HML Club Annual Report 2008-2009
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Transcript of HML Club Annual Report 2008-2009
1
Contents
03
A Little About us
05 Chief Librarian’s Message
6 Mrs Yap’s Message
07 HML Executive Committee 08/09
08 HML Executive Committee 09/10
09 Annual General Meeting 2008
12 Discover: HML Camp 2008
25 Raffles Trail 2009
28 Training of New Librarians
30 LCM Day Report
34 Open House Report
37 New Sections in the Library
41 Acknowledgements
42 Final Words
A Little about us
The Hullett Memorial Library has made a conscious effort to constantly upgrade its facilities and services in order to remain relevant in this information age. Our foremost concern is to create a warm and information rich environment where students and staff of Raffles Institution can partake a variety of activities both pleasant and conducive to life-long learning with the aid of up-to-date resources and advanced information technology.
The Hullett Memorial Library sees itself as the hub of academic life and the nexus of information gathering and dissemination at Raffles Institution. It exists to:
Provide absolute support for the curriculum in terms of both the resources and services.
Provide a positive learning environment, enabling pupils to become effective learners with access to the latest technology.
Foster a love for reading.
Promote Raffles Institution, by its role as a leader, in school library services in Singapore.
HML Facilities A collection of about 51,000 books,
including Fiction, non-Fiction and Reference Copies of past year examination papers More than 50 magazine titles including
PC Magazine, Economist, Newsweek, Time, Reader’s Digest and National Geographic.
Daily newspapers in 4 languages - English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil.
Info-educational DVDs, VCDs, audio CDs, and CD-ROMs.
Project Corner with 14 PCs for group project work. SurfPOOL with 10 PCs for information searches A Photocopying room with 3 photocopying machines. A Creative Studio for teaching, lectures or meetings. A Reference Room for storage of reference books
as well as quiet self-study and reading Teachers Reference Library for teacher’s use HML Al Fresco Discussion and Study Corridor
Hullett Memorial Library
Raffles Institution
The TecHIVE is a place where pupils can explore multimedia and the latest in IT firsthand. It provides endless possibilities for individual creativity, interactive learning and academic pursuits.
Facilities in the TecHIVE
20 Televisions, including 3 LCD TVs DVD & VCD players Music-CD Computers 5000 multimedia items for the abovementioned platforms
Vision
The Hullett Memorial Library aims to develop an information and technology rich teaching and learning environment that encourages active real world research.
Mission
The Library exists to link staff and students with recorded knowledge in an appropriate
time, place and way, enabling them to achieve excellence in teaching, learning and research.
Objectives
Teaching o Work in partnership with teaching
staff to promote innovative use of information resources in school enhance teaching and learning.
Learning o Teach students and staff to basis
for life long learning and real world problem solving.
Research o Increase knowledge
base available to researchers for the development of new knowledge, by using IT to improve access to information worldwide.
Librarians Welcome you to HML!
4
Chief Librarian’s Messages
Ang Hui Hao’s Outgoing Message
It has indeed been an extremely fufilling, and at the same time, challenging year for me and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs Yap, Mdm Ho, Ms Many, the exco 08’09 and all the librarians for being part of this enriching experience of being the Chief Librarian. I am sure that the next batch of leaders headed by Hui Chiang will continue to improve the library club and bring it to greater heights.
Tay Hui Chiang’s Incoming Message I am greatly honoured to be chosen as the new Chief Librarian of ‘09/10, and I wish to express my utmost gratitude and thanks to Mrs. Yap, the HML EXCO of ‘08/09 and the rest of the library committee for their limitless guidance and support through the previous years.
My goals for the upcoming year are simple yet lofty. Firstly, I hope to instill a heart of service in all librarians and ensure the passion they hold for the library continues to burn as strongly as it ever had, and never die out even while facing many challenges along the way. Next, I wish to promote a sense of camaraderie among the members of the club, so that no one ever feels left out in our small, family community, and that we will serve the school as a united body. Lastly, I will, with the best of my efforts and abilities see that the club strives to ever greater heights and push the limits and boundaries of what we can achieve.
With this, I will be able to serve the school community better than ever before, and that librarians will never forget that each and every one of them are essential to the operation of the library, for the library cannot function if even one of them are not performing to their full potential.
Thank you.
5
A Message from Mrs. Yap
2008/2009 has been another eventful year for the HML Club. This AGM report features many fond memories of the various club events organized by the 2008/2009 HML EXCO headed by our Chief-Librarian, Ang Hui Hao.
The 08/09 executive committee is a unique one as it comprises only 1 sec 4 librarian which is not the norm. Hui Hao, supported by his team of 3 sec 3 and 2 sec 2 librarians, has successfully organized various key events such as the 2008 AGM, Year End HML Camp 2008, Sec 1 Raffles Trail 2009, and Library Club Members Day (1) in March 09. The Club assisted in the set up of the new HML Students’ Reference Room in March and the Teachers’ Reference Room in June. This batch of librarians will remember fondly the packing and movement of the many cartons of Teachers’ Reference books and their subsequent move to the former LAR during the June holidays. Though a tedious
process, the librarians involved bonded closer through the project.
The boys will be fondly remembered as the batch which was involved in this HML upgrading exercise… ... Perhaps even the year-end major stock-take exercise in Oct/Nov 2009.
My sincere thanks to the HML EXCO 2008/2009 and I wish them all the best in their future endeavors.
6
HML Executive Committee 2008/2009
HML Executive Committee 2009/2010
Chief Librarian : Tay Hui Chiang
Library Circulation Jonathan Ang Sixian
Issac Chong
Library Management Joshua Phang Shi Ern
Club Programmes
Ong Chuan Kai Wong Zhe Herng
Melvin Lim Jun Cheng
8
2008
Written by: Ang Zhi Jie Dyon
Annual General Meeting
The time of the year has arrived again. A
supposed coming-of-age, a ritual, a long
tradition. The Hullett Memorial Library (HML)
Club’s 2008 Annual General Meeting (AGM)
has arrived with much importance, tradition
and a whole wave of fresh new faces.
As with every important event of the year,
numerous days were put into the planning of
AGM 2008, and a flurry of final preparations
were held the day before the meeting itself.
Days of meticulous planning all culminated as
the EXCO of 2007/2008 and the newly elected
one of 2008/2009 were seen bringing the
important materials up to the Audio Visual
Theatrette (AVT). Prizes to be given out,
important documents to be received, and
certificates of appreciation to be presented
were all promptly set up for the most
important event of 2008 for the HML Club.
