We’ll be there from 11am – 12 noon and will be giving away about 500 books.

In short:

Venue: Holland Village

Time: 11am-12 noon

Date: 2nd October 2011

Why: 500 BookCross books to be given away!

Remember BookCross books are meant to be ‘FREED’! Do give away these books once you are done; give it to a friend, leave it at the hotspots at Cafe Galilee at Jurong Regional Library,  Woodlands Regional Library or at the entrance at Central Public Library. Also, remember to register your book here to follow the life of the book you have ‘freed’.

See you there!

What happens is that this unique BCID allows you to follow your specific books wherever it goes.  Now, the question is where do you get a unique ID? You can get it at bookcrossing.com. You can read more of the how-tos here.

If you have picked up a BookCross.sg book, you will see a sticker like this:

So, just label your book with your unique BCID and free it!

If you want to release your own books, you can print a label from here. Otherwise, just write a BCID in the inside page where it’s easily noticed by other people.

Ok, what is this BookCross@Community?

It aims to encourage people to start their own informal reading groups or book-sharing movements in their schools or organisations. To help kick start the group, NLB would provide – for free and with practically no strings attached – a set of books, which the partner is free to keep, share and distribute. To obtain more books, the requirements are simple: organise at least two reading-related activities within six months.

How It Works

• A Partner starts a BookCross@Community group (private or open to public) of at least 5 participants.
• NLB provides an initial start-up collection between 5 to 20 books (via public donations). Based on group size, the start-up collection can be increased up to 100 books.
• The group must hold at least 2 activity sessions within 6 months.
• The activity session can take place anywhere, in the park, at your house, at a café or even online.
• Information on participation (e.g., books exchanged or discussed) must be submitted to NLB (e.g., photos, blog posts, Twitter, or Facebook) within 2 weeks of each session.

Eligibility for Partnership

• You must be a Library member. (You may include non-members in your group.)
• You must independently form your own group of at least 5 persons aged 13 and above.
• Organizations are eligible but must register with 1 representative who is a Library member.

Of course, there are some officious terms and conditions that you should comply with:

Terms of Service

Partnership

• NLB reserves the right to accept/reject all applications for BookCross@Community Partnerships.
• By applying for a BookCross@Community Partnership, you agree to all Terms of Service as stated in this document.

BookCross@Community Groups/Activity Sessions

• All activity sessions are to be fully self-funded (e.g., venues, refreshments).
• Each group must maintain an average of 5 participants per session.
• Each session must include at least 1 of the following activities: book exchange, book discussion, book talk or author talk/discussion. 

Start-up Collections/Top-ups

• Resources/books provided by NLB are to be used for community bonding and promotion of reading. The resources/books may not be sold or exchanged for monetary equivalent.
• We will try to provide books that best match your group’s profile. But unfortunately we will not be able to provide specific titles, as we depend on public donations.
• Partners must pick up start-up collections at their own time/cost.
• Only English youth/adult/fiction/nonfiction collections are currently available.

General

• All NLB-associated names and branding are not to be used to suggest endorsement of any BookCross@Community group or activity.
• NLB reserves the right to modify any of the above terms and conditions at any time.

OK, the boring part is over! How do I take part?

Send an email to ask@nlb.gov.sg with the following details:

• Name
• Organization (if applicable)
• NLB membership number (or NRIC number)
• Contact information
• Any other relevant details (e.g., your plans for your BookCross@Community group)

Congratulations!

You’ve found a BookCross@SG book.

NOW, log in your “catch” and “release” in the *form below!

*Having trouble with the form, you can also log on to www.bookcrossing.com !

(psst…when you log in, you’re automatically included into our mailing list of upcoming events and activities!)

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Do you have the above sticker in your “catch”?

If so, great news! You are entitled to a special gift from us.

(If you’ve yet to “catch” a book with this sticker, there are still copies “travelling” in Singapore. So start your BookCross@SG hunt today!)

Terms & Conditions

1. Each BookCrosser is entitled to only 1 gift.

2. To redeem the gift, BookCrosser has to bring along the BookCross@SG book with the specialized sticker (as shown above) and NRIC card.

3. Gift redemption will be available only at:
   3 Central Lending Library
   National Library Board
   100 Victoria Street
   Singapore 188064
   

4. Redemption of gift is valid while stocks last.

So read on for Yen Yen’s very succint answer here, which I think sums up our whole intiative very well.

(Sidenote: ASK! is a an Advisory and Enquiry Service at the Public Libraries. They provide information, and references to books and/or other resources, on any subject for your general interest, school project, work, business, fiction and leisure reading. So ASK! away. E-mail your queries to ask@nlb.gov.sg)

Yen Yen also writes a little about her experiences with BookCrossing (she first came across a BookCross book in Australia) and I’ll like to invite our readers/bookcrossers to leave a comment about your own BookCross experience too.

Whether you joined us for the Socials or Meet-ups, or if you had once picked up a book or donated a book, or if you first came across bookcrossing overseas – we’ll like to hear from you!

But Rosemary, our guide, did a masterful job in showing us places in Singapore that served as inspiration for famous authors like Somerset Maugham, Joseph Conrad, and local authors like Ho Min Fong and Goh Sin Tub, amongst others.

