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Central Community Library (Stamford Road)

The Central Community Library (CTCL) was located in the National Library Building at 91 Stamford Road, Singapore 178896, between 1960 to 2004. It was opened on 12 November 1960 by President Yusof Bin Ishak. It used to be referred to as the Central Lending Library until 1 September 1995 when the name was changed to Central Community Library when the National Library became a statutory board. In April 2004, it was closed as the main National Library Building at Stamford Road was due for demolition.

History
The Central Community Library (CTCL) at the National Library building at Stamford Road occupied the first level of the building. The Multi-Media Centre occupied level Two and the National Reference Library occupied level three of the building.

CTCL was located in the commercial and cultural hub of the central region and served residents living and working in the Central Business District (CBD). The library served the constituencies of Jalan Besar, Kolam Ayer, Whampoa, Kreta Ayer and Kampong Glam-Kim Seng. The total population served was 203,500. In addition, office executives and private school students also used the Library. It was also located within a belt of museums, namely the Singapore Art Museum, the History Museum, the Asian Civilisations Museum and the Singapore Philatelic Museum. Until the first branch library was established at Queenstown in 1970, the Central Lending Library, as it was known as then, remained the one and only lending library for many Singaporeans.

The library, together with the rest of the National Library building, underwent extensive renovation and major upgrading works from April 1997 to January 1998. The newly renovated building was re-opened by Dr Ow Chin Hock, on 19 January 1998.

Description
The Library had a floor area of 976 sq m and was located on level one of the National Library building. The library consisted of the Adult Section, Young People's Section and Children's Section. The library had Online Public Access Catalogues (OPAC) terminals, self-check borrowing stations, self-service borrower's enquiry service/payment terminals, self-service multi-media pre-payment stations and cashcard top-up machines, and a 24-hour bookdrop service. It also had self-service lockers. The library also featured a cafe which was located in the building's courtyard.

For the period April to December 2002, the Central Community Library had 1, 081, 359 visitors. For the same period, it registered 188, 034 new members and gave out 906, 064 book loans.

Collections
As of 31 December 2002, CTCL had a book collection of 283, 390 volumes and a periodical collection of 17, 882, with the focus on Information Technology and Business. The Library has books in all four official languages.

Programmes
Class visits and outreach programmes were conducted for school children from schools in the nearby constituencies. Story-telling sessions and other programmes for children were also conducted. For adults and young people, thematic programmes were conducted. Every second and fourth Tuesdays, the Biz @the Courtyard programme and every third Tuesdays, the Life Sciences@the Courtyard and X'pressions@the Courtyard would take place.



Author
Anasuya Balamurugan



References 
Peralta, C. (1997, March 12). National Library's $ 2.6m facelift. The Straits Times, News Focus, p. 2.

National Library Board. (2003). Central Community Library information sheet. Singapore: National Library Board.

The information in this article is valid as at 2002 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history on the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.

Subject
Architecture and Landscape>>Building Types>>Public Buildings>>Libraries
Branch libraries--Singapore
Public libraries--Singapore
Libraries--Singapore
Law and government>>Culture and community>>Public libraries

Librarian Recommendations
>> National Library Building, Stamford Road


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