Temasek Polytechnic Library InfoWise January 2007

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JANUARY 2007 NEWSLETTER OF TEMASEK POLYTECHNIC LIBRARY QUARTERLY
From Nov 6-10, students
and staff alike convened
at the library. Why
– Page 4-5
In this issue:
Get a head
start on
current affairs
with SPH
newspapers!
– Page 3
Search the
Web OPAC
using hanyu
pinyin or
Chinese text
– Page 6-7

Are we competitive enough for
the globalised world
By Seow Hwee Ling
As many as 80 students were treated to a mind-boggling talkshow
forum at the Library Podium on 24 November on the topic, "Do
Young Singaporeans Have the Competitive Edge to Compete in a
Globalized World".
Organised by CCD with Radio Station 938Live, the forum was
chaired by five panelists from all walks of life: Michael Palmer,
Member of Parliament for Pasir Ris Punggol GRC, Martin Tan,
Executive Director of Halogen Foundation, Sally Chew, Director
of International Relations and Industry Services (Temasek
Polytechnic) and Nicole and Tabitha Tay, national gymnasts who
won gold medals in the 2005 SEA games. The radio programme
was hosted by 938's host, Mahesha Thenabadu, for the "Campus
on 938Live" series.
Passion and drive take the cake
Young Singaporeans have the competitive edge, they just need
to be gutsy, said Michael. He explained, "Competition is not just
about winning and making it big. It involves failing and picking
yourself up in order to succeed." In his opinion, it all boiled down
to passion and enjoyment of the "career" at hand.
Martin added that younger Singaporeans already had the qualities
to succeed, one of them was good education. However, he was
sorry to say that they lacked drive. He emphasized, they needed
to go out to the world and try things out.
In fact, Martin was no stranger to a world of tryouts – he had
chosen "a road less travelled" to start up a non-profit organization
(Halogen Foundation) in his mid 20's, even though pressure was
humongous as he had just got married and his peers were all
building high-flying corporate careers. He had chosen to fulfill his
passion instead, and had never looked back since.
skills, were limited to a select few, and could not provide the
opportunities that were important to be competitive. Another
student, Sheila, shared her views on how Singaporeans had
always "followed the crowd", to the extent that unique opinions
were suppressed.
However, two students felt otherwise. Samantha said that young
Singaporeans needed to be proactive and seize opportunities for
themselves while Shareen commented that young Singaporeans
should learn to capitalize on their strengths and advantages and
venture out.
Competition – when and how
A burning question that came out of the discussion was: how
young should Singaporeans be exposed to competition then
Zoe, a student, felt that Singaporeans should be exposed to
the unknown much earlier than at tertiary level, preferably in
secondary schools.
Panelist Michael felt that it was not a matter of exposing the
young to competition, but rather, to teach them to be creative.
He elaborated further that schools "can decide where they want
to go. For example, schools can offer robotics and not only formal
curriculum".
Towards the end of the talkshow, catch phrases used by the
panelists still reverberated: "Just do it!" by Martin and "Winners
are not those who never fail but those who never quit" by Nicole
and Tabitha.
Mixed responses
While the panelists wowed the audience with their experiences,
there were mixed responses from the students. Michelle, an
Account and Finance student, felt that young people had long
been imbued into them that scholarly pursuits were important
and this meant that creativity had to be sacrificed.
Another student, Morris, agreed and added that TP's overseas
programmes for students, which boost social and business
2 •