The tour covered landmarks in Singapore like the Cavanagh Bridge, which was included in many a foreign author’s book because in the past when these authors arrived by ship at Singapore, the first thing they would see would be the bridge as they entered via the Singapore River.

Work in Raffles Place? Ever noticed the large statue of a reclining woman in front of the OCBC Building? By the way, I used to always walk past that building but I never knew that the statue was actually inspired by famous local author Goh Sin Tub’s mother!

Read on for the list of books mentioned on the tour, photos of the event, and hear what our participants had to say.

As promised to our tour participants, we have a compiled list of the books that Rosemary mentioned on the tour.

Photos! (had really too many to choose from)

We start off with a tour of the National Library

Up on the Singapore Discovery bus we go!

On tour

On Cavanagh Bridge

Group shot

Lunch!

And finally, the books come out to be crossed…

And this is what some of our very nice participants said after the tour:

“It was a most delightful experience for me (i am sure for all the rest too) today at the “Retracing Steps” event. Thank you for your hard work and attention to detail for our benefit. And, Rosemary was so well versed and witty! Please convery my appreciation to her as well! Big Thank you to all of you!” – May

“Thank you so much for organizing this tour. It was fantastic and I enjoyed it.” – Malavika

“… a big thanks to the BookCross team at NLB for the literary tour and the wonderful lunch after. Keep it up.” – Michael C

So what are you waiting for? Start crossing books today and join us for our next Social!

Unfortunately, yours truly had to miss Dec’s meet-up due to a clashing programme.

However, my colleagues Grace and Mei Jun were still on hand to ensure a good time was had for all. I don’t have the photos with me yet so you’ll have to bear with me for a while while I upload the photos and then link them up here.

Before I hand over the keyboard to Mei Jun now, I have to say – I want the X’mas gift too!

Mei Jun:

The game was to share a story, book or song related to the Christmas symbol beneath the chair you sat. Certainly not all could think of a story, so some of us resorted to singing Christmas songs. Once you shared your Christmas symbol, the book voucher was your X’mas gift to take – everyone got one.

Some of us had read some good non-Christmas books, and talked about them instead. No doubt it was out of the theme, but it was great of them to share it with the others. All the sharing got the party boisterous and lively, we nearly could not close the session before the library closed.

After the session ended, some of the bookcrossers gathered on their own for a drink. It was definitely a meet-up with Christmas spirit!

Anyway, as the bookcrossing.com site says: Good Karma is Priceless

Thanks to all who joined us for November’s meet-up and who supported us in our book donation drive. I’ve sent off an e-mail to Santa confirming your attendance and donations. He’ll add an additional check to the “good” column under your name.

Don’t start to panic at the last minute if you’ve not been on your best throughout the year. Here’s a chance to make amends before X’mas starts. Join us for December’s meet-up on 19 Dec 2007 (Wednesday) , bring along a book to “cross”, and you’ll be just in time to make it to the good list this year.

This is a special deal offered only by BookCross@SG, sanctioned by North Pole Inc.

North Pole Inc. has also sent via early delivery (courtesy of Reindeer Express) some presents to be given out during the meet-up.

If you want to be kept updated of future events, join our mailing list by e-mailing your name, contact number, and e-mail address to bookcross@nlb.gob.sg

Happy Depavali, Merry X’Mas, Happy New Year – Overall Season’s Greetings
from the BookCross Team

Grace was channeling Steven Spielberg that evening, and all participants had to contribute a line based on a theme or character from the story.

No one had read the story before, the starting lines and elements from the book were prepared by Grace and that was the only springboard we needed to come up with a potentially award-winning movei plot.

Read on for a sneak preview of Bookcross@SG’s latest production in-the-works:

“I used to be human once. So I’m told. I don’t remember it myself, but people who knew me when I was small say I walked on two feet just like a human being.

In desperation, I decided to throw my lot in with the family that’s living next door, which consisted of only pretty females.

The pretty females started playing piano under Somraj (the famous musician).

Their favourite piece was the wedding march.

The chief minister of state walked past one day and was very impressed.

Elli Barber, the doctor, was accompanying the chief minister of state and was surprised at the apparition that was dancing hilariously to the music.

The doctor and the chief minister were actually on their way to a meeting at an American kompani.

As they would be a bit early for the meeting, they made a detour to the court house.

Coincidentally, the doctor met his love interest – Nisha.

Hope was swirling in him (the doctor), like it would in a wine glass as he started imagining a situation of marriage.

However, Nisha is a nun who is not allowed to wed.

Little did the doctor know that Zafar (the rival) was getting ready to kidnap the nun.

Zafar planned to poison her and render her unconscious.

Immediately, the doctor appeared with medical treatment for the nun, who was poisoned.

All who did not agree with the doctor’s actions boycotted his practice.

Those were my memories when I was still human. Now I am the animal that is detested by mankind. “

-End masterpiece-

Pictures of the ‘scriptwriters’!

*Animal’s People by Indra Sinha (Call No.: SIN)

BookCross Book Donation Drive
Raffles Place MRT Station
28-30 November
11.30am-7.30pm

We’re looking for Fiction books in reasonably good condition.

Donate 2 or more fiction books in good condition and receive a $5 book voucher!

Queries? E-mail us at bookcross@nlb.gov.sg