NLB to expand programme to promote reading, learning among seniors
Elderly residents of Taman Jurong at the National Library Board Reading Corner in the Thye Hua Kwan Senior Services @ Taman Jurong. Photo: Robin Choo
SINGAPORE — In a move to encourage seniors aged 50 and above to stay active, read books and pick up new hobbies, the National Library Board (NLB) is planning to expand its range of programmes at 11 Senior Activity Centres.
A quarterly programme, which helps to promote reading and learning among seniors, will include hands-on activities such as origami (Japanese art of paper folding), traditional paper cutting, storytelling and book recommendations. The plan is to expand beyond the five Senior Activity Centres now running such programmes.
The first Senior Activity Centre that partnered the library board in 2012 is the Thye Hua Kwan Seniors Service centre at Taman Jurong, which has 1,030 members and about 60 elders who are there daily. It now sees enhanced activities as part of the quarterly NLB programme there, with the latest being an orgami workshop held on Friday (April 1).
There, members get to browse a reading corner set up by the library board, with some 500 fiction and nonfiction books that are renewed quarterly. The collection also includes some books that members may use to read with their grandchildren. Such reading corners benefit those who find it difficult to get to libraries, NLB said.
Madam Chindamani Vadinel, 69, who took part in the origami workshop on Friday, said she uses the reading corner and it helps to keep her mind active. “It is very nice for seniors citizens. We can make many new friends, and it’s very enjoyable”, the grandmother of five said.
Ms Joanna Zhang, the head of content and services at NLB for seniors, said that reading materials which tend to interest elders include books on romance, cookery, travel, health and fitness, and the arts. “We do storytelling... and we’ve ‘travel packages’, which are imaginary journeys where we take them to places through pictures. We tie in with craft activities so that they also get some hands-on experience,” Ms Zhang said of the initiatives.
Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, who also visited the centre on Friday, said there is a need for senior citizens to read and keep up with current affairs as part of active ageing.
“Building a community of readers is something we would see as an important outcome. At the end of the day, in terms of active ageing, it’s really about interaction, getting to know one another and doing things together,” the Minister for Communications and Information said.
Beyond the seniors, a nationwide plan to encourage Singaporeans of all ages to pick up reading is already in the pipeline. Dr Yaacob said: “Maybe we need to bring the library to the people... we’re thinking about (it)... how to make it more accessible to people who may not have the time to visit our libraries.”