Edmond Khoo, TP's Deputy Principal (third from the right), launched the Reading Corner with
Joseph Conceicao, Director of Singapore Press Holdings Foundation (second from the right).
DAILY NEWS AT LEVEL 3
By Puspa Yeow and Loh Hui Hong
Getting your daily dose of news is even easier than before with the commencement
of the Newspaper Reading Corner on 1 November!
The Newspaper Reading Corner is an initiative by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH)
Foundation to encourage Singapore youths to keep abreast of current and social
affairs, heighten their awareness of local & world affairs, and cultivate the habit
of reading news daily.
The official launch took place on 22 November at TP on behalf of the five
polytechnics - Nanyang Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore
Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic and TP. To quote Edmond Khoo, TP's Deputy
Principal, who graced the launch ceremony: "I am happy to note that we can
partner with SPH Foundation in this initiative to make news real and in this
way help our students to be well-informed and well-read individuals."
Tuty Reyhana, a third-year BUS/CMM student, agreed, "It's a good initiative to get students to read more." She explained that students
generally do not read newspapers, but with the Reading Corner, students are likely to do so between classes.
According to Ginney Lim, General Manager of the SPH Foundation, the launch at TP Library "marks the first of many Reading Corners
which the Foundation has committed to sponsor in educational institutions island wide."
The papers at TP Library's Reading Corner are additional copies to the newspapers to which the Library currently subscribes. Said DP
Khoo, "With the additional papers that are sponsored by the SPH Foundation, our students can now walk to our poly library and easily
pick up a copy of the Straits Times or Business Times and also the language dailies – Lianhe Zaobao, Berita Harian, Tamil Murasu."
Included in this list are the International Herald Tribune and the Financial Times, the latter being sponsored by its namesake.
In fact, since the reading corner was first set up on 1 November, there was an immediate positive response with the newspaper readership
increasing significantly.
Mrs Esther Ong, Director, TP Library, added , "With this sponsorship, we are able to offer more copies of our local newspapers and it's
very enlightening to see all the papers taken from the rack and our students deeply engrossed in reading them."
Indeed, the Library is ever committed to promoting life-long learning in students. Setting up of the reading corner is part of TP Library's
effort to promote life-long learning and to further cultivate a culture of interest in news and current affairs among TP students.
The newspapers are cleared every evening at 5pm and transferred to the Feedback counter near the Library exit for free distribution.
Previously published in Singapore Libraries Bulletin Blog http://singaporelibrariesbulletin.wordpress.com/
• 3

Talks and Performances rule
the week at the Library!
By Loh Hui Hong
For five days from 6-10 November, the Library Podium was roaring with activities! Speakers and performers from all fields of expertise
came to share their passions -- Japanese Tea Ceremony, Fengshui, Back and Neck Care, Scuba Diving and Sketching!
As part of the Library’s ever-committed endeavors to promote self-enrichment and lifelong learning, the series of programmes saw
great turnout, with attendance reaching a high at 119 for one of the talks!
The talks were inspiring too! Said Joanne Tan from FNA, “I had signed up for two of the talks at the podium -- both of which are of
special interest to me personally. One of them is on Japanese Tea Ceremony and the other is on Sketching. Unfortunately, I was
sick and could not attend the one on the Japanese Tea Ceremony. From the feedback gathered, I really wish I was there. The talk on
Sketching was very interesting. The speaker shared on her experience in sketching both locally and overseas, as well as ideas on how
the sketches could look good. I never thought one could sketch such fine details. The session has opened up new ideas to me and I hope
to be able to pick up sketching as a hobby.”
6 Nov: Japanese Tea Ceremony
Mind you! This was not just any Tea Ceremony demonstration
from anyone. The audience were wowed by the Japanese ladies
from Japanese Association of Singapore who applied the art with
finesse and focus!
Together with these kimono-clad maestros, volunteers from
the audience had a great time learning the intricacies of the
ceremony, including how to hold the chawan (tea bowl) and
show appreciation for the host’s hospitality.
Some comments
• I am interested in Japanese culture, would be good if there
is a Japanese association open house. I want to make
friends with Japanese.
• Well done.
• Interesting performance
Rating by the audience:
CCCCC
7 Nov: Fengshui
The speaker was Master Tony Tan, who had been under the
tutelage of renowned fengshui masters in Hong Kong and
Singapore.
The master presented the basic concepts of fengshui, before a
giving low-down of some famous buildings in Singapore. He also
gave some practical tips on balancing the five elements of metal,
water, wood, fire and earth. Some members of the audience could
be seen writing them down!
Rating by the audience:
CCCCC
4 •

