Users can still see the handwritten white lettering on the spines and covers of the older books,
done with the stylus pen.
LINUS July 1995
Lim-Yeo Pin Pin, LINUS Editor
When I first joined the Library it was in 1947. There were only three staff in the whole library: Mr Tan Oh Sai, who was then in charge of the Library, my father and myself. The duties we were assigned to do were despatching, lettering, varnishing, sweeping the library floor, etc. At the time, the library was situated at the House No. 5 and was part of Raffles College. In 1950, I was promoted to junior grade clerk and did counter duties. In 1953, I was promoted to clerk, a post I have held till today.
Abdul Samad bin Rahmat
Interview after the long service award on 1 Feb 1980, taken from LINUS 1980 14(1):12
I joined the Library on 15 August 1951. At that time, there were only ten workers in the Library. After working for three months, Mrs Kennard [who was in charge of the Library before Mr Clark arrived] assigned me to do some lettering of books in the mornings. When the Library moved to its existing building, I continued to do lettering but on a full-time basis with the Electric Stylus Pen. I have used the pen in my lettering work for almost a quarter of a century now.
Users can still see the handwritten white lettering on the spines and covers of the older books,
done with the stylus pen.
Due to the increase in books throughout the years, a new system has been introduced to accelerate the labelling process. The system is the Se-Lin Labelling system and it makes use of a typewriter. I have been using it for two years.
Salam bin Jasman
Interview after the long service award on 1 Feb 1980, taken from LINUS 1980 14(1):12
The Library collection of 40,000 books had to be moved from House No. 5 into the new Library building. A lorry and forty labourers made up of twenty Tamils, and twenty Javanese were available. The books were put into the lorry and brought to the new building. To avoid chaos and keep the books in the same order that they taken off the shelves, the labourers were commanded to keep moving in the same order, like the conveyor belt. This was done by pining paper with a number on the shirts of the Javanese labourers. As the Tamils wore no shirts, they allowed their shoulders to be chalked with a number.
Tan Oh Sai and some staff despatched the books from the old building and Wilfred Plumbe and his helpers took them from the labourers, sorted them and put them back on the shelves in the new building. The move was achieved in half a day instead of the two days forecasted.
Condensed from Plumbe, Wilfred J. The Golden Pagoda Tree : Adventures in Southeast Asia. London : Grey Seal, 1990.
Late on the eve of April Fool's day, a bunch of students found their way into the Main Library at Bukit Timah. They placed pots of decorative plants collected from around the buildings on each of the tables in the reading areas. The next morning, the library staff and students were greeted by this colourful display of plants. It was a mystery as to how the potted plants had got in the library, but as a result, library staff on night duty had to go round to check every window to ensure that they were securely latched before locking up the Library.
Herman R. Hochstadt
Extracted from his speech to Arts & Social Science Faculty D&D, 1988
| Next : Seasons in the Library | July Contents |
LINUS July 1995, NUS Libraries