HM
L Clu
b A
GM
Special Thanks to the Sec 4 EXCO
members of 2007/2008
Chang Shu Jian --Chief Librarian
Law Kang Jie --Deputy Chief Librarian
Rohan Puthran --Manager (Programmes)
Yan Xiao Dong --Deputy Manager
(Programmes Dept)
Ravi Sethuraman --Manager (Circulation
Dept)
Sean Yap - Manager (Circulation Dept)
Pupil librarians came swarming into the AVT as
soon as they were given the green light to
leave their classes by their respective teachers.
They came in with an air of excitement and
anticipation, which was rather expected. After
the pupil librarians settle down in their
assigned seats, the staff of the library arrived.
Our Deputy Headmistress, Mrs Tan Siok Mui,
had kindly decided to grace this event to
witness the ‘crowning’ of new librarians and
celebration of the graduating ones. Mrs. Yap
also invited one of our old boys, a previous
chief librarian, Major Adrian Choong having
succeeded in his chosen field of work in the
navy, to return in a blaze of glory, and to relate
his own experiences to the librarians present.
As soon as everyone was present, we kick
started the event with much exultation.
First up was a talk by
the Special Guest.
Despite the fact that he
holds a high position in
his field of work, he
was incredibly humble
and had a charisma
that engaged the
audience. He
introduced himself and
with a flow of slides
behind him, he wove
an engaging speech
that was sincere and spoke his mind. He taught
us skills, life choices and the taking over of the
internet world.
One point I made note of was his acceptance
of the internet taking over everyone’s lives.
Indeed, we cannot live without the internet in
this age and we have to be tech-savvy to keep
up with it. What he said was true - despite the
massive internet revolution, the library will
always be a place for learning and a place of
rich culture and vibrancy. Reading material off
the internet cannot compare to actually
delving into a storybook world, immersing into
the content and appreciating the effort taken
to write the book. {Insert Name} has proven to
all librarians present, that the HML Club
cultivates a strong mind and will help build the
foundation for our future endeavors. We will
all certainly benefit from it!
One of the most important segments of the
AGM is of course, the passing of the baton,,
the passing of leadership to the next batch of
leaders to bring the HML Club to greater
heights. It was sad to see the EXCO of
2007/2008’s parting handshakes, and to listen
to the parting message given by the outgoing
Chief Librarian, Chang Shu Jian. Each batch of
librarians leaves behind a legacy, one that will
not be erased and will be emulated, or even
exceeded, by future batches of librarians. The
HML Club’s legacy
will be a long-lived
one, and I am quite
sure we will all
remember our
seniors’
contributions to the
HML Club. Many of
the Secondary 2s
will also remember
the graduating
batch of seniors
with fondest
memories as they spent the most time with
them. The passing of the EXCO of 2007/2008 is
indeed a sad sight to behold but as we look
upon the upcoming year, we know for sure
that the HML Club will be in safe hands again.
Ang Hui Hao, a dedicated Secondary 3, was
chosen to be the Chief Librarian for 2008/2009.
While giving his speech, his posture and
stature was immaculate and it could be seen
from his expression that he was perfectly
determined to take up this position and the
associated responsibility that comes with it,
and to maintain or even improve the state of
the HML.
Hui Hao will carry this responsibility, willingly,
and he will strive to make the HML a vibrant
place for every Rafflesian to study in. The HML
will be a conducive and tranquil study
environment in the hands of our new Chief
Librarian. As he accepts his post with a smile
on his face, wary of the eyes upon him, Hui
Hao promises in front of the library staff and
his library club members that he will do his
best and possibly even more.
The time has come for the investiture of the
new librarians. Many of the new faces were
from Secondary 1, although the HML Club
received a number of applications from
Secondary 2 and 3 students too. This was
hardly a surprise given that every Rafflesian
wishes to contribute to the community and to
assist others, regardless of
the time spent as a
Rafflesian. Bright and eager
faces were seen
throughout the room. The
new librarians’ faces lit up
as their names were called,
one by one, and they went
to the stage to receive the
aesthetically appealing
HML Club collar pin from
Mdm Jessie Ho and Miss Kanmany.
Thank you, newly-invested librarians of 2008
for your dedication in the past few months.
You have indeed shown yourself to be a true
librarian and with the new collar pin comes
greater responsibility. The Rafflesian
community recognizes you and applauds your
dedication to the maintaining of the school’s
centre of information. The EXCO of 2008/2009
sincerely hopes that you will maintain your
conduct and your responsibilities as a librarian.
All the best!
The event came to a closure as the guests and
staff left to partake in the reception outside
the AVT. We will gather again for AGM 2009
and we shall witness a new batch of leaders
taking the centre stage. Till then!
Memories. Sweet Memories. Parting is such sweet sorrow.
Smiles were formed as the HML Club’s trip down the memory lane was shown in a photo compilation
video. Such fun, such laughter, such were the happy times we
spent in the library…
Section 1: Introduction Written by Ong Chuan Kai
The Hullett Memorial Library Club Year End
Camp 2008 was held from 12th November
(Wednesday) to 14th November 2008 (Friday)
and various activities were held, including the
Amazing Race, a life style choices workshop
and a trip to the newly opened Marina
Barrage. The camp is held to meet several
objectives. Firstly, it seeks to foster greater
collaboration between librarians and to enable
them to better understand the library.
Secondly, it aims to tidy up the library. Thirdly,
it exposes them to lesser known places of
Singapore, and last but not least, it is to have
fun.
The theme of the camp is “Discovery”.
First and foremost, throughout the camp,
participants get to discover themselves, that is,
discover a side of themselves that they never
knew they had by exposing themselves to new
environments. They also managed to discover
more about fellow librarians which they had
worked with, and also more about the club, its
operations and the people behind it.
Additionally, they discovered places in
Singapore which they might not have been to.
Last but definitely not least, they get to
discover the fun side of HML Club which is
rarely seen.
The camp had been originally planned
for 2 Day-1 Night, but due to the inclusion of
the life style choices workshop spanning over 2
days; it was extended to a 3 Day-2 Night camp,
with some initially planned activities
compromised. For example, the Amazing Race,
which was originally planned to take place all
around Singapore, was compromised to the
Southern Ridges.
The participants gathered on the first day at
7.30am in the Library Activities Room (LAR)
and the camp commenced with attendance
taking and a briefing on the purpose and
proceedings of the camp, as well as the camp
rules and regulations.