8 Nov: Back and Neck Care
Physiotherapist Sai Ram showed the audience what some causes
of back and neck pain are and described some symptoms that are
indicative of problems. He also gamely got into some stretching
exercises with the audience.
The volunteer from Singapore Physiotherapy Association also
revealed that physiotherapy clinics are already introduced in
some polyclinics (such as Geylang and Tampines)!
Some comments
• More talks on extreme sports please. And extreme sports
courses offered in TP.
Rating by the audience:
CCCCC
Some comments
• Good speaker
• Thanks for organizing these
useful and interesting sessions
• (I like the) exercises and postures.
Thank you!
Rating by the audience:
CCCCC
9 Nov: Scuba Diving
Here’s a sport that is more popular with the students than staff,
or so it seemed with the audience make-up -- most of them were
students. The speaker, Kua Kay Yaw, from Mako Aquatics, gave
an introduction to the sport and smashed the misconception that
non-swimmers can do scuba diving too. His advice: you must be
able to swim at least 200 metres!
10 Nov: Sketching
Ms Tia Boon Sim from Temasek Design School took time off to
show her “treasures”! These were none other than sketches that
she did while traveling.
Besides contrasting photographs with the sketches, the speaker
also showed that sketching etched memories more deeply than
photographs do - her passion simply dazzled!
Some comments
• Very very interesting. Do invite her to share at future
sessions.
• It’s a refreshing change to learn something from a different
faculty.
• Good to know how others occupy themselves in similar
situations. Great past time.
• The sketches are nice.
Rating by the audience:
CCCCC
The audience were also treated to a myriad of colours of the
underwater world by a VCD brought by the speaker.
• 5

Chinese in OPAC
By Debby Wegener
I am sure you all know that the quickest and easiest way to
find a book in the TP Library is to use the Online Public Access
Catalogue or OPAC. There is nothing difficult about it - you just
type in an English keyword or two, look for the Call Number and
the Location, and you're away. But how many of you will have
noticed that we now also have Chinese characters in OPAC
INSERT:
To set up your Windows PC to allow for Chinese language
characters, go to:
>>Start
>>Settings
>>Control Panel
>>Regional and Language Options
Select the tab for Languages and then the Details button
Next, select the ADD button and Chinese (PRC) from the list.
Select the OK button when you see this popup
Recent enquires have revealed that, with the Library's small but
growing collection of books written in Chinese, many of our
patrons now want to search this collection using hanyu pinyin
or Chinese text. So we have taken those books with Chinese
characters appearing on the title page or the cover and given
them Chinese text cataloguing. This means that you may now,
with a few minor changes to your PC's language settings, search
for these books using the language in which they were written.
So, to find books on all sorts of subjects from Traditional Chinese
Medicine and massage therapy to ancient Chinese maxims and
classics, just follow these simple steps:
1. Open OPAC using the search button on
the Spark Library Portal at http://spark.
tp.edu.sg
When you see that Chinese (PRC) has been added, select the
APPLY button
2. Change the language settings on your PC [Please see insert
on how to change the necessary setting]
3. Enter your keywords in pinyin, for
example, "tui na". Depending on
your PC, the corresponding Chinese
characters will either appear for your
selection, or get inserted into the search box when you press
the enter button.
4. Select the "GO" button for your list of
results
5. Don't forget to change your language settings back to English
when you are done!
Now select the OK button twice to close all the popup windows.
6 •

