Singapore – Day 2

The day began at the Library Supply Centre, where all of the materials are processed for all of the library’s internal and external clients. We were given an overview and then a tour. It was fascinating to see the conveyor belts and assembly lines…the staff process 5,000 items each day. They use an automated system, complete with cherry pickers to select specific titles that are stored on the myriad of shelving throughout the warehouse. It was a site to be seen for sure.

The Sigli staff were able to see materials being processed and ask questions first hand and get demonstrations of how it is done in Singapore. The Singapore example showed the precision system that may be far removed from what the Sigli staff were going for, but they still were able to take some good ideas away from it. For instance, maybe they won’t want to drill the books like they saw in Sleman and perhaps they will opt for some reinforcement tape to do the same thing.

Since it was Friday, the next stop was a mosque where the men could pray. The women were free to go shopping…which we did. Yurni and Yuni wanted to buy fabric. It turns out that they make most of their clothes for themselves. Katherine and I opted for some ready made clothes and found a kinda sweet Persian designer shop. Lunch was in an Indonesian takeout restaurant….which was a welcome change. Dinner the night before was in an Indian restaurant and felt to be ‘too spicy’ by many.

Next stop was a neighbourhood library, Bishan. It had 5 floors and special attention was paid to the youth and children’s floors. The collections were full and immaculately shelved. A storytime was being held and we were able to quietly observe it. This all helped the puzzle pieces fall into place….we had been talking about Children’s programming and now they could see it happening.

The final library we visited was Woodlands library, where Roy works. He was able to give us an insider’s view of the collections. It was a spectacular library, complete with a theatre space, reference floor and the largest Children’s department I have ever seen. There was space dedicated to community exhibits, which is something we are wanting to develop more in Sigli. Just like in Sleman, it was good to see so many of the concepts that we have been talking about in action.

We were given an hour break for dinner and then we went to the Night Zoo in Singapore. (Nazir missed the zoo…ask us if you want the long version….) The night zoo was fun. There was a show and then a tram ride in the dark where you get to see the nocturnal animals - lions, elephants and of course water buffalo which are a common sight throughout Sigli. We got back to the hotel by 11:30…and reserved wake-up calls for 4:30 a.m. the next morning to get us on our way back to Indonesia. We were completely beat but we still managed to have a glass of wine and a beer in the lobby…we couldn’t believe how long this day was.