The participants were split into 3
groups to facilitate the activities that were
carried out and to allow them to interact with
someone they rarely worked with.
Here are the groupings for the camp:
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 EXCO
Chang
Shu Jian
Nigel
Loo
Sean
Yap
Ang Hui
Hao
Bernard Eugene Tommy Jonathan
Ang
Wee
Kiang Simon Randy Dyon Ang
Ming Jie Khang
Hwee Ryan
Tay Hui
Chiang
Mrs. Yap Ms.
Mani
Mdm.
Ho
Ong
Chuan Kai
Also, to make the competition among
groups more intense and to raise the
enthusiasm of the teams, points were given for
every activity, including shelf reading to each
group. Points given were relative to the
activity, and the group with the most points at
the end of the camp would win prizes.
Section 2: Icebreakers
Written by Ong Chuan Kai
Due to time constraints caused by the
inception of other activities, icebreaker games
were substituted with the making of team T-
shirts. This activity lasted for 30minutes after
the briefing. The concept of the team T-shirt is
to symbolize the team’s identity, just like a
nation’s flag. The objective of wearing the
shirt is to give a sense of belonging to the
team and teams can also take this
opportunity to showcase their creativity.
This activity also helps to bond the team
together as they brainstormed for
ideas and designed the T-shirt
cohesively.
For this activity, the
librarians split up into their groups
and proceeded to the respective
project corners. They sat together and
brainstormed for ideas. With markers provided
for each team, they showcased their creativity
on the white T-shirt provided. They were to
come up with a team name and a tagline
which was to be written on the T-shirt
as well. In the process,
they will
create their
team’s identity. Meanwhile, they
have to relate their T-shirt to the
theme of the camp: “Discovery”.
After 30 minutes of discussion
and designing, the teams
returned to the LAR to present
their T-shirt. The T-shirt designs
were to be judged and the result
determined the starting order of
the 3 teams for the Amazing
Race. After the adjudication, the
starting order was as follows:
Group 3, Group 1, and lastly, Group 2.
The T-shirt had to be with the team at
all times throughout the day and one member
of each team had to wear it at any point in
time. This helped to instill a sense of
responsibility to the T-shirt and a sense of
belonging to the team. Overall, it was a fun
and meaningful experience as each team
worked together in designing their identities,
with jokes and laughter popping out
frequently.
Section 3: Amazing Race
Written and compiled by Tay Hui Chiang
Shortly after the icebreakers, we
boarded a chartered bus which took us to the
Southern Ridges. The Amazing Race was
played not unlike previous years. Teams were
each given a clue which would lead them to
the first station. There, they would be asked to
complete a given challenge before getting
their next clue, so on and so forth. The teams
were not allowed to go all at the same time
since there would be teams massing at one
station, so they were released in intervals of 5
minutes, with the order being determined by
how well they performed for their T-shirt
design.
The clue given at the starting point
was the words “LOOK UP”, which would lead
them to the Southern Ridges. Being simple, all
of the teams were able to infer this location
rather easily.
The station master for this station (Station 1)
was Chuan Kai. The participants had to count
the segments of planks along the entire bridge
and report the answer to the station master
for their first task. The closer the answer is to
the actual one (187), the more points the team
will be awarded. Group 1 and 2 managed to
get the actual answer while Group 3 was 3
segments off (184). The second task would be
to take a photo of the bridge as artistically as
possible, with points given based on the photo
taken. These two tasks could effectively test
their teamwork and creativity.
The clue given for the next station was
a picture of a triangle with an arrow pointing
to the top. The triangle symbolized Mount
Faber, which was near to where they were,
and the top essentially meant Faber Point.
Most of the groups were able to infer this
location rather easily too.
At Jonathan’s station in the Amazing
Race (Station 2), groups had to re-enact certain
scenes throughout the history of Singapore.
Groups had to choose the scenes from the
gallery below Faber Point, then proceed to the
area above to re-enact the scenes. Similar to
the T-shirt design, Group 3 finished first,
followed by Group 1 and then Group 2.
Group 3 was the first to complete the
station, and that group’s performance was
decided to be the most realistic, and therefore
scored the highest among all the other groups.
Their group was also the fastest to solve the
clue. Background knowledge of the locale by
certain members of the group might have
helped them when they attempted to decipher
the clue.
Group 1 was the second group to
reach the station. Their performance at this
station was generally quite poor, with
members of the group showing an obvious lack
of enthusiasm. This group did not solve the
clue to the next station. However, a lot of
effort was put in by members of the group to
find the location. Due to the lack of time and
the need to move on with the Race, the
location of the next station was given to them.
Group 2 was the last group
to reach the station. Their
performance was average as
compared to the other groups, but
they managed to complete the
station fairly quickly. In addition,
they managed to solve the clue to
Station 3, though it still took them
considerably long.
The clue to Hui Chiang’s
station (Station 3) at the Lookout
Point was a rather cryptic one,
which was an eye in the middle of a
recycle sign. All the teams were unable to
solve it and got to Hui Chiang’s station through
wandering around while trying to look for a
boy in white shirt and black pants.
Teams at this station were supposed
to look for 10 paper clips around the lookout
point. However, they had to stand in a row,
with an inflated balloon held between their
bodies, such that they looked like large
caterpillars. Dropping the balloon on the
ground would result in the ‘confiscation’ of 2
paper clips. Group 3 arrived first, and they
breezed through the challenge. The difficulty
of the clue led to our first hitch in the race,
where Group 1 got lost. They called Jonathan,
who gave misleading instructions, directing
them to the forest beside the Jewel Box.
Thankfully, they were able to find their way to
Hui Chiang’s station. Similarly, they went
through his station easily, although they did
drop the balloon twice. The last group to arrive
was Group 2. They did not pass the challenge
easily, as they were probably not observant
enough, and could not find paper clips that
were right in front of them. However, they did
manage to complete the challenge in a
relatively short time as well.
Hui Hao’s station for Amazing Race
(Station 4) was the first station in Vivocity
where the teams finally got into air-
conditioned heaven and out of the hot sun in
the Southern Ridges. Basically the teams were
required to form a chain of store names that
started with the store newurbanmale.com and
ended with the store Action City and had to
include the store SIX. The chain was formed
with the starting and ending letters of each of
the names. All of the teams found their chain
rather easily with the help of the shop
directory. The hard part came later; the teams
had to take pictures of the stores' signboards
in order. Some teams excelled in this task;
Group 3 took the pictures in random order and
then used another camera to make them seem
like they were in the right order whereas the
other teams just wasted about 15 minutes
walking around the entire second floor of the
shopping complex. All the teams eventually
managed to complete their task successfully
with varying amounts of time taken, with
Group 3 taking the least time followed by
Group 2 and lastly Group 1. On analysis of the
results, the time taken by the teams was based
on one factor: strategy. None of the teams
chose the time-consuming method of looking
around the entire floor for the names and
instead used a directory; however, some
teams had a strategy when it came to taking
the pictures whereas others did not. In the
end, the team with the best and most efficient
strategy was the clear winner for this station.
