The Raffles Junior library and library services to Migrant school children during British Colonial rule before the Japanese Invasion of Singapore, 1923-1941

摘要

After Raffles founded Singapore in 1819, he wanted to set up a Southeast Asian college with a multilingual library and museum. However, it began as an elementary school and a school library (1823-1844), and a proprietor library (1844-1874). In 1874, the Government took over the library and set up the Raffles Junior Library in 1923. However, only 2% of boys and less than 1% of girls, aged 5 to 14 years, were subscribers of the Junior Library in 1931. The low subscriber rate of the Junior Library was due to the recession of the 1930s, and the limited quantity of books andperiodicals in the English medium. In Singapore, 40% of Malay elementary school children and 54% of Chinese elementary school children in the age group of 5 to 14 had no access to the library since Malay and Chinese books were not available. Records of subscribers showed that they were from English schools. The average age of 14 years among subscribers suggested that most of them were likely to come from established English schools that were preparing students for the University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate.View full textDownload full textKeywordschildren's library, library services, school librariesRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13614541.2010.495575