The National Library Board (NLB) is scaling up The Little Book Box, under which we will deliver a set of specially chosen books to children right in the comfort of their homes. There is also the option of having the books delivered to lockers at convenient locations nearer their homes such as at MRT stations or bus interchanges, at a lower monthly fee. This service complements NLB’s wide range of reading services and offerings, and is part of the LAB25 (Libraries and Archives Blueprint 2025) goal to build a Learning Marketplace that brings reading and learning to the community wherever they are.
The Little Book Box service comes after a pilot run was held from November 2020 to January 2022. The pilot run was well received, with about 1,000 monthly subscriptions during the entire period. The books are specially picked by our librarians from a wide collection of both fiction and non-fiction titles, to broaden the reading horizon of our younger readers.
Apart from having books delivered to their homes, subscribers can also choose to pick up their books from lockers at convenient locations nearer their homes at HDB blocks, MRT stations and bus interchanges at a lower monthly fee.
Subscribers can pick from packages depending on the age of the child (four to six years; and seven to nine years old). Each subscription cycle will have eight English books monthly and is for a period of three months. The subscriptions will also be automatically renewed at the end of each cycle, offering patrons easy access and convenience to a variety of books. NLB will also increase the number of subscribers for TLBB, in view of the popularity of the pilot. Rather than to limit the number of monthly subscribers to 1,000 it had during the pilot phase, NLB will scale this up according to demand.
NLB’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ng Cher Pong said: “The overwhelming response to our pilot run of The Little Book Box has been extremely heartening. It shows that many welcome this convenience and experience of having carefully selected books for their children. We are expanding the service to make it available to even more subscribers. Apart from home delivery, we will introduce the option of having the books delivered to a nearby locker. By doing so, subscribers can enjoy a lower monthly fee. We hope that The Little Book Box, along with our range of other services, will help our younger generation discover the joy of reading and learning.”
The subscription service enables families to broaden their reading experience as the eight books delivered each month. On top of the eight selected titles in The Little Book Box, subscribers will still be able to borrow their usual quota of books (16 for basic members and 24 for partner members) at any of the 27 public libraries islandwide, for a loan period of up to six weeks.
The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund had sponsored 200 subscribers per month for the pilot programme to provide this service to children from low-income families, and will continue to sponsor 200 subscriptions per month in 2022.
For more information or to register for this service, please visit www.nlb.gov.sg/mylibrary/TLBB or access the NLB Mobile app.