-shing, Chairman of Li Ka Shing Foundation and Hutchison Whampoa Limited, a world renowned entrepreneur and philanthropist, following his generous $15million donation made in 2002, towards the endowment of the library. The Li Ka Shing Library had its official opening at SMU’s city campus in Bras Basah in February 2006. The Digital Library is its roadmap to the future. For more on the library, see: http://library.smu.edu.sg/aboutus/overview.asp and article in Access magazine: http://www.aardvarknet.info/access/number56/monthnews.cfm?monthnews=01

What’s this latest hot spot in the Library that seems to attract students like bees to honey? It’s the Board Games Zone in the Lien Ying Chow Lifestyle Library. 

Co-organised by the National Library of Singapore, IFLA Newspapers Section and IFLA Core Activity on Preservation and Conservation.

Interested to uncover the impact of digital technology upon contemporary and historic newspapers? Register for the IFLA International Newspaper Conference and learn how distinguished international & regional speakers tackle these challenges.

Programme Outline and Speakers

Tuesday, 1 April 2008

• Opening Address by Ed King, Chair, IFLA Newspapers Standing Committee
• Keynote Address by Hartmut Walravens, Chair, IFLA Newspapers Section
• Welcome Address by Dr N Varaprasad, Chief Executive, National Library Board, Singapore

Track 1: Physical and Digital Preservation of Newspapers

• Idris Rashid Khan Surattee - Singapore Press Holdings, Singapore
• Sue Lewis, Beth M Robertson, Lindy Bohrnsen - State Library of South Australia
• Pam Gatenby - National Library of Australia

Parallel Session A: Digitisation of Historic Newspapers: Approaches and Challenges

• Jane Shaw - British Library
• Klaus Ceynowa - Bavarian State Library, Germany
• Astrid Verheusen - National Library of The Netherlands

Parallel Session B: Challenges and Opportunities in Digitisation Projects

• Henry L Snyder - University of California
• Leo F.H. Ma & Louise L. M Chan - The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Majlis Bremer-Laamanen – National Library of Finland

Wednesday, 2 April 2008
Track 1: Physical and Digital Preservation of Newspapers – the issues of Legal Deposit and Copyright

• Georgia Higley - Library of Congress, US
• Else Delaunay - Bibliothèque nationale de France
• Raju Buddharaju & Josephine Yeo - National Library Board, Singapore
• Frederick Zarndt - Planman Consulting, North America

Track 2: Service and Access Models of Southeast Asian Newspapers

• Linda Ronan - Center for Research Libraries, US
• Chito Angeles - University of the Philippines Diliman
• Munawaroh - STIE Perbanas Surabaya, Indonesia
• Gracie Lee Siew Kheng - National Library, Singapore

Thursday, 3 April 2008
Track 3: Online Newspapers

• Ed King - The British Library
• Tay Sok Cheng, Sebastian Chow & Ben Lim - Singapore Press Holdings, Singapore
• Pär Nilsson - National Library of Sweden

For the full programme, visit the Conference website .

Online Registration
Download the registration form and submit the form via email or fax.

Conference fees: S$120.00*
* Goods and Service Tax of 7% applies.

For information, please visit the Conference website or email your queries to IFLA_newspaper@nlb.gov.sg.

The art librarians of the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library put together an exhibition in November, called The Nanyang Pioneer Artists: Paintings and Heritage Materials in the National Library’s Collection. This was part of the National Library’s Literary Heritage Showcase. The goal was to encourage more people to come forth and donate their books and ephemera, and help preserve Singapore’s published heritage on the arts.

Nanyang art was one of Singapore’s earliest modern art movements, which flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. The word Nanyang means “South Seas” in Chinese, and Singapore and Malaysia were popularly considered the heart of the Nanyang region. There are six widely acknowledged Nanyang art pioneers: Lim Hak Tai, Georgette Chen, Chen Wen Hsi, Chen Chong Swee, Liu Kang and Cheong Soo Pieng. These Chinese artists who made Singapore their home strived to create an artistic legacy for this region, and the result is “Nanyang art”, a style of painting which blends East and West in both technique and medium. Local scenery and subject matter were often portrayed. The artists also worked together to teach art and promote art activities. They all lectured at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore’s first major art institution, and helped create the Society of Chinese Artists and the Singapore Art Society.

