Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Footnotes to Fairytales

1) It is a great place to escape from the noise (similar to what i just mentioned about peace and serenity). We're talking about Orchard here hello... The place where every twenty metres you walk you most probably will get approached by some irritating people who wants to either conduct a survey with you or simply wants you to buy something. Let's not forget the noise pollution from the traffic and the buzz of the crowd. It can get pretty annoying after some time i must say. And whenever i feel that way, there's always the library to turn to! haha... Being located on the top (or one of the top) floors, it's slightly isolated from the busier shops at Takashimaya and therefore it's more quiet there. Furthermore, it's the best place to rest after a long walk. You can rest peacefully on the seats available before going for another round of shopping/window-shopping.

2) It's just above Kinokuniya. Quite a number of people i know like to just walk around Kino and admire at all the pretty books and also make yourself feel a little high-class JUST BECAUSE you window-shop there. haha. Well, after admiring all the pretty books which i can't afford, i can always go up to the orchard library to see if they have the same book. Cheapo i know.haha. But most of the time, i just can't bear to part with my money for a book - probably because i don't know if i will ever finish reading it.

3) The library is just a very convenient place to meet. In the heart of Orchard Road! haha There's are only a few people i know who actually doesn't know where the orchard library is (very sua gu right? - even i know lor). Plus there's shelter all the way from orchard mrt - can go there rain or shine!

Yups, as you can see Library@Orchard is indeed a great place! (ah yoyo, if close le how??? haha)

There you go! Pictures of library workers in action!

Actually i wanted to take a picture of a library assistant but when i was there, all the library assistants very shy! haha... Anyway, do you know why i'm using the word "library assistants" and not "librarians"(the term i suppose most people commonly know)? Actually, it was until the briefing for this activity that i knew the difference! Well, to be more exact, i didn't know there was even a term "library assistant" at all! I guess even if i've heard of it, i would have assumed that the two terms meant the same thing! haha... (if i'm the ONLY ONE in SINGAPORE that doesn't know about this difference, please tell me!) Well, if you did not know, librarians are not the ones we see doing all the shelving of books and pushing the trolleys of books around the library. Those are the library assistants! Oh my, how underappreciated they must feel! haha.

The library assistants or LAs basically ensure that the physical processes in the library system work as they should.These include shelving, shelf-reading (checking to see that the books are shelved accurately), returning the books (FYI, they actually double-return the books after you drop them into the bookdrop. WOW SUPER SAFE!), processing books for reservation and discard (torn books and "gross" books need to be removed from the shelves) and repairing books that can be saved etc. On the other hand, contrary to popular belief, librarians (the more popular ones) are responsible for the following areas:

1) Collection - managing the branch's collections, promoting the collection through displays
2) Publications - writing book reviews/articles, doing posters/booklists and even blogging
3) Reference and enquiry services
4) Organising/conducting Infoskills workshops and programmes, book discussions and talks/presentations at schools and other organisations.
5) Other projects - like making the libraries a welcoming place for the everyone (including the "differently"-abled).

Hmm... now that we're on the topic of library assistants, let me tell you about my personal library experience. Actually, during my December holidays (when i was in my first year of college), my friend and i decided to earn as much Community Involvement Programme (CIP) hours as we can. And yes, we went to sign up as helpers in the library. Well, those were the days when i was less proud of what i did - everything i did seem to must have a materialistic reason, either to make my testimonial appear nicer or to make my results better. (If you have the same thinking as me back then, please change!) Nevertheless, even if my fundamental motive was a wrong one, i still took back a meaningful community involvement experience and of course new found respect and understanding for workers in the library - more specifically the library assistants.

The reason why we chose to volunteer at the library was quite pragmatic - everyone was saying the job was SO SIMPLE AND YOU GET TO BE UNDER AIRCON. HOW HARD CAN IT GET RIGHT??? HA HA HA. They guessed wrong alright! I remembered developing headaches whenever i was doing shelving and carrying all the books around for long hours can really give you muscle aches ok... (but i also admit i have weak arms la. haha). But fortunately, the job scope is pretty routine. Like shelving books into the right shelves and arranging the books neatly and tidily. This is pretty easy although sometimes trying to find the shelves can be quite an irritating process (think Woodlands library).Well, the good thing about orchard library is that there aren't actually many shelves. Or maybe it's just very organised haha. Oh also, you can arrange all but one section of books neatly. That's the baby books section which fortunately library@orchard doesn't have haha. THEY ARE FOREVER MESSY NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU PACK IT. All these babies ah... Naughty Naughty!!! haha (Eh... But the babies don't take the books what, it's the parents! Hmm.....) But then again, there are always people returning books and therefore, the work was non-stop. The slower you do your job, the more books there are to shelve! For most of the time, i volunteered for one whole day, stopping only for lunch, and it's really exhausting. So now that the library is closing, all the library assistants can finally have a well deserved break! haha *suddenly link to retrenchment* Opps... that's not really a good thing right...

Well, since it was so tiring and mundane (no offence), my friend and i would always find ways to slack. We can sit down and shelve books one you know! haha. When the "real" library assistant comes by we'll just say the shelf too low la... cannot reach, bad for our backs. haha! In addition, whenever i pass by sections where the books are topics of my interest (music!), i would always stop and take my own....sweet.....time....to....read before resuming work haha. (PLEASE DON"T FOLLOW ME OK - i'm just saying this to sound more politically correct hah) Oh ya, if you're a book lover, the good thing about volunteering in the library is you get advance access to books! haha My friend managed to borrow a number of her Garfield comic books because of that! No wonder i always can't seem to get my "Tuesdays with Morrie" ah...

