Loan Counter -- 1970
LINUS July 1995
Lim-Yeo Pin Pin, LINUS Editor
I joined the Main Library in 1950 and was transferred to the Medical Library in 1952. When I first came to the Medical Library, my impression was that it looked more like a museum to me than a library because of its environment and colonial looks. The place was quite large, very peaceful and quiet. Silence was well respected. The furniture and shelves were wooden and the walls were painted beige. In the early days, we did not have a proper library system. The books were shelved in subject order (e.g. anatomy, biochemistry, dental, physiology) followed by author in alphabetical order. Searching for them involved a lot of time and strain on the eyes as some of the printing were worn off due to wear and tear. Cataloguing was practically non-existent and we used a card indexing system to keep track of the number of books we had in the collection. With the appointment of the new Librarian, Mr Ernest Clark, the Library of Congress system was adopted.
Although the library suffered over the years due to lack of staff and funds to purchase books and equipment, it has plodded on successfully. Today, we can boast that our Medical Library is one of the best in South East Asia. This is verified by a good number of professors from other countries with whom I came in contact during the course of my duties.
Loan Counter -- 1970
Lum Pin Nam
After the presentation of the long service awards on 1 Feb 1980, from LINUS 1980 14(1)
On 19 July 1963, a fire completely gutted the ceilings and internal fittings of the Allen and Farris lecture theatres, immediately above the Medical Library. The fire was believed to have been started by a short circuit. The alarm was raised at 7.15 pm when students in the library noticed the smoke seeping into the Library.
Within minutes, a large group of students formed a human chain and the task of rescuing the books began. The books were passed from one person to another and laid out on the ground outside the building. The fire was brought under control within 45 minutes, after the arrival of the fire engines. Due to the quick response of the staff and students, the library books were safe. The Library was restored to order in a few days.
Compiled from Malayan Undergrad July 64 14(5):1 & Annual Report of the Library 63/64.
George was a short, agile, energetic, bespectacled Chinese with a photographic memory. He had no degree, no professional diploma, but instead he has a keen mind and many years of experience. He scanned medical periodicals as they arrived, noting mentally any papers likely to be of interest to the clientele using the Library, which included practising doctors as well as university personnel, and thereafter he rarely had to refer to the Index Medicus to trace any item that was needed: his brain recalled, for instance, that he had seen an item on a particular subject on the verso of a page in Acta Oto-Laryngologica five and a half years previously and almost without fail, and within ten minutes, he could locate the article where he remembered seeing it.
Taken from Plumbe, Wilfred J. The Golden Pagoda Tree : Adventures in Southeast Asia. London : Grey Seal, 1990.
When I was asked what I remembered most about working at Sepoy Lines, the water fountain outside my office came to mind. My office in the College of Medicine Building had full-length windows that opened out to a pool with a little fountain surrounded by a garden. It was very soothing to work to the sound of water splashing in the background.
Michael Cheng
Head of Medical Library (1970-1987)
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LINUS July 1995, NUS Libraries