NATIONAL LIBRARY BOARD BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

The Minister for Information and the Arts (BG George Yong-Boon Yeo): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

In its Report "Library 2000: Investing in a Learning Nation", released in March last year, the Library 2000 Review Committee recommended that the mission of our National Library should be to expand continuously our nation's capacity to learn. The Committee also recommended that we set up a new statutory board to achieve this mission.

The purpose of setting up a statutory board, to be called the National Library Board (NLB), is to provide the National Library with the authority, latitude and resources to implement the recommendations of the Library 2000 Report. Our aim is to promote reading and learning among Singaporeans, for it is knowledge which will determine the wealth of nations in the next century.

Technological developments - CNN, Internet, CD-Roms, electronic online databases - are changing the way information is produced, packaged and distributed. It is a revolution taking place before our very eyes. The National Library must adapt to these developments if it is to remain a public source of updated information.

Technology does not change this basic role of public libraries, but it changes the way they should be run. In the 70s and 80s, we adopted a policy of decentralising library services by building almost identical branch libraries in major residential areas and housing estates. Today, we need greater specialisation and hierarchy. Besides catering to the general reading needs of the population, our public libraries must also meet the more variegated needs of an increasingly sophisticated middle class society. We need libraries for children and we also need libraries for professionals, scholars, businessmen, artists and others.

Over the next 10 to 20 years, the National Library Board will implement, in stages, concepts and ideas proposed in the Library 2000 Report. As we cannot be sure which new ideas will work and which will not, the NLB will experiment and test-bed them as we go along. The Board will also advise the Government on new needs and propose new policies. The Board will comprise a Chairman, a Deputy Chairman and 10 to 20 other members. The Board will have a wide mix of members involved in business, education, Government and the media and will be drawn from both the public and private sectors. In addition, the Board will assemble a board of international advisors to advise it on global trends in library development and services.

The NLB will have clearly defined statutory powers to establish and manage public libraries. One of the Board's tasks will be to create a network of borderless libraries in Singapore linked to overseas libraries and institutions.

The Board will also develop the national collection policy and coordinate the work of different libraries (including publicly-funded libraries not under the National Library) in collecting library materials on subjects of importance to Singapore. An example will be the coordination of in-depth collections on Asian countries to support the regionalisation of the Singapore economy. In this way, small and medium-sized enterprises which do not have their own libraries can turn to public libraries as an important source of information. I would like to thank Mr Peter Sung for floating this particular idea to MITA three years ago.

Some of the plans are already being implemented or prototyped at the Tampines Regional Library. New services and facilities, such as home delivery, computerised audio-visual services, self-service terminals for borrowing and returning books and an IT Gallery are being tried out at the Tampines Regional Library. The Tampines Regional Library is also evolving a community character as it works with grassroots leaders and schools in the neighbourhood.

Mr Speaker, Sir, in five to six years' time, we will have a new National Library building at Victoria Street. The new library will probably incorporate a national reference library, an Arts Library and a Business Library. We can also expect to see more community and neighbourhood libraries built along the lines envisaged in the Library 2000 Report.

The NLB will establish standards for the library profession. We will need to improve on our recruitment, selection and training of librarians to meet the challenges ahead of us. In effect, our librarians will have to become information specialists. There is currently a shortage of trained and experienced librarians in Singapore. We must make the librarian profession more attractive to able young men and women.

Mr Speaker, Sir, the NLB Act will also provide for the legal deposit of library materials published in Singapore for heritage, reference and research use. It will repeal the Printers and Publishers Act which has become outdated with developments in electronic publishing. The Act will require locally-produced print and non-print materials such as films, negatives, tapes, discs and other forms of electronic and audio visual publishing to be deposited with the Board. The inclusion of non-print materials is necessary. Libraries in other parts of the world are also updating their legislation to include non-print materials. We have to do the same.

The NLB Act will require publishers to deliver two copies of every library material published in Singapore to the Board within four weeks of the date of publication. We will, through subsidiary legislation, exempt materials not required by the Board from the legal deposit requirement.

The NLB Act also seeks to promote cooperation among libraries. All publicly-funded libraries will contribute their bibliographic records to the Board to help it establish an up-to-date catalogue of all library materials in Singapore for the convenience of users.

The Board will also work out an inter-library loan scheme to facilitate the sharing of resources.

The Board will have autonomy in administrative, staffing and financial matters to give it flexibility.

The Government will continue to fund public libraries as there are limited opportunities for them to earn revenue. The National Library Board will be exempted from income tax and will have the status of an institution of public character.

In addition to Government's financial support, the National Library Board will be able to raise its own revenue. The Act provides for the setting up of an Endowment Fund to enable the Board to raise funds for special activities. As a statutory board, the library will also be able to form companies to undertake functions which are more effectively carried out on a commercial basis. It can also introduce new fee-based services such as information packaging and research on specific subjects.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [BG George Yong-Boon Yeo].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.