Apart from paintings, heritage books, journals and ephemera on the Nanyang artists, the exhibition also showed newspaper clippings and images of the artists’ artworks, courtesy of the Singapore Press Holdings and the Singapore Art Museum. The exhibition ran from November 1st to 28th, and several members of the public penned their thoughts in a guestbook provided. “Fantastic…Nicely arranged and organised,” said one patron. “A most enjoyable walkthrough of Nanyang artists,” said another.

A select annotated bibliography on the artists has been launched online. It can be found at http://www.nlb.gov.sg/lkcrl, under the section Arts> Research Guides > The Nanyang Pioneers.

Contributed by Alicia Yeo, Lee Kong Chian Reference Library NLB

The Lee Kong Chian Reference Library staff involved in setting up the exhibition are (from left): Mary Peh, Tay Chiew Boon, Nabila Abu Bakar, Gee Miaw Miin, Sharon Foo, Roberta Balagopal and Alicia Yeo.

Books, journals, ephemera, and paintings from the library’s collection were shown.

The exhibition structure was fashioned like an open book, with the materials encased in glass on each side.

This batik painting by Liu Kang was one of the artworks owned by NLB on display. Entitled Bali Women, it is 122cm tall and 84cm wide.

On 12 Sept 2007, 20 SP Library staff spent a meaningful afternoon at the MINDS Clementi Training & Development Centre (TDC). This community service visit was arranged as part of our annual staff welfare activities.

When we arrived, we were warmly welcomed by all at the Centre – the Head of the Centre, Mdm Shafiyah, her staff and volunteers, and most importantly, the clients. The fun-filled programme for the afternoon kicked off with a song and dance performance by Joe’s Performing Group made up of 4 of the Centre’s clients. The entertaining medley of songs which included You Are My Sunshine and Sha-La-La-La-La had everyone singing, humming and clapping along.

Joe’s Performing Group

Singing and clapping along to the song

Next up, we had a chance to interact directly with the clients by playing a game called Pass The Goodies! There was great excitement as 4 of my colleagues paired off with a client each and tried their best to complete the race.

Following that, we were serenaded by one of the clients, Ms Joanna Welikande. Her rendition of Pretty Woman sure got everyone grooving to the beat! The dining room turned into a mini disco and clients enjoyed themselves dancing away to the songs, accompanied by the volunteers and my colleagues.

Ms Joanna Welikande

Disco Time!

It was game time again. This time, in the Mr & Miss Universe Pageant, we played dressing-up the 4 candidates using materials like newspapers, plastic bags and coloured paper.

To round up the programme, a lucky draw was conducted. After announcing the 2nd winner, Mdm Samsiah, the Centre’s supervisor, mentioned aside that she was glad this client won the prize as he came from an underprivileged family and the $10 NTUC voucher would come in handy. Prizes were also presented to the winners of the games as well as specially prepared gift packs for all the clients.

Finally, the highlight of the afternoon – tea time! We had the opportunity to help serve the clients their food and drinks, kindly sponsored by Pines Food Services.

At the end of the visit, we left the Centre feeling it was definitely a rewarding and enriching experience. We were able to gain an insight into the plight of the intellectually-disabled clients. Despite their limitations, we saw that they were happy and fun-loving folks who enjoyed interacting with us. Our presence somewhat broke their daily routine and gave them an interlude to show off their talents to us.

These are some thoughts shared by my colleagues:

“I really enjoyed the get-together, the sing-a-long and the tea session. The clients are very warm and responsive and I could sense they really welcomed us. Indeed they are blessed with high emotional intelligence. If time permits, we could visit them again.”
- Mrs Tham Mei Choo, Acquisitions Librarian.

“I’m glad to have the chance to help organise this meaningful activity. I think the clients may not understand but hopefully their families will appreciate the gift pack of biscuits, face towel and toothbrush packed in a reusable bag for each of them.”
- Ms Patricia Ow, Co-ordinator of Staff Welfare Activities, Reference & Information Services.