It's actually a very interesting and nice experience for me. Because i volunteered for a comparatively long period from 4th November to 22 December 05 (haha... i very LI HAI right...), i got to know some of the library workers better than most student volunteers would. Most of them are really friendly, sharing food with us when my friend and i were hungry and showing similar concern to us in many different small ways. Kudos to them!!! haha. But realised i used the word "MOST OF THEM" in the previous line? That's because I'm bearing a small grudge. My friend and i would volunteer on the same day and work for the same number of hours. However, when we got our individual certificates of appreciation for our super long volunteer period, the total time i served was 31:10 hours, about THREE FREAKING HOURS short compared to my friend! (my friend was unwilling to give me the exact time cause she was afraid that i would get her into trouble some sort. Well, i tried to threaten her by saying i'm release her FULL NAME on my blog but to no use - nobody gives in to me one... haiz haha) What are the librarians doing!!! Argh..............................

Well of course i'm JUST joking... We are human after all, we make errors. Besides now my attitude has changed, i'm happy enough to have left with a memorable volunteer experience and well, a pretty good certificate of appreciation from the library. haha.

Enough said about my own experience and back to library@orchard!
Did you know that it allowed people to paint on their walls a few weeks back? It was some sort of a collaborative art experiment with one of the library's past programme partners, Chris Yap (btw, a fine art photographer and master printmaker ok... WOO~~). Being one of the curious KPO people who were part of it, i can tell you it surely was a great LAST CHANCE for people to "interact" with the library and of course express themselves in the process as well. haha . Of course, it was not JUST for fun. The library also saw it as a meaningful and interesting way for those to leave their last thoughts about the library. Indeed indeed... haha

Anyway, i searched high and low (figuratively) for great paintings and my TOP 3 (sorry, no prizes haha) are:

And the winner is *drum roll*............................................

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! That's my own painting! haha... I'M THAT BIASED!!! :~ (me sticking out my tongue haha). Ok, to be fair, if i really had to make a choice (really hard, cause OBVIOUSLY no painting came close to MINE!), i might have to choose the angel one. I think the person painted it very well and it looks really elegant! Too bad my friend Maxim spoilt it abit when he did his painting haha... he tried to salvage it but i think it became worse! Nevertheless i still think it's beautiful! haha

By the way, the librarian hasn't been able to find my painting! Maybe i should just organise a "spot-the-mandy-moore-painting contest"! Winner gets.... a sticker of mandy moore? haha (pls dun take this seriously.. i dun have mandy's stickers and i sure dunno where to find them haha)

Anyway, it seems as though i've been really happy this whole time isn't it? All the haha's and !!!'s must be making you think whether i'm really sad about the closure of the library. Thing is, i don't like to see it as a "goodbye" but more of an "end of a chapter" - which means i still feel very KE SI that library@orchard is closing down. I do admit that what i feel cannot be equivalent to those frequent visitors of the library, but i must say i can roughly understand how it feels.

The library was the first place where i started to learn how to use a computer. Back then, primary school children don't use computers as much as the kids today alright! Plus, i had very little chance to use my house computer with my brothers hogging it and i didn't really know how to use it cause nobody taught me (sob sob). I remember doing all the primary school mini-projects with my friends in the library, running around ecstatically when we finally found some good books for our projects and then gathering around a computer to work on it. Back then, computer stand were much more limited so being able to use one was a BIG DEAL. So i grab hold of whatever chance there was to explore the computer and although i'm still generally clueless about computer stuff, i have to thank the library for providing such facilities - imagine how useful it would be for people with no computers at home?

Furthermore, before i really got to know the Internet well (i have to say i was so outdated in secondary one), i had to do this literature project on tigers. When most of my classmates merely "yahoo-ed" and got all the information they needed through the world wide web, i was caught in my own web, clueless and confused on what to do and how to do it. I had no access to my home computer AND i had no help from my brothers or friends (they all assumed i knew)! Because i felt so lost, i plucked up the courage to tell my literature teacher about it. After I told her i have no access to computers and i don't really know how to use the internet, she advised me to go to the library. I thought that wasn't much help back then but in retrospect, that was really a good advice! I went to the school library, tried to use the internet but failed miserably and guess what! I used the prehistoric method of using an encyclopedia! And yes, because of that i managed to finish my assignment and if i didn't remember wrongly, i scored fairly well (to me it was great already considering the source from which i worked from). So you see, the library (whatever and wherever it is) holds an important place in my heart. I will always remember that it helped me take those crucial baby steps during my developmental learning phase.

Well, it has been a WONDERFUL time blogging and i have to sadly say I'M COMING TO THE END!!!

Before i go, let's take a look once again at the original library@orchard and reminisce all the special moments we had there before it really disappears... *sob sob*.

Hereby i dedicate this entry to all you people out there who:

Left your marks,

Had your favourite reading spot there

Found your favourite book or had a favourite section there

and

Anyone who shared some fond memories there

Hope reading this will trigger those sweet memories.

And remember, IT ALL HAPPENED WHERE THE ORIGINAL LIBRARY@ORCHARD USED TO BE!

Goodbye Library@Orchard! We'll MISS YOU DEARLY!!!

music.city.soul || 8:51 PM || 4 comments

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