Accessibility

Wheelchair-friendly Routes 
Wheelchair users can enjoy easy travel to our libraries via barrier-free wheelchair-friendly routes.

Social Stories and Visual Schedules
Check out our Social Stories, which are step-by-step photograph guides to help persons with disabilities learn what to expect and how to react in specific situations or settings they might face in the libraries. This would allow them to enjoy their library experience. At the same time, our Visual Schedules help children to plan their activities during their library trip.

Find Wheelchair-friendly Routes, Social Stories, and Visual Schedules in our individual branch pages.

These personalised one-to-one guided tours of library spaces and services led by staff cater to persons with autism, physical and intellectual disabilities, or visual impairment, or who are deaf or hard of hearing. 

Sign up for Book-A-Tour.

Located in One Punggol, Punggol Regional Library is a LAB25 (Libraries and Archives Blueprint 2025) library where there is something for everyone to read, learn, and discover. The library will include accessibility features such as assistive technology devices.

The library officially opened on 5 April 2023, Wednesday. With dedicated offerings for children on Levels 1 and 2 and services for teens and adults on Levels 3 and 4, the library will serve the needs of the community in Punggol.

The library opens daily from 10am to 9pm, except on public holidays. The library closes earlier at 5pm on the eves of Christmas, New Year, and Chinese New Year.

 At Punggol Regional Library, you can look forward to:

• Friendly, approachable, and well-trained staff who can assist patrons, including persons with disabilities.
• Accessible physical infrastructure and services such as adult changing tables in the accessible toilets and Borrow-n-Go, a wheelchair-friendly borrowing portal.
• Assistive technology devices such as trackballs, joysticks, black-white large key keyboards, high contrast large key keyboards, and colour contrast large key keyboards, a magnifier, and the Immersive Reader.
• The Stories Come Alive Room, which uses images, light, and sound effects to create an immersive and interactive experience for all.
• A Toy Library located at the Children’s Section for young children aged 0 to 6 years old, including those with disabilities, to learn through play. Children, parents, and caregivers will have access to a variety of developmentally appropriate toys, educational aids, puppets, and costumes.
  
• Calm Pods for adults and children with disabilities who may require a quiet and safe private space. Patrons can communicate with staff via the intercom to gain access to the Calm Pods.
  
• The Accessible Collection features 3,000 English books for children and adults with disabilities, their caregivers, and their communities. The topics selected were based on feedback from users in the disability community. These include Braille books with text for those with visual impairment, social stories that help persons with disabilities learn what to expect and how to react in specific situations or settings, phonics readers to help patrons with language difficulties, and touch and feel books for people to learn through the sense of touch. There are also books for caregivers who want to learn about specific disabilities. Browse the collection.
• Patrons can look out for spaces in Punggol Regional Library that are marked with a purple heart icon that will be prioritised for use by persons with disabilities.
  

To learn more about Punggol Regional Library, visit this page.

• For those who are unable to physically visit the library, we have a wide collection of eBooks, audiobooks, eMagazines, and eNewspapers that users can access from home through the NLB Mobile app.
• eResources such as learning courseware, videos with closed captioning, databases, full-text journal articles, and indexes are also available for learning and research.
• Browse our eBooks from the Accessible Collection or the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped’s online catalogue for audio CDs, descriptive videos, and Braille books.

NLB provides opportunities for people of all ages to learn, interact and gather ideas in a stimulating and lively environment.

We make our programmes accessible by adapting our Sensory Storytime sessions for persons with disabilities, extending professional programmes to those who are visually impaired or deaf or hard of hearing, and providing suitable resources such as screen reader-friendly documents and live captioning.  

Sign up for accessible programmes.

Accessible Membership provides an expanded scope of library services across all libraries for persons with disabilities, on top of basic library membership privileges.

Accessible Membership is open to persons with disabilities who are beneficiaries of eligible disability schemes and services funded by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), or who had attended or are currently attending government-funded Special Education (SPED) schools.

As an Accessible Member, you will be able to enjoy: 

1. A longer borrowing period (from 21 days to 42 days);
2. A longer renewal period (from 21 days to 42 days);
3. Free reservation of items (which costs $1.57 per item); and  
4. Priority access to accessible features in Punggol Regional Library.

Find out more about the Accessible Membership and how to apply.

The Calm Down to the Library space at Woodlands Regional Library

The “Calm Down to the Library” area at Woodlands Regional Library is designed for children with autism and those with sensory needs. This sensory-friendly space is equipped with semi-enclosed spaces and padded floors to create a sanctuary for children with autism.  

The space is open during the library’s operating hours. Families with children with autism are encouraged to visit the space during low-peak periods on Sundays to Thursdays from 6pm-8pm.   

Find out more about Woodlands Regional Library's social stories and wheelchair-friendly routes.

Please contact enquiry@nlb.gov.sg if you need further assistance.