Book Exhibition at HDB Void Deck

Following my previous blog about my first visit to the Raffles Library in 1957 to join as a member, I suddenly recalled that my daughter, Maylene Seah was the youngest National Library member when she was only nine months old.

She was registered at the National Library Book Exhibition at Block 602, Clementi West Street 1 on Saturday, 20 February, 1982.

I vaguely remembered that the West Coast Zone 3 Residents Committee event was reported in the Berita Harian but could not remember the exact date of the book exhibition.

Fortunately, I managed to retrieve the Berita Harian report of 23 February, 1982 from the old newspaper archive microfilm after spending 3 days (on different occasions) at the Microform Room on Level 11 of the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, NLB, Victoria Street, Singapore.

I struck gold today when I found the article I have been searching for so long.

This blog is also being updated at the multimedia station at the library.

Thanks to the National Library for providing the research resources, computers with Internet access and eResources to help library users like me to do our personal research.

The following is reproduced from the Berita Harian dated
23 February, 1982:

[Quote]

Pameran tarik lebih 100 jadi ahli pustaka

LEBIH 100 orang sebilangan besar kanak-kanak, telah mendaftarkan diri untok menjadi anggota perpustakaan hasil dari satu rencangan mendekati masyarakat pembaca di estet-estet perumahan di sini.

Mereka adalah sebahagian dari para penduduk West Coast yang menghadiri Pameran Buku di kolong Blok 602, Clementi West Street 1, anjuran Jawatankuasa Penduduk Zon '3' West Coast dan Perpustakaan Cawangan Queenstown pada Sabtu petang lalu.

Tak kena yuran

Inilah kali pertama jawatankuasa penduduk itu menganjurkan pameran serupa itu dan menurut seorang anggota jawatankuasa tersebut, sambutan yang deberikan adalah menggalakkan.

Menjelang 4.00 petang, sejumlah kira-kira 800 buah buku telah dipinjamkan kepada orang ramai.

Cik Mavis Richards, Ketua Perpustakaan Cawangan Queenstown, berkata bahawa biasanya purata kira-kira 50 hingga 60 orang mendaftarkan diri untok menjadi anggota perpustakaan setiap kali pameran seumpama itu diadakan.

Beliau menambah bahawa tidak ada sebarang yuran yang dikenakan kepada orang ramai yang mahu menjadi anggota.

Pupuk minat

Antara yang termuda sekali menjadi anggota ialah Maylene Seah, sembilan bulan, yang didaftarkan namanya oleh ayahnya, Encik James Seah Kok Thim, Bendahari Jawatankuasa Penduduk di situ.

Encik Seah memberitahu bahawa meskipun anaknya itu belum lagi tahu membaca, tetapi dia gemar melihat gambar-gambar dan ini adalah satu cara untuk memupuk minat anak-anak supaya gemar membaca sejak kecil lagi.

Selain dari pameran buku-buku dari semua empat aliran bahasa, persembahan-persembahan patong, nyanyian kanak-kanak dan cabutan nombor bertuah berdasarkan nombor pendaftaran perpustakaan juga diadakan.

[Unquote]

Note:

The previous topic title for this blog: "Youngest Member of National Library" has been changed.

I learnt that the National Library conducted a campaign to get parents to register their children early, and some parents are known to have registered their children as early as a few weeks after they are born.

Maylene is not the youngest member at 9 month old. She was the youngest member registered at the book exhibition though.