Contributed by:
Khoo Ai Ling, Reference Librarian, Singapore Polytechnic Library (October 2007)

‘Get inspired @ your library’ was revealed as the theme to this year’s inaugural Singapore Library Week (SLW) at the press conference on 24 October. Jointly organised by the National Library Board (NLB) and Library Association of Singapore (LAS), more than 40 academic, public and special libraries across the nation planned a series of activities under the SLW umbrella from 1 to 9 November.

Primarily targeting the youth and young working adults, “SLW aims at creating greater awareness of libraries and their services and programmes,” said Dr N Varaprasad, Chief Executive (CE), NLB. “At the same time, SLW hopes to promote librarianship and information science as a preferred career choice,” added Dr Varaprasad.

Ms Ngian Lek Choh, President, LAS, commented, “There are many other things that happen in libraries that people do not see. For example special libraries provide a lot of valuable information tools to their stakeholders. So it’s important for people to see, through SLW, librarians in action, apart from just shelving books.”

SLW Opening Celebrations
On 1 November , TAG (Temasek A Cappella Group), made up of students from Temasek Secondary School, kick-started SLW with smooth and harmonious a cappella renditions of ‘Lean On Me’ and ‘MMMBop’. Their rousing performance garnered loud applause from the large crowd gathered at The Plaza, National Library Building. It was truly a fantastic way to sync everyone into a celebratory mood!

The members of TAG in the midst of their catchy performance.

Dr Varaprasad then welcomed the crowd with a little significant piece of history. “This year is especially significant as it is the 50th Anniversary of the Raffles National Library Ordinance, which back in 1957 marked the beginning of free library services to the public,” he shared. A commemorative pictorial book entitled The People’s Library was launched in accordance with the anniversary.

There are a total of 140 libraries in Singapore, with 24 libraries under the NLB network and more than 100 academic, government and special libraries. “All these libraries form an integrated information ecosystem that is critical to Singapore’s knowledge-based economy,” said Dr Varaprasad.

Guest-of-Honour Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, launched the SLW festivities. “Libraries have helped Singapore become a knowledge and innovation-based society,” said Dr Lee on the importance of libraries. “Libraries also help us to imagine, to see new opportunities and contain the essence of lifelong learning,” he further shared.

GOH Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister, MICA, along with Dr Varaprasad, CE, NLB, signing the Dream Wall.

Achieving More through Inspiration
The opening celebrations certainly set out to celebrate libraries and the librarians who help manage them. Mrs Hedwig Anuar, affectionately known as the ‘First Lady of the National Library’ was honoured with the LAS Lifetime Contribution Award, following which, the guest speakers inspired the crowd with their success stories through their presentations at the youth forum, ‘Dream Inspired @ your library’.

Mrs Hedwig Anuar (middle) receiving the LAS Lifetime Achievement Award from Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister, MICA, as Ms Ngian Lek Choh, President, LAS, looks on.

Keynote speaker Mr Nickson Fong, founder of Egg Story Creative Production Pte Ltd, who has worked as an animator for a bounty of Hollywood movies such as Shrek, Godzilla, Starship Troopers and Stuart Little to name a few, said, “My staff and I spend a lot of time in the library researching for our films, and it is with passion and a dream that keeps me going.”

Mr Nickson Fong, founder of Egg Story Creative Production Pte Ltd, sharing his experience as a library user.

Ms Lavinia Tan, Singapore’s very own Globe Trekker host from Discovery Travel & Adventure, shared her personal take on inspirations and dreams. “You’re never too old to pursue your dreams, Know what you want to do, go for it and surround yourself with people who care for you and your dream,” she said.

Besides rallying the public to ‘Get inspired @ your library’, the crowd was also encouraged to make use of the opportunities offered throughout SLW as participating libraries open up their doors and offer ‘sneak peeks’ into the world of librarians and information specialists. Guided tours, book fairs, exhibitions, talks, movie screenings and even jazz performances were just some of the activities that were organised for SLW.

Fun competitions were also held in conjunction with SLW. For the media savvy, some of the online competitions included posting their stories on how the library or a librarian has made a difference in their lives, or uploading a 60-second video on SLW’s theme of ‘Get inspired @ your library’. Lastly, schools were invited to take part in the ‘Prove It’ contest, which aimed to make learning fun and challenging for students.

