The National Library – A Treasure Trove of Knowledge (18 July 2011)

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On the 18^th of July 2011, students from both the Lower and Upper Preparatory Courses embarked on a learning journeyt to the National Library.  We thought that it would be a boring trip.  However, after the visit, we changed our minds.  It was a very enriching experience.  There was much that we have learned.

We left the school at 9:00am. On the road, the loud chatter of the students filled the whole bus. We were all so excited.  Soon, we arrived at the destination. We saw a high and beautiful building and that was the National Library.

It was early so only a few people were spotted.  After a while, a kind lady, Miss Shirley Lim, our library guide, took us to visit the Central Public Lending Library. She introduced some interesting things to us. The Central Public Lending library is at the basement of the building. There are machines to “borrow” the books. People can use their library cards to borrow books directly from the machine.

This library carries newspapers from more than 77 countries and has more than 600 kinds of magazines. All the signages here come in four languages, English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil.

Besides these, this library also contains the largest number of fiction and non-fiction books.  It was all really very amazing!.  There were so many books around and everywhere.

Another interesting thing is that the types of fiction books have different markings on them.  Novels with detective-type of stories had a picture of a gun on its spine while books of romantic fiction had a symbol of a heart on the spine.

There were many Audio books as well.  There was also one section with a lot of books on Singapore Law.  We learnt that every month, the government will revise the law and the library will update their books accordingly.  We were surprised that there are many laws in Singapore but we know that we must abide by them.

After that, we visited the Lee Kong Chian Library.  There were two other guides who took us separately and our group spilt up.  This part of the National Library was marvellous!  Each level is split into three sub-levels.  All the books on these levels cannot be borrowed.

Something special which we saw  was the masterfilm. The masterfilm can keep the books forever so that we will not lose their contents. On this level we also can enjoy the fantastic view. We can see the Singapore flyer and skyscrapers from the large windows. The library guide also told us that this is a good place to see the F1 race in September.  It is free and there will be a clear view.

In the library, there is a level which is very comfortable for students to study. There is a small beautiful garden outside the learning corner. We can drink inside and surf the internet. It is very conducive for studying.  During the holiday, it will also open. The drama centre is on the same level. In the past, the museum and library were together. Now, they are divided. However, in this library, there were also some exhibitions going on.  There were interesting things to see.

Soon, it was time for lunch. All the students went to McDonald’s to have lunch. We enjoyed ourselves. At 1.00 pm, we returned to the library and explored it on our own.  At 2.00pm, we went back to school.

We learnt many things on this trip. When we need a place to study, we can go to this library.

By Zhang Yishuang [Preparatory Course (Lower Sec)]
Zhou Jie [Preparatory Course (Upper Sec)]