LIBRARY FACILITIES ON SUNDAYS (Request)

Mr Goh Chee Wee asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Culture, at least on an experimental basis to gauge the public demand, if he will consider opening the National Library and its branches on Sundays to encourage good reading habits of our population during leisure time.

The Minister of State for Culture (Maj Fong Sip Chee) (for the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Culture): Mr Speaker, Sir, the National Library and its branches are open six days a week for long hours. The Central Library opens from 8.30 am to 9.00 pm, (12 1/2 hours) while the full-time branch libraries at Queenstown, Toa Payoh, Marine Parade and Bukit Merah open from 10.00 am to 9.00 pm (11 hours). Three part-time branches at Bedok, Jurong and Whampoa also open from 2.00 pm or 3.00 pm to 8.00 pm or 9.00 pm (average of six hours) three times a week. These opening hours are already longer than those in public libraries in many countries such as Britain, Australia, the United States and West Germany which normally open up to 8.00 pm on weekdays and up to 1.00 pm on Saturdays.

In addition, bulk loans are provided by the National Library and its branches to factories, army units, residents' committees and associations, community centres and other organizations.

The Department's staff and resources are already stretched, with staff working on shifts and on night duty to provide these long opening hours for the convenience of the public. Opening on Sundays would involve additional manpower. The National Library is finding it difficult to recruit staff with the necessary qualifications or experience to man the new branches that have been opened or which will be opened as part of its expansion plan.

Many of the Library staff are married women, who would naturally prefer to spend Sundays with their families. If they are required to work on Sundays, it would add to the difficulty of recruiting and retaining staff for the Library.

The Library cannot be considered a service in the same category as hospitals, or the police or the fire department. Even Government outpatient clinics, HDB estate offices and post offices are not open on Sundays.

On the whole, our libraries are open long enough at present for those who are working or in school to be able to use the libraries. In addition, more branch libraries will be built in the next five years in the population centres. Therefore, people who really want to read and use the library should be able to do so without much problem.