As you may know, Marine Parade Library is closing from May 9 for a major revamp.
Having grown up with this library, I found this piece of news rather bittersweet. I know we have to accept changes to usher in new things - but aw, let a sentimental girl weep for a little...
My current book count on Goodreads is 1336, and I daresay 90% of the books I read are from the library or their e-book service, Libby! Furthermore, I only joined Goodreads in 2009, so whatever I read before is mostly not logged.
Yeah, that's a lot of books and time spent hanging round in MP NLB. 😂
So when I went to return my books there for the last time, I knew I had to take some photos to document how my library looked like before it went through the big renovation!
The familiar entrance to the library. Every user enjoys the initial rush of air-con when the glass doors slide open. Welcome to the library! |
The staff usually have a theme and recommend books accordingly. It's Ramadan month now so we have books related to that! Previously, there were themes like Mystery/Detective, Environment etc.
You can spot the borrowing station in the background. When I was a little kid, I remember using my whole family's library cards to borrow books because we only had a limit of 4 books per person. That's too little for a bookworm like me. I remember feeling blessed when the loans went up to 8, and then 16.
At some point over the years the borrowing station also became very sophisticated and you could just put a stack of books and the machine would scan all of them at once! Nifty. They probably need to do that at the supermarkets now!
Nowadays I sit on one of the chairs in the 3rd floor (Adult Lending) and scan my books using the NLB app.
Here's the Adult Fiction area!
I can smell this picture! Lol. MP Library isn't very musty - but it still has a distinct book smell! Some libraries, especially the newer ones, tend to smell more like plastic. |
I frequent the library so much that it got to a point where I could point out a book or two that I have read before from every shelf. Also - I also had the pleasure of borrowing brand new books - spines unbroken and mostly pristine!
Then I drop off or pick up some books in the donation shelf! |
The second floor is actually the M floor.
When I was a child I completely ignored every floor other than the Children's floor. Plus, I didn't know what M stood for back then - modern? Mature? (It's Mezzanine)
The view of the concourse/ex-cafe space from the M floor. |
Off to the next floor!
Level '2' is the Children's section. This is the part of the library where some noise is tolerated.
What you see when you push past the door! |
You'll often see a couple of kids or even their parents in these study spaces. It's actually very nice to see parents reading to kids especially with the proliferation of iPads.
The Adult Lending section is where I hang out nowadays. |
Some other things I love about the library too are the clean toilets and water coolers (back before Covid).
It's time for me to leave... one last look! When the MPCC was first unveiled, people loved or hated this swirl design. Today, you can see that the facade is pretty much worn out and not as spiffy as before. Also, the roof is full of visible brown gunk.
Ending notes
Marine Parade Library is slated to re-open in 2025, so we'll be back then to check out the new changes!
Meanwhile, there will be a 24hr book dispenser at the Marine Parade NTUC and a Reading Corner at Marine Terrace. There will also be mobile library buses called Molly buses.
While these can never replace the library, I'll still check them out all the same because they sound interesting. I foresee myself using Libby more often though.