The Bishan Public Library is a

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

in the

National Library Board The National Library Board (NLB) is a statutory board under the purview of the Ministry of Communications and Information of the government of Singapore. The board manages the public libraries throughout the country. The national librarie ...

network situated at Bishan, Singapore just behind

Junction 8 Shopping Centre Junction 8 (, stylised as JUNCTI8N) is a popular heartland shopping mall located in the centre of Bishan. It is located outside Bishan MRT station and Bishan Bus Interchange. The name of this shopping centre was derived from the old station num ...

. It opened on 1 September 2006 by

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

Wong Kan Seng Wong Kan Seng ( zh, s=黄根成, j=Wong4 Gan1 Sing4, poj=N̂g Kun-sêng, p=Huáng Gēnchéng; born 8 September 1946) is a Singaporean former politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore between 2005 and 2011. He has been serving ...

History

The library was conceived in the late 1990s in because of high traffic in the

Toa Payoh Community Library The Toa Payoh Public Library ( Chinese: 大巴窑图书馆), formerly Toa Payoh Community Library ( Chinese: 大巴窑社区图书馆) and Toa Payoh Branch Library, is an established library located in the Toa Payoh Town Centre, Singapore, ope ...

and Ang Mo Kio Community Library. Plans for the library commenced in 2002, and construction took place from 2003 to 2006 at a cost of about S$10 million. Designed by Look Boon Gee, it have about 250,000 titles spread over four floors and a basement, with a Café Galilee in the first floor. Windows that protrude out of the building are actually reading "pods", for readers who want to read quietly or use their laptops there. The design of the library won a number of awards for its architecture, locally and internationally. The awards won include th
President's Design Award
in 2007 and th

in 2009.

Accessibility

The library serves a population of around 90,000 in the Bishan area, including the needs of several nearby schools such as

Catholic High School Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

, Guangyang Secondary School,

Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School (KCPSS) is a co-educational government-aided secondary school located in Bishan, Singapore. History In 1924, two Christian ministers, reverends Tay Sek Tin and Tan Leng Tian, founded Katong Girls' School a ...

Whitley Secondary School Whitley Secondary School (WSS) is a co-educational government secondary school located in Bishan, Singapore. History The school was originally located at Whitley Road, and was officially opened on 1 October 1965. In March 1992, the school was r ...

Raffles Institution Raffles Institution (RI) is an independent educational institution in Singapore. Founded in 1823, it is the oldest school in the country. It provides secondary education for boys only from Year 1 to Year 4, and pre-university education for both ...

and Raffles Junior College. It is easily accessible to residents of Bishan via the buses which ply to and from

Bishan Bus Interchange The Bishan Bus Interchange is a bus interchange serving Bishan, Singapore. The interchange commenced passenger service as Bishan Bus Terminal in 1988, with Services 56 and 58. Located at Bishan Street 13, it is designed in a unique squarish con ...

. However, library users have to walk a short distance to access the library. The library is also a short walk away from the

Bishan MRT station Bishan MRT station is a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station on the North South (NSL) and Circle (CCL) lines in Bishan, Singapore. Located along Bishan Road within the town centre area, it is integrated with the Junction 8 shopping ...

References

2006 establishments in Singapore Buildings and structures in Bishan, Singapore Libraries established in 2006 Libraries in Singapore Library buildings completed in 2006 Education in Central Region, Singapore {{Singapore-struct-stub