Placed in charge of Station 5, Dyon
waited for the groups at Vivocity as his station
was the last station before sending the groups
off to lunch. He tried to hide himself
somewhere, which failed, as the area around
Bakerzin was too wide and open-spaced. The
objective of his station was to test the
librarians’ attentiveness as they zipped around
the stores. The first group arrived 15 minutes
earlier than the others, and quickly got down
to completing their task. However, despite
their swiftness, they were unable to spell the
stores’ names correctly and therefore had to
backtrack again. This shows that speed is not
always an essence in a challenge/task. Next,
while the other teams came to Dyon, he found
himself debating with some groups on the
spelling of the stores which was very time-
wasting. One group especially did not follow
the previous station master Hui Hao’s
instructions and received a penalty. From this
station, we can learn that librarians are
effective in working with each other and one
can complete a given task well while working
with his team.
Section 4: Marina Barrage Activities
Written by Ong Chuan Kai
After having lunch at Kopitiam in Vivo
City, the teams embarked on a journey to the
newly opened Marina Barrage. They took the
MRT to Marina Bay and took a shuttle bus to
Marina Barrage from there. Groups brought
along cameras and notebooks to capture
memories.
The Marina Barrage was opened just 2
weeks before the camp on 1 November 2008,
and so it was decided that the participants
would go there to learn more about this
engineering marvel, in relation to the theme of
Discovery. Librarians could also boost their
research and presentation skills with the
challenge posed to them, which will be
explained later on.
Upon reaching the barrage, we had a
walk around the site as we waited for the
guided tour to commence. At 2.30pm, a tour
guide from Marina Barrage took us on an
engaging tour around the premises and the
Sustainable Singapore Gallery. Unfortunately,
we did not get to tour the rooftop lawn due to
a heavy rain. From this tour, we gained useful
knowledge about the barrage and its impact.
For example, the barrage created a reservoir
for the city, increasing our fresh water supply.
Also, by controlling the water level within the
bay,
floods that are otherwise damaging can be
prevented. After the tour, the challenge was
released to the groups. Groups would have to
give a 15-minute presentation on one of the
six galleries in the Sustainable Singapore
Gallery assigned to them. The presentation
would be done in school. Each team was given
1 hour to do research on the gallery that they
were assigned. They could do so in the form of
copying down notes and taking photos. After
being brought back to school by a chartered
bus, the groups were given 1 hour to prepare
their presentations on laptops in the central
aisle of the HML. Then, they proceeded to the
Dining Hall for dinner. Immediately after
dinner, the teams assembled in the LAR for
their presentations. They were judged by 3
guest judges, namely Cham Bao Rong, Daniel
Goh and Li Yiyang. They are members of the
HML Club alumni and had returned to help out
with the camp. The teams presented with
various styles, but all presented valuable
information regarding the Marina Barrage. The
judges gave useful comments to the
presenters after their experience in Project
Work in RJC. These comments definitely
helped the presenters to improve in the
future. To round up the whole experience of
discovering the Marina Barrage, a 2-part video
on the barrage was screened.
This was undoubtedly an enriching
experience for everyone as they got to know a
lot about the barrage, which will definitely
benefit them in time to come as the barrage is
a key icon in Singapore. It was also meaningful
as we were the pioneering Raffles Institution
group to tour the barrage! This journey of
“Discovery” definitely brought out the camp’s
theme. Besides these, the participants
unarguably benefited, as their knowledge
about the barrage and their presentation skills
had been boosted with this experience.
18
Section 5: Treasure Hunt cum Station Games
Written and compiled by Tay Hui Chiang
The treasure hunt took place on the second day
of the camp after the Lifestyle Choices
workshop. It is held to foster creativity and
bonding among the teams, and is also a warm-
up for the more vigorous station games. Groups
were required to find random, everyday objects
such as pens and were to return to the library
within half an hour. In that time, the HML EXCO
was busy setting up their stations for the next
activity - Station Games. To make the challenge
more interesting, ex-librarians Yiyang and Bao
Rong patrolled the area with a whole bag of
stationery. However, the groups were required
to complete a task, such as reciting the
Rafflesian Principle of Honour before they could
get one of the ‘treasures’ in the bag. In the end,
Group 3 came in first with the most number of
items, followed by Group 2 and lastly Group 1.
The winning group was the most enthusiastic of
all as they went around the school compound,
searching high and low for the ‘treasures’. They
also tried to obtain as many ‘treasures’ as
possible from Yiyang and Bao Rong. The group
coming in last was rather unenthusiastic as they
walked around with no clear objective and did
not bother much about Yiyang and Bao Rong.
This showed that enthusiasm and clever use of
resources are key winning traits in this hunt and
this is also applicable to our lives, where many
achieved success as they are upbeat in their
work and intelligently make use of what they
have.
The station games took place after the
treasure hunt. Groups were given clues to
different stations so that they would not be
rushing to the same station at once.
The clue for Station 1 was the ‘atomic
symbol’ ‘Lt’, with the ‘atomic mass’ being 3 and
the ‘proton number’ being 2. This clue led to the
station which was the corridor between Lecture
Theatres 2 and 3. All of the groups were able to
infer this location rather easily.
The station master at Station 1 was
Chuan Kai. The activity at that station was
called “Fit It”. Groups were given three sizes
of newspapers and they were to get all
members onto the newspaper without any
part of their feet touching any area outside
the newspaper. With each successful effort, a
smaller piece of newspaper would be used,
increasing the task’s difficulty. Points were
awarded if they could complete the task
without tearing any papers. Equal members
from each team took part in the activity so as
to ensure fairness. Group 1 ‘survived’ 1 fold,
Group 2 ‘survived’ 2 and Group 3 amazingly
‘survived’ 3.
After completing the activity, groups
were given the next clue, which is the clue for
Station 2. The clue given was the anagram
“Stupids Teams”, which when rearranged
became “Stadium Steps”. As this location is
seldom referred to, all groups only managed
to solve the anagram after a few minutes,
which was also after the station master
provided them with more clues.
