Release Date : 21 Jun 2012
A new service by NLB
Singapore, 21 June 2012 – The National Library Board (NLB) has launched a new service to loan donated eDevices. Visitors can borrow iPads, TumbleBooks Playaways and Kindles at the Bedok Public Library. The eDevice loan service was launched by Minister of State for Trade and Industry and National Development, Mr Lee Yi Shyan. This is part of NLB's efforts to help bridge the digital divide among Singaporeans.
“We hope that this service will benefit those who do not have the means to purchase an iPad or an e-reader. Thanks to our generous donors, they will now have the opportunity to borrow them from the Bedok Public Library. We hope more corporations will donate such eDevices for us to loan to a larger number of people,” said Mrs Elaine Ng, Chief Executive Officer, National Library Board.
Available for loan are 100 iPads, 100 TumbleBooks Playaways and 5 Kindles which users can borrow for two weeks. Parents with young children can loan the Playaways, which are hand held devices pre-loaded with animated picture books from the TumbleBooks Library collection. With the iPads, users can access NLB's electronic resources (eResources) and choose from over 2.2 million eBooks as well as magazines and newspapers from around the world. They can also look up information in the 140 eDatabases including Factiva, which has content from over 35,000 online news and information sources.
Borrowers of iPads will be required to attend a one-hour introductory workshop on technical aspects and accessing NLB's eResources.
The eDevices were generously donated by Factiva Limited, OverDrive Inc., W3.XS Private Limited, FotoHub Holdings Private Limited, InfoHost Private Limited, DB United and the U.S. Embassy Singapore.
NLB is also enhancing the wireless broadband service, Wireless@SG, at all libraries, starting with the Bedok Public Library. With the upgraded service, library visitors will enjoy a better internet surfing experience. Wireless@SG is enabled by the Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (NextGen NBN), an initiative by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA).