Monday's library visits

Today we visited 4 different libraries. First we visited the Woodlands Regional Community Library which is 6 floors housed in the community's civic center. It has 12 self-checkout stations (stop crying Circ staff!) and their door count is about 5,000 per day during the week and 10,000 per day on weekends. Yes, per day!

We learned that all their libraries have collections in at least the four official languages; the state ID card can also serve as the customer's library card; the state cash card can be used to pay for library fees; they charge 3 cents a minute for internet access and don't allow internet use for games; their nonfiction collections are shelved in Dewey order but they have separated out 10 major nonfiction categories (e.g., computers, health, travel, etc.) that have special icons on spines so that there are actually two nonfiction sections--the 10 major groups are shelved in a section and then the rest of the nonfiction is lumped in a general nonfiction section. They also color code all children's material with a yellow stripe on the spine, young people's material with an orange stripe, and adult material with a blue stripe. They then use these colors on all signage for those collections.

Singapore also has centralised telephone reference. Every phone and e-mail inquiry is handled first by the lowest level staff. If the question requires a reference librarian's skill, the call is bumped up. They find that 80% of the questions can be answered by the lower level staff.

We also visited a children's community library on the ground floor of a housing complex. We had to take our shoes off when we went into it. It primarily contained material for preschoolers because that is the population within the housing units. It is open from 4-9pm. The books cannot be returned to any other branch which is not the case for most other branches.

Next we visited the do-it-yourself library (Sengkang Community Library) in one of their many malls. Their malls all seem to be at least 4 floors--they go up instead of spreading out. The library has no customer service counter here, but they do have a "Concierge" counter staffed by security guards. They also have paraprofessionals who rove in the stacks and a "Cybrarian" kiosk where they can pick up a phone and be connected with a staff member. The staff on the other end of the phone can push screens of the catalog or map of a library onto the screen of the Cybrarian kiosk for the customer to see. The circulation here is about 120,000 per month! They don't have chairs here, but do have several backless benches and some "bum rests" which are metal rails around a circular pole used for signage.

Lastly, we visited the library geared toward 18-35 year olds in an upscale mall. It has a lot of clear acrylic and glass so as to "easily see and be seen" in the words of one of its librarians. It only has adult/young adult material and is set up to resemble a shop or boutique. No comfortable seating, just benches; several listening stations and internet stations. Their circ is about 80,000 per month and their door count is about 120,000 per month; open 11-9 seven days a week. There are a lot of people over here and they seem to throng to their libraries as well as the book stores. Every book store has been packed.

All but the children's library had cafes in them.