Station 2, Hui Hao’s station, was the
one which required the most setting up,
because of the large number of materials
required. The groups had to pass water
bombs from the first member to next, each
standing 5 meters apart. For each water bomb
that they successfully passed, they scored
points and the points were given based on the
number of water bombs successfully passed
along the chain. However, due to a lack of
resources, the groups were only given a
maximum of 9 water bombs and were advised
to make full use of them and not waste any.
There was another problem; one of the teams
had fewer members, so it was much easier for
them to pass the water bombs to each other as
there was less opportunity for error along the
chain following the decrease in the number of
passes. Hence, the points for the other two
teams were increased proportionately to make
the game as fair as possible. In the end, Group 3
and Group 1 both received 300 points whereas
Group 2 received 150 points.
The toothpick search (Station 3) can be
considered one of the most grueling games of
the whole camp. Toothpicks were scattered on
the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floor of the Junior Block by
the station master, Hui Chiang, before the start
of the game. Teams were then asked to look for
the toothpicks. However, the catch is that only
one person was allowed to go up at one time,
and he could only retrieve one toothpick per
trip. The members of the team were neither
allowed to place toothpicks in a convenient
place nor talk to each other. Each team was
given 10 minutes, and had to collect as many
toothpicks as possible. Group 1, despite having
the fewest people, came in first, while Group 3
came in second, and Group 2 came in third
because they violated the rules by telling each
other where the toothpicks were.
At Jonathan’s station in the Station
Games (Station 4), groups were tasked to guide
one blindfolded member of the group verbally
around a designated course in the fastest
possible time. Group 3 finished first, followed by
Group 2 and then Group 1. Group 3 was the
first group to attempt the station. Their
communication skills were excellent, and thus
their blindfolded member could follow their
instructions without hesitation, resulting in
them finishing faster than the other Group 1
was next to reach the station. When they
reached the station, they initially took very long
to find Jonathan, hence causing frustration
later. When they attempted the task, they
initially took off very quickly, but later slowed
down as they progressed around the course.
This contributed to them being the slowest of all
the teams.
The last group to attempt the station
was Group 2. Like Group 1, they initially started
well, being the fastest group to complete half
the route. However, they later made some
serious errors, which contributed to their group
earning second place instead of first. For
example, near the end of the route, they missed
out on one station, and were almost disqualified
for stopping at the second last corner and
removing the blindfold.
For Dyon’s station (Station 5), groups
went around searching high and low for the
quotes of Mr S. Rajaratnam. This provided an
opportunity for the librarians to immerse
themselves into the life of one of our nation’s
founding fathers. Many of the groups did not
work very well together at this station, with one
or two of the group members drifting away,
minding their own business or searching for the
words themselves. Upon completing the
assignment that Dyon gave them, they were
asked by Dyon to explain one of the more
difficult quotes. A group decided to give Dyon a
completely irrelevant answer which resulted in
a penalty as it did not make much sense at all.
He suspected that they did that to rush for time.
The other groups, however, gave fairly
satisfactory answers which at least showed
some promise.
Overall, most of the teams did well in
completing their tasks and getting to their next
stations. However, their performance could
have been further improved by showing more
enthusiasm and working better with their
teammates.
20
Section 6: Shelf-reading
Written by Ong Chuan Kai
Shelf-reading was held during the
second night of the camp. After dinner at the
Dining Hall, the librarians headed back to the
library and started with the shelving of some
remaining books on the trolley. Then, they
split into their respective groups, with the
EXCO forming a group as well. Each group
went on to shelf-read their allocated shelves.
The 2 main purposes of this activity
were namely to make the library neater and
tidier as well as to foster bonds between the
librarians as they worked together to achieve
a common goal.
Starting off, the groups were
allocated specific shelves to shelf-read. The
allocation is shown below.
The amount of work for each group
had been fairly distributed. The process went
on smoothly with everyone busy shelf-
reading, putting in effort, with their points at
stake. During this time, Hui Hao, the Chief
Librarian from the EXCO group went around
to check the shelves that each group had
completed. The shelf-reading was done
satisfactorily and the activity ended earlier
than expected.
Altogether, the shelf-reading activity
has bonded the groups and the condition of
the library has definitely improved with this
session. It was indeed a meaningful and
beneficial activity. With the neatness of the
library improved, both visitors and students
will have a pleasant experience in the library.
With the library’s environment tidier, it will be
more conducive for learning.
Section 7: Lifestyle Choices Workshop
Written by Tay Hui Chiang
For the first time in RI, a Lifestyle
Choices workshop was conducted by Business
Today South Africa (Pte) Ltd and was attended
by those who were here for the HML Club camp
as well as students involved in business-related
Research Education projects. The main
facilitator of the workshop was witty and
charismatic, and managed to break the ice with
a largely unresponsive audience after less than
half an hour. Following a brief introduction to
the workshop, we were then introduced to a
board game which seemed rather intimidating
at the start. However, after playing 2 rounds,
most of the groups got the hang of it, and
started to enjoy the game and appreciate the
lessons that could be learnt from it. Of course,
what is a game without hilarious moments?
Simon got hospitalized due to a stress-related
heart attack and the lack of time spent in
physical health and leisure, while Hui Hao got
married. The light-hearted atmosphere carried
on throughout the 2 days of the workshop as
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 EXCO group
NF 8-14 NF 15-20 NF 21-26 Reference
we played a simulation of 12 years of our life
within 5 hours.
More importantly, we learnt many
lessons from such a game. Firstly, we learnt the
importance of time and money. These are 2
precious resources that cannot be recovered
once used, and thus have to be used only after
great consideration. Secondly, we need to
evaluate risks before taking them; otherwise
they might have adverse consequences. We
also learnt that every decision we make,
whether small or big, comes with both positive
and negative consequences. The consequences
may not be felt immediately, but could be felt
after a long period of time. Amidst many
others, we also learnt the importance of an
effective work-life balance, as one cannot do
without the other. We should strike a balance
between work and leisure, so as to be able to
live our lives to the fullest.
Section 8: Birthday Bash and Food
Written by Ong Chuan Kai
The birthday bash was the second last
event of the camp and lasted for approximately
half an hour. It took place after the closure of
the Lifestyle Choices workshop.
The objective of the birthday bash was
to celebrate the birthdays of librarians born in
the months of October to December. It was
also to be a form of celebration to round up the
camp and credit the librarians for all their hard
work throughout the year.
