Sept 2005 - Association of Dutch Businessmen

SINGAPORE
gapore’s City Centre
By Wil Kolen & Brigitte Velema
to the NLB’s extensive collections and services,
and through the NLB’s partnerships with other
institutions both locally and internationally, SMU
will also have access to the information resources
at these institutions. The collaboration with the
NLB will help place SMU in a strategic position as a
world-class tertiary institution supporting business
learning, organising joint seminars, workshops and
courses in the business and management fields.
The 16 storey National Library Building along
Victoria Street, was built at a cost of S$230 million.
With a floor area of about 58,000 square meters,
it is more than five times bigger than the old
National Library at Stamford Road. The new library
has also almost tripled its volumes to 630,000.
Besides library facilities, the new building also has
4,000 square meters of floor space for commercial
use and it will be the home to the new 600-seat
Drama Centre - a feature not found in libraries
anywhere in the world.
The modern and impressive size of the building
is one of the good examples of the high standard
in architecture that is found in the city centre.
From the outside it looks like a massive block, but
once inside the building area you find huge open
spaces that give the building a lighter character.
It is positioned as the new knowledge icon in
the heart of Singapore’s civic, cultural and arts
district. The goal is to turn libraries into interactive
spaces where creativity is experienced, explored
and expressed and a platform for community
formation. At the same time it marks a renewed
push to propel library resources into the digital
age with the launch of the NLB Digital Library at
www.nlb.gov.sg, which offers for the first time a
seamless interface of library services, transactions
and general information in one web portal. In
addition, a wide array of digitised materials is
available. These include unpublished works of
Singaporean authors, digitised rare materials on
Singapore and Asian heritage, and digitised
international resources available through partner
libraries, such as the British Library.
Since the opening weekend, the new National
Library has already featured a line-up of events
around specific themes. From August to October
is the “Istoria” festival. Istoria, derived from a
Greek word meaning both “history” and “story”,
promises a heady mix of exhibitions, programs,
workshops and activities. Exhibition themes include
“Shaping Singapore” (on the evolution of the
Singapore cityscape). Another interesting event is
the exhibition, Zheng He and Maritime Asia, from
13 August 2005 right through to 10 February 2006.
The event celebrates the 600th anniversary of the
remarkable maiden voyage of the legendary 15th
century Chinese explorer, whose ports-of-call
include Malacca, Aceh, Calicut, Bengal and Hormuz.
More information on opening hours, events
and other libraries in Singapore can be found on
http://www.lib.gov.sg
The
collaboration
with the NLB
will help
place SMU in
a strategic
position as a
world-class
tertiary
institution
supporting
business
learning,
organising
joint
seminars,
workshops
and courses
in the
business and
management
fields.
15
Vol.15 • No. 7 • September 2005