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There is no detailed study about the origins of athletics in nineteenth-century Singapore. This research relied primarily on newspaper records, official census reports, club membership and school enrolment to study the origins and degree of participation in athletics in the military, European, Eurasian, Chinese, Malay and Indian communities. It also makes comparison to the diffusion and transmission of athletics within the global and the various local communities. The findings suggest that a ‘foot-race’ was first introduced primarily to the Malay and Chinese community in the annual New Year regatta since 1837. Athletic events were held by the troops at Tanglin Barracks and Fort Canning in 1877 following the practice and tradition of the military colleges and camps in England. The athletic meets were also organised by the European, Eurasian, Straits Chinese, Malay and Tamil sports clubs starting in 1880 thereafter. It was introduced to three English boys' schools since 1887 after the establishment of the Education Department in 1872 and the organisation of Government and aided English schools. There were no physical education or athletic programme in the English girls' schools and in the elementary Malay, Chinese and Anglo-Tamil schools. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this paper is to study the development and evolution of secondary school libraries into Media Resource Libraries (MRLs) in Singapore after the Second World War and the rationale to have mandatory school library standards. It is an historical survey analysing published data about the linkages of libraries and librarianship, school library standards, education and school reforms in Singapore. It analyses historical and current documents on the roles played by stakeholders like the Library Association of Singapore (LAS) and the Ministry of Education (MOE) in the introduction and development of school library standards. The need for school libraries standards was first discussed when the Malayan Library Group (MLG) organised the first course on librarianship for school teachers in 1955, but, with no follow through. The need for school libraries standards was also mentioned by the LAS in 1962 in a memorandum to the Commission of Enquiry into Education to train teacher librarians and adopt school library standards. However, this was left out in the final report of the Commission published in 1964. The need for school library standards was discussed in a school library seminar for 150 teacher librarians in 1970. The first Recommended Minimum Standards for Secondary School Libraries was published two years later by the Standing Committee on Libraries set up by the MOE, but it was not mandatory for schools to adopt the standards. In 1997 the MOE launched its “Thinking School Learning Nation” vision to teach thinking skills. Students were expected to do multidisciplinary project work and be independent users of information. The MOE began to convert school libraries into Media Resource Libraries (MRLs) with print and non-print materials. However, a survey conducted in 2001 on the roles and competencies of 112 Library Coordinators (LCs) or teacher librarians revealed that they lack the skills and knowledge to manage MRLs effectively. This is because subsequent school library standards published in 1983 and 2002 did not require trained and full-time teacher librarians to manage the MRLs. Furthermore, it is essential for the standards to be periodically updated with regards to professional staff, collection development, facilities, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure and school library programs. Otherwise, MRLs risk being “hollow shells still considered on the periphery of core educational requirements, and are run by teachers not professionally prepared to do the work” (, p. 25). The national standards published in the United States from 1918 to 2008 are well researched and provide substantive guidelines to develop school libraries. Therefore, it is essential for the MOE to formulate MRL standards by doing comparative studies of school library standards in other countries. These standards have to be mandatory and fully adopted by the schools. It provides opportunities for stakeholders like the LAS, National Library Board (NLB), the National Institute of Education (NIE), and the Singapore Teachers’ Union, to collaborate in the formulation of these standards and take collective ownership to implement them. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper traces the historical background and development of public library services in postcolonial Singapore from 1956-1991, with special emphasis on multilingual public library system and the role of mobile libraries. After Sir Stamford Raffles founded Singapore in 1819 on behalf of the East India Company he planned to establish a college with a multilingual library. However, it began as an elementary school library (1823-1844) with English books, and evolved into a proprietary library (1844-1874), Government library (1874-1941), Japanese library (1942-1945) and Government library (1945-1958). In 1956 the library began to source books in the vernacular languages. In 1958 it became a National Library and public library. Two part-time branches and two mobile libraries known as the Library Extension were set up in 1960. By 1963, there were 7 per cent Malay books, 19 per cent Chinese books, 6 per cent Tamils books, and 68 per cent English books. The mobile library service points increased from 2 in 1964 to 12 in 1969. During the mid-1960s and up to 1970 the Library Extension Unit had about 20 per cent membership of the total public library system. Although Raffles wanted his proposed institution to have a multilingual library in 1823, it was not until 1970 that the library evolved into one when there was sufficient collection to make it into a multilingual public library system. After eight full-time branch libraries were gradually set up from 1970 to 1988, the mobile library services were gradually reduced and terminated in 1991. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to uncover the beginning and development of English schools and school libraries in Singapore since 1819 until 1941. The growth of English schools from four before 1872 to 22 by 1938 was made possible by the reform of the Grants-in-aid system whether they were missionary or privately run schools. Although the first policy to initiate school libraries in an English schools occurred in 1899, the growth of school libraries was sporadic and gradual since many government-aided schools encountered difficulties to import textbooks and reference books into Singapore in the absence of a local publishing industry in Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earlier research on school libraries in Singapore has stated that school libraries were established there recently. Lim (1970) wrote that school libraries in Singapore were largely a post-war innovation, and Ho (1998) wrote that published records related to the history of school libraries in Singapore were available only from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. This article presents historical information that shows that an official policy on school libraries was initiated in 1899. It also presents the historical record of the development of schools and school libraries under British colonial rule and related information about the Malay school book production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]