Food was catered by ISS in a private
room in the Dining Hall. Our guests, the
workshop facilitators, were also invited to join
us for this tea session. There were delicious
pastries and cakes. The snacks were coupled
with lemon barley drink. Everyone enjoyed the
bash as they chatted and savored the food.
After the bash in the private room,
birthday cards were given to librarians born in
the months of October to December when the
librarians returned to the HML. To conclude,
the bash was enjoyable and pleasant for all
participants.
As for food throughout the camp, a
sufficient amount was needed to ensure that
the librarians had enough energy to participate
actively in the camp. On the 1st day, there was
lunch, dinner and supper. On the 2nd day, there
was breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper. On
the last day, there was breakfast, lunch as well
as tea.
All meals were provided by ISS in the
Dining Hall, with the exception of the lunch at
Vivocity where participants had to pay for their
food themselves. This was to make things
simpler and so that the costs could be worked
out easily. The food provided by ISS was
satisfactory too. Some snacks were bought at
NTUC Fair Price for supper. They could also be
eaten should the need arise throughout the
camp, especially during the Amazing Race.
Section 9: Conclusion and Reflections
Written by Ong Chuan Kai
To round up the camp, points for the
groups were tallied and the positions were
determined. The final positions for the groups
are as follows: 1st - Group 3, 2nd - Group 1 and
3rd- Group 2. As seen from the positions in the
various activities, the result was as expected.
Group 3 evidently put in the most amount of
effort and making good use of their skills and
talents, they managed to excel in most
activities with hard work. The other two groups
also did well and their effort was definitely
recognized. Everyone benefited in one way or
another and they enjoyed themselves in the
process.
The camp was the first event that the
newly appointed EXCO of ‘08/’09 had to plan. 4
out of 5 of us were still Sec 2s and this was the
first time all of us planned a camp. This was
indeed a new and fresh experience for us and
we looked forward to it. Under the leadership
of Hui Hao, the Chief Librarian, the guidance of
Mrs Yap, the teacher-in-charge of HML Club as
well as Ms Mani and Mdm Ho, the staff of HML,
we kickstarted the planning as early as
September. With much guidance, we
confidently took up this first challenge posed to
us.
As we moved along, we put in effort in
planning various activities and went to reccee
different places all over Singapore to ensure a
smooth running of the camp. Through the
process, we encountered some problems like
the inclusion of a 2-day workshop but we
managed to resolve it and adjust the timeline
accordingly, compromising certain activities.
We learnt to be able to adapt to changes and
make appropriate decisions to counter
problems. The planning process may be tedious
but it is much needed for a successful camp. It
was an eye-opening experience for us and we
benefited much from this learning experience.
Ex-librarians like Yiyang and Kang Jie
sacrificed their time to come back and help out
with the camp planning and we were very
thankful to them for offering their help and
guiding us along. In the camp itself, ex-
librarians like Bao Rong, Daniel and Yiyang
came back as guest judges and even as care-
takers, showing that HML Club is like a closely-
knitted family and the alumni still return to this
“home” of theirs to help out. With this strong
bond and motivation from the seniors and
teachers, we strived on and made sure that the
camp will run smoothly.
We did our best and from the feedback
gathered from camp participants, the camp
was successful on the whole with much praise
from the participants, which we were glad to
receive. However, there were also weaknesses
pointed out. We acknowledged our weaknesses
and treated them as valuable learning points
for us to pick up. The utmost satisfaction from a
camp organizer would be seeing the
participants enjoy the camp and learn
meaningful things from it. Seeing our hard work
pay off and that participants acknowledged and
appreciated our efforts was really heart-
warming and we really felt that it was worth all
the pains. It is also of utmost importance that
we learn from our weaknesses and seek to
improve them as we continue to better
ourselves as leaders of the club and organize
events of greater success in the future.
Constructive criticism benefited us and we
managed to “Discover” more about ourselves,
as we linked to the theme of the camp.
Some things which we can improve on
are the timing of the camp as it clashed with
OIP and other core CCA camps. We can also get
new and fresh ideas as ideas should not be re-
used over and over again, thus the camp would
not grow to be repetitive and boring for the
participants.
The smooth running of the camp and
the enjoyment from various activities with a
strong purpose in mind would not possible
without the involvement of librarians, be it the
participants or the organizers, including the
teachers and ex-librarians. Everyone played a
part in making this camp as it was and
everyone mattered to the success of the camp.
As the saying goes, “One for all, all for one”, we
progress as a club and reap fruits of success as
a club. Despite being organizers, as we
participated in the activities with the
participants, we actually unknowingly met our
own objectives for the participants as we learnt
and enjoyed with the participants. Following
the camp, as we continue to bond in our
weekly duties, we serve together as one,
keeping the students’ welfare in mind and
working together to make the library a more
conducive place for learning.
To round up this process of organizing
a camp, we would say that even as organizers,
we benefited no lesser than the participants.
This was indeed a valuable experience for all of
us and we could definitely apply what we have
learnt in the future, be it in school or in life. We
picked up precious learning points in various
aspects, like planning, organization,
coordination, administration, leadership etc. As
we improved ourselves as leaders of the club,
we hope that the club will grow with us and
together, we can definitely scale greater
heights.
In conclusion, the camp was
definitely a success from ours as well as
the participant‟s point of view and the
objectives were certainly met.
RAFFLES By Tay Hui Chiang
The Raffles Trail for the Hullett
Memorial Library Club was held on the
13th of February (Friday). The Raffles
Trail is basically a time for Secondary 1
Students to get to know the CCAs of RI
better.
During the planning stage, the
EXCO faced several obstacles but
managed to overcome them. Firstly,
there was confusion as to whether the
Raffles Trail would be held in the library
or in a classroom. Some preferred the
classroom as the library would be very
busy, especially on Fridays and thus the
Sec 1s would get distracted. Also, it
…………………….would be hard to find
space for a projector
screen for the
presentation.
However, we
eventually went on
with having the
Raffles Trail in the
library for a number
a reasons. Firstly, it
was decided that the
library would be
closed so no one
except the Sec 1s
and the librarians
would be in the
library. The sofas at
the back of the library were also moved
strategically to prevent the Sec 1s from
getting distracted, to block off some
areas, such as the Surfpool, and to
create space for a projector screen.
Another presentation area was set up in
the Library Activities Room so that 3
classes could be presented to at any
point in time. Another problem faced
was the lack of manpower. Chuan Kai
could not come due to an important
event in his CCA. This problem was
solved by roping in many other
members of the library.
trail
At 1.25pm, an
announcement was made
to inform the students in
the library that they had to
leave because of the
Raffles Trail. All of them
left in several minutes.
