Preview: New Choa Chu Kang Library

First of all, a special thanks to Ivan Chew, the rambling librarian, for organising this library preview for local bloggers and library lovers.

I love libraries.

It's a treasure trove of knowledge. I learned all my Photoshop and Illustrator software skills from books I borrowed from the library. With enough practice, today, I'm working as an infographics journalist at The New Paper, doing graphic design and illustrations.

Whenever I see people online asking for what books to buy, my reply to them is always,"Just go to the library and borrow." Most of the books are up to date anyway. The best part is all of these are free.

Going back to the old Choa Chu Kang library, I guess I can only remember the old barcode scanning machines and the David Eddings books I borrowed. That was like 10 years ago, when I was still in secondary school.

I love books.

Some of the genre I like include technology, business, architecture and graphic art. Books are the best and fastest way to learn from others, others who have spent years accumulating the knowledge. I guess that's why I love books.

Alright, enough of old talk, here's the preview for the new Choa Chu Kang library.





This is Puay Ling, who gave us a tour of the library.



It seems that most libraries have a section dedicated to new books. At least all the libraries I go to do.

The libraries I frequent are Bukit Batok, Jurong East, Bishan, Toa Payoh, National library at Bugis and of course Choa Chu Kang. The reason I visit so many is sometimes the library near me doesn't stock the book. I can reserve books for less than my traveling cost, but I like to check out libraries too, to see what books people are borrowing.



Here are five borrowing stations. During holidays, the borrowing limit is doubled. No wonder the fifth book I borrowed this month actually cleared. However, the duration of the borrow still remains at 3 weeks.







This is the children section. It's separated by a wall to other sections, for obvious reasons. Here's where you can find tiny chairs and tons of picture books.



The tree is empty now. But soon, it will be filled with artwork from little kids.



Puay Ling is explaining why baby books are prone to wear and tear. The pages are mostly cardboard for that reason.













This is the multimedia section. Overall, the seating capacity has increased to over 200, from 90 plus. The new library is also much larger — 40% increment — at over 2000 square feet.



Check out the designer seats.



While some of the books are merely relocated from the third floor to the fourth, the library has also bought new books. 40% of the books are new. It sure feels good to borrow brand new books.



Newspapers are hot property in the library. That's why there are chains, to stop people from misappropriating them . The window view is to some HDB flats.





Remember these shelves? They are recycled from the library at Orchard.







Photography is not actually allowed in the library, with or without flash. This is a special occasion to break the rules.









The library is designed by a local architect firm. It looks good and cosy. The aisles are large, the carpet designs are cool and everything looks and feels new. Nice job.







Finally, the tour ended with some food, which was quite good, and a cutesy goody bag.



There were 9 bloggers at the preview. I'll be posting the links to their blogs here once I got hold of anything.

The new Choa Chu Kang library will reopen on 21 November 2008, 11 am. The address is 21, Choa Chu Kang Ave 4, Lot 1 Shoppers' Mall #04-01/02.

It's just directly one floor above, replacing the arcade centre that used to occupy the space. Now that's a better use of space!

That's all.

If you like library stuff, check out Ivan Chew's Rambling Librarian blog.

For more pictures, check out my Choa Chu Kang Preview (2008) Flickr photo set.