Singapore Libraries rock!

I had spare money so I decided to get a membership from the Geylang East Community Library. I paid for S$ 21 for the initial year. There were a lot of books and audio-visuals which all members can borrow. Unfortunately, the basic membership didn't allow you to borrow audio-visual materials. So I decided to upgrade to Premium membership for an additional S$20. I believe it's worth it.

In my initial visit I borrowed a couple of DVDs and Sun Tzu's Art of War forworded by James Clavell. I also garbbed a copy of a "Learn Chinese" VCD. Excited to learn some basics of the language, I tried running the VCD. SHIT! The tutorial and quizzes are in Chinese! So in short I can't understand a word. Good thing I just borrowed it. I failed to get the supplement book with it so in a way it was my fault.

If you're a member of one of the community libraries, you become a member of Singapore's entire library system. You can then borrow from any library you know of here. Good thing is that you can return books at any library convenient to you. It's not possible for audio-visuals though. I learned that there are a lot of DVDs in the Esplanade library and I went there with my friend last weekend to check it out. Damn! There were classics such as "The Twighlight Zone" series original version and other old stuff you can't find in Video City. I managed to scan through the shelves and got a Godfather 2 DVD and its bonus material. Also got Transformers Season 2 part 1.

Borrowing was convenient because everything was unmanned. You borrow and inquire books through computerized machines. However, some DVDs require to be checked out in the service counters.

You can enjoy technology even in the libraries here as you can search all databases of all libraries across Singapore. Meron din sa UP nito eh pero para sa UP universtities lang. hehe.
All your membership credetials can be updated in the NLB website. Eto malupit! You can have yourself notified by email or post when your due dates are near. Isn't that cool?!!! Now you're not forced to remember when to retrun the books and DVDs as long as you check your email regularly.