DID YOU KNOW
If you take the lifts to Level 6, walk towards Project Room number
6, turn right and keep going along the book shelves to the end,
you will discover our Foreign Language collection.
Started with a generous donation
by the Embassy of the People's
Republic of China in Singapore,
this small but expanding collection
contains many interesting
topics ranging from folk songs
to traditional Chinese classics
and maxims. Did you know, for
example, that the ancient city of
Pingyao in the Shanxi Province of
China was built in the shape of a turtle and that the gates of those
parts of the city wall that face east and west represent the turtle's
legs Read "The Ancient City of Pingyao" DS797.75 Pin.Ko
And for those of you who do
not read Chinese - no problem!
Some of the works, such as
the "Folksongs and Papercuts"
ML336.7 Sha.Fo and “Chinese
Maxims” PN6307 Chi.Xi, have
English translations.
BORROW MORE! By May Goh
Great news! You can now borrow more books and AV items!
For students, you are now able to borrow up to 10 books from open-shelf collection, while non-academic and adjunct staff can borrow
up to 15 books!
For both of the above categories of members, 3 books can be borrowed from Red-spot collection. In fact, the loan period for Red-spot
has been extended from 2 hours to 3 hours!
For the first time, student can borrow restricted AV items (which include the popular feature films) overnight! The condition is similar
to that of Redspot items – that is, remember to return it by 9.30am the next working day, with overdue fine of 50 cents per hour
applicable. For non-academic and adjunct staff, they can now borrow 2 and 1 Restricted AV item(s) respectively now.
For general AV items, students can now borrow 5 titles, instead of 3. More changes can be seen in the following tables.
As for other categories of membership, details can be found at the Library Portal @ http://spark.tp.edu.sg.
Non-Academic & Adjunct Staff
LOAN TYPE LOAN LIMIT LOAN PERIOD FINES
Open Shelf 15 books New! 28 days 30 cents/day
Red Spot 3 books New! 3 hours New! 30 cents/hour
Reference 5 books 3 days 30 cents/day
Annual Reports 5 books 3 days 30 cents/day
Current Periodicals 5 issues 3 days 30 cents/day
Unbound or Bound 5 issues or 7 days 30 cents/day
Periodicals
volumes
Quick Reference 3 items 3 hours 30 cents/hour
7 Day Loan 5 items 7 days 30 cents/day
AV/Multimedia *
General 10 titles 7 days 1 dollar/day
(5 - adjunct)
Restricted 2 titles New! 3 days 1 dollar/day
(1- adjunct) (3 hours or (50c per hour
overnight - adjunct)
- adjunct)
Max. Holds 15 New!
Max. Renewals 3
Students
LOAN TYPE LOAN LIMIT LOAN PERIOD FINES
Open Shelf 10 books New! 14 days 10 cents/day
Red Spot 3 books New! 3 hours New! 50 cents/hour
Reference
Annual Reports
Current Periodicals
No Loan
(Use in Library only)
No Loan
(Use in Library only)
No Loan
(Use in Library only)
Unbound or Bound 5 issues or 3 days 10 cents/day
Periodicals
volumes New!
Quick Reference 1 item 3 hours 50 cents/hour
7 day loan 5 items 7 days 10 cents/day
AV/Multimedia*
General 5 titles New! 7 days 1 dollar/day
Restricted 1 title 3 hours in LRC 50 cents/hour
or overnight New!
New!
Max. Holds 5
Max. Renewals 3
• 7

PC Upgrade – now they're Bigger, Faster and Better
By Koh Ai Gek
The public access PCs in the Library - Spark PCs, OPAC PCs and the Print
Stations were upgraded during the vacation (October 2006).
The PCs are now…
Bigger -- PCs with CRT Monitors are now equipped with 15" LCD Monitors
and those which was previously installed with 15" LCDs were upgraded
to 17" ones. LCD monitors are known to have lesser glare and flickering
compared to CRTs and will help reduce eyestrain.
Faster -- All the CPUs were upgraded – either
replaced with brand new CPUs or upgraded with
added RAM to increase speed and enable users to
work more efficiently.
Better -- All the Spark PCs now have DVD drives.
The Acer PCs on Level 2 can read DVDs and write on
CDs and the all the new NEC ones have DVD Read &
Write capabilities. The mouse for the Spark PCs and
OPAC PCs are now optical ones to provide smoother
mousing.
Let’s be Clean and
Green!
If you have been to the Level 3 of the Library from 7-9
Nov, you would have seen an Environmental Awareness
Exhibition which spanned the space in front of the lift lobby.
It provided succinct information on how you can do your
part in keeping the Earth clean and green!
The Exhibition was held in conjunction with the nationwide
initiative, Clean and Green Week 2006, which was launched
on 5 Nov.
WE VALUE
YOUR FEEDBACK!
Tell us how you feel about
the Library by taking part in
Students’ Satisfaction Survey in
January 2007!
Besides the Exhibition, a
book display was at hand
to provide the resources
that staff and students
might need on the topic.
In fact, the bibliography
that was available
for pick-up proved so
popular that almost half
was taken up at the end
of the event!
If you have missed the exhibition and the book display,
you can get the bibliography online at the Digital Library
Portal at http://spark.tp.edu.sg. Let’s do our part to keep
our living space clean and green!
The whole set-up was jointly put together by Library and EFM
Editor: Loh Hui Hong Advisor: Mrs Esther Ong Committee: Koh Ai Gek, May Goh, Jennifer Lee, Seow Hwee Ling, Norain Akil
Designed & Printed by Integrated Press Pte Ltd