The National Library Board presents Reads for what you need

11 November 2021

Read and you shall receive

The National Reading Movement marches into 2021 with a fresh edition designed to empower and encourage a quest for information and knowledge during a period of uncertainty. There will be library trucks in parks, digital talks and masterclasses, and even physical reading pop-ups. Have you ever downloaded a book from a wallpaper? Well, now you can.

This year’s integrated campaign is titled ‘Reads for what you need’. It promotes reading at a national level, urging everyone to find wisdom, courage and even escape in the world of words as they navigate the challenges of modern life amidst the COVID-19 situation. The four-month long campaign, which started from 4 December 2020, with advertisement placements at key transport nodes, aims to raise awareness of the National Library Board’s (NLB) multitude of resources that can support the public during this ongoing pandemic.

NLB has been encouraged by the public’s demand for reading. During the circuit breaker between April to June 2020, there was an increase of about 150 per cent more eBook loans compared to the same period in 2019. In 2020, the share of digital loans as a proportion of total loans had grown to 37%. 

Through the National Reading Movement, NLB would like to continue to encourage people to set more time for regular reading (“Read More”), explore books of different genres and mother tongue languages (“Read Widely”), and read with their loved ones (“Read Together”).

Here are three main segments of the campaign this year:

Pop-up, read up

Marina One has set up a “wallpaper library” as part of an outreach to bring the library experience to readers, offline and online. In Marina One’s unit #B2-59, its walls are covered with over 100 featured titles of various genres which are provided by NLB. Each title is accompanied by a QR code that invites people to borrow the books via the NLB mobile app at their own convenience. This collaboration with Marina One is part of NLB’s ongoing efforts to partner organisations and promote reading in unexpected spaces.

Pop-up, read up Pop-up, read up

That is not all. To bring the joy of reading to parkgoers and families, NLB is working with NParks and SMRT to present a roving 18-feet Optimax truck dressed up as a library-themed truck. The artwork on the truck will feature curated books for adults and children with each being accompanied by a QR code inviting families and parkgoers to borrow the featured eBooks or download the NLB mobile app which will provide access to thousands of other eBooks at their convenience.

library-themed truck library-themed truck

The truck will be plying on selected routes from Mondays to Thursdays, and will be at the following parks from Fridays to Sundays in January:

  • East Coast Park (8-10 January)
  • Punggol Waterway Park (15-17 January)
  • Bishan Ang Mo Kio Park (22-24 January)
  • West Coast Park (29 -31 January)

Reading in the Age of Distraction
The National Reading Movement will be going online too. There will be a digital conference ‘Reading in the Age of Distraction’ over two Saturdays, 23 January and 30 January, featuring for the first time in Singapore, leading international thinkers who will reflect on how we read. The conference is a first for NLB and will touch on the reading habits of adult Singaporeans, such as reading on screens, reading news, and consuming social media.

For more information, go to https://www.nlb.gov.sg/NewsAnnouncement/tabid/225/announcementId/356/Default.aspx#.X_LLxNgzbIU

The Future is Yours to Create
Championing personal enrichment and skills upgrading, there will also be masterclasses by Singapore’s key opinion influencers that will aim to imbue Singaporean adults with resilience, confidence, and knowledge to take on the future. These classes will take place from 22 January to 5 February 2021 and will be streamed live from Stories Come Alive room at library@harbourfront.

Participants can sign up for free and a summary infographic will be provided at the end of the class. Learning packages will also be available for participants to learn more and will be hosted on the National Reading Movement website.

For more information, go to https://readingnation.nlb.gov.sg/initiatives/masterclass/

Let’s Chat About It
NLB has also launched the first-ever National Reading Movement Chatbot to recommend what to read next. With over 140 titles in database, the Chatbot tailors its recommendations to the patrons’ preferences.

Try it now at https://www.messenger.com/t/219541704832846 , or access it by clicking the “Message” button on the National Reading Movement Facebook page.

About National Library Board
The National Library Board (NLB) nurtures Readers for Life, Learning Communities and a Knowledgeable Nation by promoting reading, learning and history through its network of 27 public libraries, the National Library and the National Archives of Singapore. NLB also forges strategic partnerships that encourage awareness, appreciation and greater discovery of Singapore’s history through its rich collections on Singapore and the region.

NLB achieves excellence through innovation, focusing on citizen engagement and co-creation, resource and digital innovation. This creates learning opportunities, greater access to library resources, services and archival collections, as well as a continual development of innovative library spaces. Established on 1 September 1995 as a statutory board, NLB is under the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI).

For more information, please visit the NLB website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Abraham Christopher 
Weber Shandwick 
Tel: +65 9127 3751
Email: AChristopher@webershandwick.com

Charmaine Lau
Weber Shandwick
Tel: +65 9223 2570
Email: chlau@webershandwick.com