For me, my journey as a librarian started with
cataloguing work at the
Institute of Education (IE), Singapore,
in August 1982.
The
Institute of Education Library at that time was at Bukit Timah
Campus, a new home to all the teacher trainees and staff, who had
fond memories
of TTC (Teachers' Training College) at Paterson campus.
Mrs
Wang-Chen Hsiu Chin (1922-1983) whom I met at Paterson Campus in 1981
was the Chief Librarian who recruited me.
I was
very grateful to receive a letter from IE, with confirmation for my
Library post (Assistant
Librarian) one day before I took the examination in the
summer of 1982.
The
only condition stated in the letter was: you have to pass
your Postgraduate
Diploma examination before your
you
can report to work.
I still remember
the joyful scene of sharing the good news with classmates, Ms Foo Yan
Chuin and housemates Nancy Chan, Sharopa & others on that summer
evening at Padan House, Aberystwyth, the night before my first
examination paper for Librarianship.
After I returned to
Singapore with a Postgraduate
Diploma in Librarianship from College of Librarianship Wales (CLW),
Aberystwyth, I reported to work at IE and Mrs
Wang-Chen Hsiu Chin and Mr Ng Soo Kwee were my two immediate bosses.
Before IE became NIE (National Institute of Education)
in 1991,
my library professional role in IE Library changed from Cataloguing
to Reference in 1984, and I discovered with joy
that reference work is much more interesting and rewarding than any
other professional jobs in the library.
I served for 12 years at Reference in NIE Library, and a
lot more roles were added over the decade.
I learned to
oversee the Readers Services which includes circulation (loan
issues), membership services, user education, library promotion
and exhibitions,
etc...
Conducting instructional programmes for different
user groups, i.e., PGDE,
HOD, Master In Education, Ph.D candidates and academic staff etc...
became my working routine which I enjoyed very much.
In these 12 years of reference journey in IE/NIE, I was
supported by my successor in Cataloguing
Unit,
Ms Yvonne Yin,
who did the job
with great insight and enthusiasm.
Yvonne's interest in
reading and knowledge of
history and many other subjects,
like sports, made her a great counterpart to work with. I frequently
solved my reference puzzles and answered my reference enquiries with
her help.
I am very grateful to her for her
quick response whenever I see the need to
correct or amend entries in some
cataloguing records.
Two heads are
always better than one, and we always look forward to sharing and
unlocking our thoughts over
the short 15 minutes tea break in the morning and in the afternoon on
most working days!
=====
I am
grateful to Mr Jim Davies and Mr Ng Soo Kwee for their
recommendations for me to pursue the Masters Degree in Information
Science at
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee from
1989 to 1990. With the added academic credentials,
I started to explore and expand online searching using Dialog
Information Service and spent
a lot of time searching ERIC database and Dissertations Abstracts.
The standing order to purchase and subscribe to
microfiche ED (Eric Documents) collection was then introduced in NIE
Library with the recommendation of Mr Philip Wong, NICER, PS
(Psychology Studies) Department, NIE. NIE became the first library in
the Southeast Asia region to
house the ERIC Documents produced by 16
ERIC Clearinghouses from the
USA.
Before the ED standing order were initiated
in 1991/2?, NIE Library only purchased print
or microform (microfiche or microfilm) copies
of ED based on users' request.
Even with the help of email,
which was just
starting
to be a popular means
of communication, items ordered via email were
still being shipped by surface mail/post. Usually, there
was a waiting time of over 2-4 weeks
before the item arrived. It was rather hard for some research
projects which had pressing needs in terms of time frame.
=====
In April 1996, I joined Temasek Polytechnic and became a
lecturer in the Department of Information Studies, ITAS (School of
Information Technology and Applied Science). The course I was
first involved in was RTK (Recording and Transferring of
Knowledge), which covered over 10 citation formats, like books
(monographs or monograph series), newspapers and journal articles,
conference proceedings, patents documents, legal documents like
white papers, bills and acts etc...
To me, the
contents of RTK were like the by-products of cataloguing and
reference works with more varieties in terms of document types. In
compiling the course materials and notes for RTK, my years of
experience in cataloguing and reference at IE/NIE became very handy
and useful.
Knowledge accumulated through years of working in
the library, be it over the reference desk or in the technical
service, all will come in handy when you need it.
=====
I enjoyed having a cataloguing mindset, with
the
complex rules of AACR2 as
our bible.
The clear and strict rules helped to
create order
in bibliographic control and I am grateful to have all the long
hours of coaching at Paterson Campus by Mr Ng Soo Kwee, the
Chief Cataloguer and Head of Technical services before I went
for my first overseas course, even though I was
not an IE staff, way back in July 1981.
As someone
who was on "pre-course attachment" before I went for UK
studies, I was very much amazed by the contents of the
3" by 5" catalogue card, of which main entry was created
and added entries were added by duplicating the same white card using
stencilling machines.
With the two weeks of the
pre-course attachment in IE at Paterson Campus, I gained some basic
understand of library work,
and the study in Wales added the foundation in
Librarianship and allowed me to sail far in the ocean of knowledge
world.
=====
I enjoyed Cataloguing work and saw
the beauty of the
MARC coding format. Nevertheless,
I identified myself more as a reference
librarian
than as a
cataloguer.
In
the small library circle in Singapore, among peers and counterparts
in library work, I am still being introduced as the former Reference
Librarian from NIE.
By now, it has
been over 20 years since I unloaded my
reference title, yet from time to time, I receive reference enquiries from peers in the library circle and I am glad I
can serve
as a Reference Point until today.
Appended
here is a write-up
of a recent case:
=====
Reference & Friends [title based on the news/talk
program Fox & Friends]
ReferenceFriend (RF for short): Hi Reference, I have an
enquiry from a retiree who would like to contact Librarian A, who I
know is also retired. I understand Librarian A wrote a short
biography of the retiree's father. Do you know Librarian A
personally?
Reference: No, sorry! Contact her old library, Library
B!
(Library B was duly contacted, and the request kindly
forwarded. Librarian A very kindly answered the enquiry, which
pertained to an interview held decades ago).
The info was then relayed:
Very Grateful Enquirer: That is a real mystery solved!
Thank you so much!
RF: Oh, you are most welcome, it's a small thing really
--
Very Grateful Enquirer: I've got you a box of
chocolates! And come over to my place for lunch! See you!
----------------------------------
RF (to Reference): ....and that's the story. Thanks so
much for answering so quickly --
Reference: Hoi, I am a Reference librarian! Enquiries
must be answered quickly, immediately, straightaway! Oh, I would like
a write-up, please. I will give you a whole 2 days, which is
plenty time in Reference terms. Submit before the LAS AGM!
==========
Notes:
1.
Mrs Wang-Chen Hsiu Chin (1922-1983) was the University
Librarian of the former University of Singapore, the predecessor
institution of NUS. Mrs Wang joined the library in 1955 and retired
as its head in 1978. She obtained both her MA in Political Science
and Master of Librarianship from the University of Washington in
Seattle. Prior to that, she had worked with a leading local Chinese
newspaper, Nanyang Siang Pau, as a journalist and as the head of its
resource centre.
The Straits Times, in
reporting her passing in 1983, described Mrs Wang as “the woman who
helped build the then University of Singapore’s library into one of
the best in this region.” (S.T. 11.5.1983).
Source of information:
2. Mr Jim Davies from UK was appointed as Chief Librarian of IE in 1983. He left in 1992/3?.
3.
Mr Ng Soo Kwee, retired from the NIE Chief Librarian post in 1994.
RDA contains a list of English language content types for which a new