Next, we had a briefing by
Mrs. Yap. Firstly, she told
us that the HML Club was
a service-oriented club.
Joining such a club would
allow us to be experienced
in serving others, and without
experience of doing service internally,
one can never hope to do real service in
the outside world. Next, she told us
about the importance of the Raffles
Trail. During this stage, Secondary 1
students will be talked to about the HML
Club in general and interested students
can sign up. Lastly, she talked to us
about how the HML Club was like a
small family, bonded together by the
passion for service to the school and
the love of the library. She also said that
the HML Club is only looking for
passionate, committed and responsible
members and thus not everyone can
qualify.
Following the briefing, we had a
short outline on the PowerPoint slides
done by Dyon. Some of the slides
contained photos which were taken
several years ago, thus many of us did
not recognize where they were taken
and when. Also, each class was only
allowed 10 minutes at the HML, and
there were 11 slides, so this meant that
we could only spend less than 1 minute
per slide and also have time for the
interested Secondary 1s to ask
questions and to sign up. After
everyone was familiar with the slides,
Jonathan briefed us on the plan for the
day.
It was decided that there would
be 2 available areas for briefing the
Secondary 1s, the back of the library
where 2 classes could be briefed at
once and the Library Activities Room
where 1 class could be briefed. Stations
were assigned to the librarians. Hui Hao
was the photographer; Hui Chiang, Zhe
Herng, Bernard and Melvin were
assigned to do the presentation in the
LAR, while the rest took turns to be the
doorman, crowd controller and the
presenters in the library.
The first few presentations went
rather well, with many Sec 1s signing
up, although some of us were rather
nervous. The first few presentations
were conducted by the seniors, while
the following ones were conducted by
the Sec 2s. This was to allow them to
have a feel of conducting presentations
so they will know what to do for future
presentations and Raffles Trails. We
were rather demoralized after seeing
several classes with no one signing up,
but we still kept going and tried to be
enthusiastic in our presentations.
Although the HML Club Raffles
Trail was well-organized, the same
cannot be said for the Raffles Trail
event in general. After around 6 classes
at the start, there was a large gap of 2
hours before the next classes came.
This could be due to the lack of
organization and proper planning by the
committee in charge of the Raffles Trail.
Even then, there were at least 3 classes
who did not have a chance to go
through our CCA‟s presentation.
During the gap of 2 hours,
Jonathan conducted a debriefing
session with the librarians who were still
here as he was overall-in-charge of the
event and Hui Hao. Firstly, the issue of
lack of commitment among librarians
was discussed. Librarians come for duty
and leave far before closing, citing work
or studying as an excuse. This shows a
lack of passion for service as the
librarian places his homework as his
first priority over the library. Another
example would be librarians can
sometimes be seen „slacking‟ while
signed in. When asked to do something,
they say that they would sign out
immediately.
This example
would show
that the
librarian only
signs in for
duty hours and not because he
sincerely wants to serve the school.
Another issue that was raised
was the fact that many librarians lack
responsibility. Many of them do not
come for duty without informing the
EXCO for the day or the teacher-in-
charge. They leave it to the EXCO to
call them to ask for a reason why they
are not at duty. It is the onus of the
librarian to inform the concerned
authority that they are not coming and a
valid reason for excusing themselves. I
hope that this session would definitely
bring about a change in the attitudes of
librarians.
The Raffles Trail on 13th
February 2009 ended at around 5.30pm
when it was decided by Hui Hao that no
other classes were coming. We closed
the library, neatened the Library
Activities Room and left, feeling rather
satisfied with the 30 signups. We did not
know how many will quit before they
reach Secondary 4. However, it was our
hope that all of them had the passion
and commitment to continue serving the
library until
their last
days in RI.
Training of New Librarians
By Joshua Phang
The presentation to train the secondary 1s
were made known late and it was only at
one of the morning meetings that I decided
to take up this task. I feel passionate about
this as I hope to leave a legacy behind in the
library. Thus, I felt that serving the school
meant that I had to put my heart and soul
into this task as it will not only affect people
in the short term but in the long run as well.
Two cameras were used in the process as
well as some librarians and teachers acting
out some of the scenes. Much thought has
been put into this presentation with Mrs.
Yap monitoring me occasionally, while Miss
Mani and Mdm. Ho giving me the input,
with all their hard work, I could not help but
equal the input that was given by producing
a presentation fit enough to train the
secondary 1s both efficiently and clearly.
The main objective was to ensure this would
be a service to the library and can be used
for a long period of time.
The making of the PowerPoint slide
presentation, which contained a total of 83
slides, was tedious but the end product was
satisfactory. This was because though there
were a lot of constrains, such as time and
manpower, the presentation still consisted
of an in-depth explanation and procedure.
The presentation was created in a week and
included pictures and a short summary
before every process. The process of the
making of the presentation was tiring and
many photos had to be taken. That was the
easy part. The challenging part came in
when I was trying to arrange the photos and
collate the information given to me by Miss
Many and Mdm. Ho.
I tried to organize the pictures and the
information according to their categories.
Thus, I used hyperlinks for easy references
and to allow the reader to zoom in to the
part which they are looking for. The design
of the slides was definitely not so good in
terms of design as the time was limited.
There were limitations of this training
though. Firstly, not many secondary 1s
turned up on the first training, only four
actually turned up as some of them had
other commitments. Secondly, the team
presenting, namely Jonathan, Zhe Herng and
I, did not manage to start on time. Instead of
starting at 1.30pm we started at 2.00pm
which was rather disappointing.
During the span of preparing the slides, I
learnt many things from the library. During
the training itself I felt that being interactive
and posing them questions were the only
way to ensure that the new librarians know
their work. The slides were created and
targeted mainly at the secondary 1s and I
hope that they would remember the step-
by-step methods of carrying out borrowing,
returning, etc.
Training the secondary 1s was actually a test
of my presentation and interaction skills.
The secondary 1s, fortunately, were very
enthusiastic and they were willing to
participate in the “recap” portion of the
presentation. The presentation had flaws
though as I didn’t include the new features
of the library. The feedback received was
that it went well though it was a bit boring.
I feel that through these slides, it would be
beneficial to not only the secondary 1s but
to anyone who joins the library during the
span of the year and it can also help as a
reference guide to existing librarians and
parent volunteers too.
