Staying in Singapore this summer? Library access....

Summer borrowing of library books for pleasure reading has not been allowed in past years, however, many families who are staying in Singapore for the long holiday break have asked for the privilege.  

One issue has been books being taken out for 8 weeks, and taken out of the country, increasing the likelihood of them not returning.  The other has been access to the library itself, as our staff process books and do inventory (plus take their own holiday breaks), so are not necessarily available at their desks all the time.

We've decided to trial a new policy:  

Opening Time for Weekly Book Exchange: 9 to 11 am, every Wednesday during the holiday, in both the primary and secondary libraries for people to borrow and return.  

The loan period will be 2 weeks.

Please don't take out books if you are leaving the country or take more books than you can read in 2 weeks. 

Note: The libraries will not be open for general use -- only for book exchange.  We want to maximize access to books for the whole community (students, parents, staff), while minimizing disruption to the holiday work tasks in the library.

So come get your weekly selection of books Wednesday mornings, starting June 19th.

Summer Reading.... Where will the trail lead you?

This summer branch out and create your own reading trail.  

Start with any book and see how it can lead you to other books -- or films or articles or other interesting items.

See the Reading Trails below for each entering grade on the East Campus in August 2013.

• MS Reading Challenge-- student version
  -- parent/teacher version
• Grade 9
• Grade 10
• Grade 11

If you want some book suggestions, go to our Summer Reading page where there are both MS and HS booklists, created using Pinterest, for various genres.

No more free digital resources from the NLB of Singapore!

The National Library Board (NLB) of Singapore provides hundreds of digital resources free only to its citizens as of July 1, 2013.  

People with a FIN (Foreign Identification Number -- i.e., a green card holder) must now pay for an annual individual library card in order to get access. See the details above or on the NLB website (http://www.nlb.gov.sg).

This is a huge loss. Yes, forty-odd dollars a year for access isn't much to pay, but it's hard for us to guarantee every student will sign up. And, while we may purchase some of the digital resources ourselves (e.g., JSTOR), we will miss having access to some of the more esoteric ones.

If you want to recommend we get our own subscription to one of the NLB resources, please let me know.

Similarly, don't hesitate to contact me if you have a research need.....

-- Ms. Katie Day - kda@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg