A new public library opened!
Located at the retail mall, nex, and the heart of a major transportation hub, the library aims to serve the informational and learning needs of the community by offering a wide selection of resources that include digital learning as well as quick and easy reads such as comics, graphic novels, and magazines.
Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, Minister in Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Finance and Transport, and MP of Aljunied GRC officially opened this branch last Friday.
She remembers taking her 3 (now grown-up) kids to the library as part of their learning journey, and advices Asian parents to visit the library as it “is a wonderful place where you can find a lot of resources, and I’ll dare say resources beyond the means of any single family or household, but maybe a lot of parents are not aware of it. I would really encourage parents, from the time the kids are as young as babies, to come and take a look and see how they can plan the kids’ learning journey.”
With regards to reading to young children, Mrs Lim said that the way the library has done is very interesting. It is “not purely just reading, which is very monotonous for young children, whose attention span is not very long,” she explains. “They have weaved in historical themes with fun things to do, so there are more points of association for the kids to ensure the learning is more fun and varied.”
Highlights of Serangoon Public Library
In addition to being a great learning space, SPRL is the first public library in Singapore to dedicate an area for gaming which will feature interactive game stations for experiential learning opportunities.
Complementing traditional book-based learning, gaming allows users a more interactive and experiential approach to learning. The Digital Media Zone includes:
- 6 multimedia stations
- Gaming area with 4 game stations
- AV collections
- Digital book display
- Exhibition space
If you are concern that your kids will play more than learn at this gaming stations, rest assured that the games offered have been carefully selected to ensure fun learning for the young mind.
In conjunction with this initiative, the library has organized its first digital workshop for parents: Learning through Gameplay: Praxis Board Game Workshop.
This interactive session will teach you the importance of financial planning, including insurance, savings and retirement plans. You will also learn how to manage credit and practise prudence, especially in times of inflation.
Date: 20 March, Sunday
Time: 2 – 4pm
Venue: Serangoon Public Library (23 Serangoon Central, nex, Level 4R, Singapore 556083
If you are a history buff or just wish to know more about the estate you live in, check out these 2 workshops:
- Memories of Upper Serangoon by Mr Bernard Chiang, 19 March (Sat), 5 – 6pm
- The Upper Serangoon Story by Serangoon Grassroots Organization, 20 March (Sun), 11am – 2pm
Please register for all workshops via the e-Kiosks available at all libraries, or at https://golibrary.nlb.gov.sg.
Feedback from parents
Parents and children who queued in line and rushed in during the opening have this to say:
Shermaine Chong, 46, came with her 5-year-old son and had a stack of IT books she was planning to borrow. “These books are new and very hard to come by, so I came in to get them.” she said, explaining that she lives near Kovan, so the new library is a convenient access for her.
5-year-old Cheryl Hui is excited about the library because she “loves to go to new places” and “to read” of course. With the new library so close to her school, she is psyched to be hanging out with her friends at the new library.
The Geronimo Stilton section was a hot spot for some parents who rushed to pick out the new books for their young readers. Within 10 minutes, the books disappeared off the shelves. One father I asked said that his 7-year-old son simply loves the series. Mrs Khoo, mother of 2 children aged 7 and 4, had come especially to borrow the books in the series. She said, “there’s no point buying over 40 books in the series and having to find the space to store them. Besides, they are new!”