NLB Borrow-n-Deliver Brings the Library to Everyone's Doorstep

Singapore, 12 June 2023 – From 12 June 2023, find your choice reads online and have them delivered right to your doorstep via the National Library Board’s new “Borrow-n-Deliver” initiative. For a fee of $8.64(GST-inclusive), patrons can select up to four library items, including books, magazines, and audio-visual materials, which are available and currently not on loan, via NLB’s e-Catalogue, and have them delivered to their homes island-wide.

With “Borrow-n-Deliver”, patrons can browse and select titles online, and receive the titles within about a week of their order. The pilot initiative aims to make it even more convenient for our patrons. It builds on the paid subscription service for young children known as The Little Book Box. This is part of NLB’s efforts under LAB25 (Libraries & Archives Blueprint 2025) to enable reading and learning anywhere and everywhere.

NLB’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ng Cher Pong, said: “We are excited to try out a new way of bringing our library’s collections right to your doorstep. This comes after having heard from our patrons that an on-demand delivery service for physical books would be helpful, especially for time-challenged families and individuals. As part of our omni-channel strategy under LAB25, we continue to welcome feedback on how we can make reading, learning and discovery easier and more accessible for everyone.”

The “Borrow-n-Deliver” service is available to all patrons. They may select from available items (except age-restricted audio-visual materials) across NLB’s network of public libraries. To enjoy the service, patrons need to meet the following criteria:

1. be a NLB member;

2. have no unpaid fees/charges in their membership account; and

3. have not maximised their loan quota allowed under their membership.

“Borrow-n-Deliver” orders will be delivered islandwide (including Sentosa) from Mondays to Fridays (9am to 6pm) via an external logistics service provider. The items will arrive at their doorsteps within about a week, excluding weekends and Public Holidays. Notifications will be sent at multiple points to keep patrons updated on the status of their order, from its confirmation to its delivery. The year-long pilot initiative will run till the end of May 2024.

The Little Book Box Now Offers Mother-Tongue Language Titles

“Borrow-n-Deliver” follows the positive reception of “The Little Book Box” which was introduced in 2020 to cater to young readers aged four to nine. The book subscription service offers children a specially curated set of titles, from a wide range of genres, to pique their interests and nurture their love for reading. Since the roll-out, “The Little Book Box” has been reaching the homes of an average of more than 1,000 monthly subscribers, with more than 220,000 children’s books delivered thus far. Many patrons have given positive feedback about the selection of books.

To offer young patrons a wider selection of titles, and to cultivate their interest in Mother Tongue Languages from a young age, NLB recently expanded the “The Little Book Box” offerings to include Mother Tongue Language titles. Since May 2023, subscribers have the option of receiving eight English books or four English and four books in their preferred Mother Tongue Language (Chinese or Malay or Tamil) for a nominal fee of $10.80(GST-inclusive) for home delivery or $8.64(GST-inclusive) for locker collection. The Mother Tongue Language titles will include popular titles and children’s classics such as “猜猜我有多爱你 (Guess How Much I Love You)", "Sang Kancil Dengan Harimau (Sang Kancil and the Tiger)", and "நமக்கென ஒரு வீடு (A home of our own)". So far, more than 500 subscribers have already signed up for the Mother Tongue Language option.

NLB’s librarians work closely with educators and reading advocates to carefully curate books suited for reading levels across the different age groups. For children between four and six years old, they will receive four picture books consisting of popular classics as well as books encompassing topics such as family, culture, and environment. For children between seven and nine years old, the subscription will consist of two picture books and two fiction books that are selected to match the general reading levels of this age group. Similarly, the books cover a variety of topics from adventure, mystery, sci-fi, environment to contemporary realistic fiction.

NLB welcomes any feedback via e-mail at enquiry@nlb.gov.sg, or online via https://www.nlb.gov.sg/main/Contact-NLB.

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About the 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 29 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 in 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, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube channels.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Quah Jia Ling
Weber Shandwick
Tel: +65 9699 0830
E-mail: jquah@webershandwick.com

Joween Song
Weber Shandwick
Tel: +65 9677 2598
E-mail: jsong@webershandwick.com

Annex

User Experience Guide on using “Borrow-n-Deliver”

1. Browse NLB’s e-Catalogue to search for item(s) of interest. Once found, click to select the item.
   
2. Click on the “Borrow-n-Deliver” button.
   
3. Sign in to your myLibrary account.
   
4. If the item is available in our system, you may add it to your cart by clicking on the “Add to Cart” button.
   
   Once added, the button will reflect as “Added to Cart”.
   
5. To view your added items, click on the Cart icon at the top right-hand corner.
   
6. Return to NLB’s e-Catalogue to select more items. To place an order, select up to 4 items that you wish to receive, and click on the “Check Out” button.
   
7. Occasionally, NLB may not be able to locate items that have been ordered. Therefore, if your order comprises 3 or 4 items, you will be asked to select one of the following fulfilment types when placing your order:
   1. Complete Fulfilment*: NLB will deliver your order only if all items can be retrieved; or
   2. Partial Fulfilment**: NLB will deliver your order if at least 2 items can be retrieved.
   *Note: For orders comprising 1 or 2 items, NLB will fulfil the order only if all of the items in your order can be retrieved. You will not be charged if the order cannot be fulfilled.
   **Note: For Partial Fulfilment, only one delivery will be made and the full service fee of $8.64 (GST-inclusive) will be charged to your credit or debit card.
8. Proceed to click on the “Place Order” button. At this juncture, you may be prompted to clear any outstanding fees/charges, if any, prior to order placement.
   
9. Enter your credit or debit card details to authorise the order payment. The service fee is $8.64 (GST-inclusive) and will only be charged upon confirmation that your ordered items are ready to be delivered to you. A flat service fee is charged regardless of the fulfilment type selected.
   
10. Once your payment authorisation has been successfully completed, you will see an overview of your order on your screen. An e-mail notification will be sent to you to confirm that your order has been successfully placed.
    
11. You may check on your order status by logging in to your myLibrary account here.
12. Under the “Delivery Services” tab, select “Borrow-n-Deliver”.
    
13. Your order summary and status will be shown.
    
    

     

    The definitions of the respective order statuses are listed below for your reference.

    Status	Definition
    In Process	We have received your order and our staff are in the process of retrieving your items.
    Ready for Delivery	Your items have been handed over to our external logistics vendor and will be delivered to you soon.
    Delivered	Your items have been delivered to your doorstep.
    Order Cancelled	You will see this status if any of the following occurs: Your order comprises only 1 or 2 items and we were not able to retrieve all items You selected the ‘Complete Fulfilment’ option, and we were not able to retrieve all items You selected the ‘Partial Fulfilment’ option, and we were not able to retrieve at least 2 items We were unable to charge your credit or debit card successfully Your order will be cancelled, and payment will not be deducted.
    Payment Authorisation Failed	We were not able to successfully receive your payment authorisation for the order. Note that this means we will not be processing your order.