Dr Varaprasad mentioned that “through SLW, we hope to offer everyone the opportunity to celebrate libraries and librarians, recognising the invaluable contributions they make, and to inspire people to use the library more in achieving their personal and professional goals in life.”

Indeed, the tremendous efforts that were made during SLW enabled the public to get glimpses into the running of a ‘living’ library. Yes, ‘living’ libraries, where resources, knowledge and staff are ever dynamic and in place to help users fulfil their aspirations and realise uncharted possibilities. So get inspired—and achieve more in your life!

Singapore dreaming—young Singaporeans sharing their aspirations on the Dream Wall.

By Wong Wai Quen, NLB

Has your library conducted any activities during the Singapore Library Week on 1st to 9th November? If so, the bulletin would like to know about it, along with any other events that your library may have conducted recently.

Please send your article with accompanying pictures as separate JPEG files to las.singaporelibrariesbulletin@gmail.com by 1 Dec 2007.

We look forward to your contributions.

Kho Su Yian
SLB Editor

Abstract Submissions for IFLA International Newspaper Conference 2008
- Old Issues, New Issues: Impact of Digital Technology upon Contemporary and Historic Newspapers

Want to share collective knowledge about how libraries can tackle the dual challenges of preserving printed newspapers and responding to the changes that new technologies bring on to managing both printed and online (born digital) newspapers?

We invite you to register and submit a short proposal for a presentation on the IFLA International Newspaper Conference’s theme - Old Issues, New Issues: Impact of Digital Technology upon Contemporary and Historic Newspapers.  The Conference will focus on the rapid advancements of digital technologies affecting the various aspects relating to newspapers in libraries and archives, and will be held at the National Library of Singapore from 1 to 3 April 2008.

The IFLA International Newspaper Conference 2008 is co-organised by the National Library of Singapore, the IFLA Newspapers Section and IFLA Core Activity on Preservation and Conservation (PAC).

Call for Papers (http://blogs.nlb.gov.sg/newspaper_conf08/?page_id=10)
There will be 3 tracks of presentations that highlight a particular aspect or issue related to newspapers:
1. Physical and Digital Preservation of Newspapers
2. Service and Access Models of Southeast Asian Newspapers
3. Online Newspapers

Abstract submission deadline: 22 October 2007 (deadline extended)
Full paper submission deadline: 31 December 2007
Click here to view details for submission (http://blogs.nlb.gov.sg/newspaper_conf08/?page_id=10)

Online Registration  (http://blogs.nlb.gov.sg/newspaper_conf08/?page_id=28)
Register by 31 December 2007 to enjoy a discount on the conference fees.
Download registration form and submit the form via email or fax. (http://blogs.nlb.gov.sg/newspaper_conf08/?page_id=28)

Early bird conference fees (registration on/by 31 Dec 2007): S$100.00
Conference fees (registration after 31 Dec 2007): S$120.00

Visit http://blogs.nlb.gov.sg/newspaper_conf08 for more information on the conference.
For general enquiries email: IFLA_newspaper@nlb.gov.sg 

A paper by Ms Maitrayee Ghosh, Assistant Librarian of P.K. Kelkar Library, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India.

Abstract:
With the generous support of Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore I spent six weeks in Singapore this summer (mid March to April, 2007) under ACRC research Fellowship, visited different academic libraries and completed the literature survey for my PhD dissertation. I have come away with a fuller understanding not only of library consortia, but of resource sharing activities in Asia as well. I feel that I succeeded in meeting my fellowship goals using my own observations and through literature search. I visited the Library almost every day, following up on meetings with the faculty members of SCI, University Librarian at Lee Wee Nam Library and subject librarians seeking background knowledge on broad themes in my research area. Needless to say, my experiences in Singapore this summer were immensely valuable and rewarding. I focused on designing the questionnaire for collecting data related to the library resource sharing and consortia and expanded my knowledge in this area. After going through the commercial full text as well as bibliographic databases available online, I began collecting materials such as organizational newsletters, action alerts, library brochures, master dissertations, annual reports, and other grey literature. I am pleased to report that the ACRC fellowship has enabled me to make substantial progress in my doctoral research.

The full text of the paper is available here (PDF).