SINGAPORE, 3 October 2015 – The National Library Board (NLB) commemorates its 20th anniversary with a collection of Singapore's documented heritage and memories in their original print and digital forms.
This new Legal Deposit Catalogue, known as PublicationSG, will be made accessible to all Singaporeans across generations later in November. Legal Deposit is a statutory function of the National Library that enables the library to collect and preserve all works by Singapore writers, producers and publishers as part of Singapore's heritage.
It is NLB's gift to the nation as it marks its 20th birthday during our nation’s golden jubilee, a significant milestone that celebrates two decades of achievements and innovations in bringing knowledge to life. [Refer to Annex A for more information on PublicationSG and NLB’s Legal Deposit]
“The National Library Board has played a significant role in building a nation of life-long readers. Over the years, it has introduced various programmes and initiatives that promote the joy of reading and bring library resources closer to the community. Through the use of technology to deliver its service, NLB has ensured that it is also able to connect our libraries with today’s highly mobile Singaporeans. With the launch of the PublicationSG, our current and future generations will be able to search and access the rich materials in the Legal Deposit collection. NLB will continue to reinvent itself to ensure our libraries provide spaces that can cater to Singaporeans’ evolving social and learning needs,” says Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information.
The celebrations, which are referred to as NLB20, are taking place island-wide today. Featuring 131 programmes at 27 locations across the island, including at the National Library, various public libraries, National Archives of Singapore (NAS) and Memories at Old Ford Factory (MOFF), NLB invites patrons to join in its 20th Anniversary festivities.
NLB20 celebrates a series of firsts as NLB blazes the trail of innovation and technology to serve the changing needs of readers in today’s digital age. Being the first library in the world to use Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) to tag over 10 million items, NLB has leveraged this technology to launch various mobile applications and digitisation of our vast resources such as Library in Your Pocket (LiYP) mobile app and NewspaperSG. [Refer to Annex B for a list of NLB’s key milestones over the years]
Mrs Elaine Ng, Chief Executive Officer, National Library Board added, “For the past 20 years, NLB has focused on making information accessible to all. We strive to provide services, programmes and library spaces that meet the needs of our customers. We look forward to working together with the community in promoting reading and developing our services.”
Co-creation began and has remained as one of NLB’s steadfast pillars behind the success of library communities today. Examples of innovative collaborations include library@orchard and the Verging All Teens (V.A.T.) youth space within Jurong Regional Library, where youths were consulted and extensively involved in the conceptualisation and building of these spaces.
NLB20 celebrates NLB’s 20th year of establishment as a statutory board. NLB20 special initiatives will also include a commemorative Library Membership Card featuring an exclusive NLB20 design given out to new members below 6 years old, as well as an increased loan quota that allows library users to borrow up to 20 physical books and 24 eBooks from 3 October 2015 to 31 January 2016.
[Refer to Annex C for full list of NLB20 programmes, celebrations and activities]