Ambitious Meets Audacious

摘要

In the shopping-mad, tropical city-state of Singapore, neon-clad malls line Orchard Road, the downtown retail center. The Ngee Ann City mall boasts stores like Cartier and Chanel; on the fifth floor, the top shopping level, the library@orchard anchors one corner. With snazzy glass, steel, and wood fixtures, it could be an upscale bookstore. Before noon on an October weekday, the crowd is a mix of older teens and adults. They pick up graphic novels, browse the "just returned" section, put on headphones at streaming audio stations, and lounge in the cafe next to the magazine display. Signs promote musical performances, health lectures, and a poetry discussion. Only nine workers, three of them librarians, staff each shift; the branch circulated 1.2 million items in 2002. Patrons check out all books themselves, thanks to RFID (radio frequency identification) technology, and pay fines and fees with a cash card, ubiquitous in Singapore. Conspicuously absent are kids; the library, open since October 1999, has no children's section.