Books for the taking at Nee Soon South’s ‘community bookshelves’ in effort to cut waste

SINGAPORE — At a nondescript corner of a public housing block in Yishun, a bookshelf beckons with a medley of titles for readers of all ages.

Residents are free to take home what catches their eye and fill the shelves with books that they no longer need.

The “community bookshelf”, stacked for a start with about 100 adult, youth and children’s titles donated by Nee Soon South residents and the National Library Board, was created with a lofty aim.

The initiative aims to not only reignite a love of reading among people who are increasingly obsessed with technology.

The team behind it hopes it would do its small part for the environment, with Singapore ratcheting up its fight against climate change, Dr Lee Bee Wah, the area’s Member of Parliament (MP), told TODAY after unveiling the bookshelf on Sunday (Dec 15).

It occupies a corner in front of a Residents’ Committee (RC) centre at Block 505C Yishun Street 51. The other seven RCs in Nee Soon South will get their own bookshelves by the end of the year, said Dr Lee, an MP for the Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency.

CUTTING WASTE

With the year-end approaching, Dr Lee said that families would spring-clean their homes and have books that they no longer need.

“When they have extra books and do not know what to do with them, they can bring them here,” she said.

Asked if she was concerned that some residents might sweep the shelves clean of books or fail to return them, Dr Lee believed that these people would be in the minority.

“We may have such residents, but I would like to think that most of our residents, based on the success of our community fridges, understand the meaning of sharing,” she said.

The community fridges, launched in February last year at Block 508B Yishun Avenue 4, allow residents in need to get free groceries, such as vegetables and eggs. Residents are also encouraged to stock the fridges with food to help the community.

Similar refrigerators were previously launched in Tampines.

Apart from taking more books than needed, would residents use the bookshelves as a dumping ground?

Dr Lee said that her team would educate residents if that happened. “All the RCs also have CCTVs (closed-circuit television cameras),” she said, with a laugh.

Residents may share the books with others after reading them and are encouraged to donate some of their own.

There are restrictions on what books would be accepted, though.

A sign next to the bookshelf asks residents not to donate material with “religious, controversial, political or sexual content”, as well as brochures and books used as advertisement.

Dr Lee said that “quite a lot of people dumped religious books” onto a similar community bookshelf started in 2016 outside the Nee Soon Town Council at Yishun Street 22.

Asked how her team would screen the books placed on the new bookshelf in her ward, Dr Lee said members of the RC, which is open almost daily, would screen the books when they are around.

She has asked the team to place a basket next to the shelf where residents may deposit their books to be screened for suitability.

KINDLING A LOVE OF BOOKS

On Sunday, Yishun Avenue 4 resident Hing Lang Aing, 72, donated five Chinese-language comics belonging to her daughter and son-in-law.

Madam Hing, a retired seamstress, said: “It would be a waste to throw them away.”

Singapore Polytechnic student Atharva Nade, 17, wished the initiative had been launched sooner, as his father had to discard about 100 books when the family moved to Yishun Street 51 in March.

This was after his father had donated 100 or so books in his collection, which included business and neurolinguistics titles, to charity.

Mr Nade said he would use the community bookshelf if he comes across titles that he likes.

Housewife Sarimah Affendi, 33, said she would borrow books for her five children aged two to 14, as they enjoy reading.

Madam Radiyawati Hassan, 36, a mother of seven, said that the launch of the bookshelf would obviate a trip to the public library, which is a bus ride away.

But the housewife said the content of the books must be appropriate for her children, who are between 10 months and nine years old.

“I have come across books for toddlers that are inappropriate, either in terms of the language… or pictures, (for example) the boys and girls not having clothes on,” said Mdm Radiyawati.

Nevertheless, she said the initiative would benefit the young, who are glued to gadgets from early childhood.

“To start with these books is a good idea, especially for kids, because this generation is very different from ours.”

Dr Lee, the area’s MP, hopes that the initiative will succeed.

“Normally, we start it small, and other constituencies may pick it up.”