In conclusion, I would like to wrap up the
training program as a success as the
secondary 1s were interested and learned
much from it. With that, I look forward to
the recruitment of committed librarians
willing to sacrifice their time to serve the
school in many ways.
LCM Day Report
By Zhe Herng and Melvin
The recently concluded LCM day for
our librarians was held on the 20th March
2009 Friday during the March school
holidays, our newly recruited Secondary
One librarians as well as our more
experienced members of the HML club had
a day of fun and bonding. It was an
enjoyable day of getting together and
making new friends as well as learning more
about the library.
The first part to the LCM day was the planning made by the EXCO in the weeks before LCM day. The EXCO members were required to plan the icebreaker games, the schedule, the movie, the visit by the RGS librarians, as well as the feedback forms. However, due to certain
circumstances, we were not able to predict the time allocation properly, and thus, this led to some organization problems. For example, there was a lack of time for the movie and the whole day’s activities ended later than expected. I felt that the planning was well thought up, but were not sufficient in certain areas, like the time allocation. I fell that maybe, the planning could have better estimation of the time by giving some allowances. Overall, the planning was still quite good.
The day started off with a briefing
done by Mrs. Cheryl Yap. This was followed
by icebreakers, allowing us to get to know
others as well as understand those we knew
of better. The icebreakers included games
like Whacko, dog and bone, bingo as well as
follow the leader. Whacko is a game where
a person who is the whacko, has to whack
the person whose name is called. The
person whose name was call can call out
another person’s name and the “whacko”
has to whack that person. The game goes
on until someone is whacked and then he
takes over as the “whacko”. Whacko was
easily the favourite game as it was the most
fun, where the librarians joked a lot during
the game.
Dog and Bone is played when two
or more parties assign a number to each
person in a group. The IC calls out a number
and the person with that number has to run
and get the bone back to his base to get the
point. However, if he is touched by the
opponent when holding the bone, the
opponent gets the point. The game is
decided by the team with the most points.
Dog and bone and was fun, but it was very
unorganized, due to a lack of organization.
Follow the leader is played when a
leader is chosen and then everyone except
one person knows who the leader is. When
the other person enters the room, everyone
has to imitate the leader in whatever he is
doing. The guesser or the
only other person has to
guess who the leader is
by looking out for the
person who is
“controlling” everyone’s
reaction. Overall, the
game was fun, but it was
also not very organized.
Overall, the icebreaker
games were very fun.
Bingo is played
when everyone gets a
slip of paper with a
descriptive line, for example “someone with
3 or more siblings”. Each person has to ask
around to see if anyone fits that context to
get him to sign the box. The winner is the
person who completes a line of five boxes
with signatures. Bingo, however, was not as
attractive as the other games, as walking
about the room asking people questions
was probably not the most attractive game.
These could be seen from survey where the
librarians stated their opinions. I can safely
say that many of our librarians, new and
old, had much fun. Though it was a bit of a
rowdy affair as the icebreakers were lacking
some organization as at times it was too
rowdy, it was still very enjoyable, thanks to
our librarians’ enthusiasm. The whole club
bonded together as a group well at the start
of the LCM Day.
After a fun session of games, the
librarians proceeded to do some work in
groups that were assigned to them. Groups
were assigned in a way that there would be
a mix of senior and junior librarians in each
group. Each group was assigned to do an
hour of shelf-reading. Shelf reading is an
important job in the library as tidying up the
shelves is one of the main duties of a
librarian, and our librarians accomplished
this job to their best ability. Librarians new
and old alike slogged hard for more than an
hour and reaped the rewards of satisfaction
and content upon completing each shelf.
After a rest period, where our
librarians went out for lunch at Junction 8,
the library members continued to work
hard for another hour, preparing for the
impending arrival of the RGS librarians.
Despite working tirelessly,
our librarians completed
much of the work, namely
shelf-reading, within a short
period of time. Most of the
non-fiction shelves as well
as the entire reference
section were tidied up.
Following the period
of hard work, came the
arrival of our guests, the
RGS library club. The main
intention of the visit by the
RGS library club was for the
RGS library club to observe the way we
handled the library as well as the library
itself as well as to foster bonds between the
clubs and to allow for interaction between
the librarians of the two schools. The HML
club entertained our guests by giving them
a tour of the library as well as a short
PowerPoint presentation to introduce the
library to our guests, made by Mrs. Yap, our
teacher-in-charge. The librarians did their
level best and introduced the HML with
familiarity, doing very well in guiding our
guests. The tour and the presentation were
followed by a short tea session, where the
HML club provided food, catered by ISS, and
the RGS library club brought snacks, at
2.15pm in the dining hall. The librarians
from both schools ended off the session by
doing the unite cheer.
Overall, the visit was well
appreciated by both sides. Ultimately, the
objectives were not really achieved, as
there was still a lack of interaction between
both schools as both library clubs were
probably awkward or shy as this was the
first time both sides met each other.
However, the librarians enjoyed this activity
as it was a time for our librarians to rest and
have a tea-break after some work in the
library. This activity should be held again as
this would encourage more interaction
between both schools, and thus allowing
the librarians to bond together.
Concluding the day’s events, the
librarians enjoyed a movie, namely Ip Man,
to end off the day as well as to teach the
librarians certain values that could be seen
in the movie. The movie was very
interesting and exciting, filled with many
action scenes, and our members enjoyed
the movie greatly. The movie also thought
us many things, like teaching us moral
courage to stand up against what is wrong
as well as to be true to oneself. The only
setback was that we were not able to
complete the movie due to the lack of time,
as the movie was only half completed at
5pm as there was a lack of time due to the
fact that time had already exceeded what
was planned and the RGS librarians stayed
on longer than we originally planned. The
movie was
stopped and after completing the feedback
forms, the librarians were dismissed.
Through the day’s activities, the
objectives were achieved as the librarians
got to know each other better. However,
the planning and organization could be
improved by improving time allocation as
well as more interaction between the
librarians from RI and RGS, as there was a
lack of time for certain planned activities
and also because that the library members
from both clubs had little interaction. This
may be possible by having more interactive
activities, such as having some icebreaker
or station games, or even working together
in the library, planned for both the library
clubs. Overall, the whole day of events was
enjoyable and fun. It was certainly a
memorable day for the Hullett Memorial
Library club.
Open House Report
Written by Jonathan Ang
On the 23rd of March 2009, Raffles
Institution held its annual Open House
for Primary 6 students to showcase the
school and its facilities, including the
Hullett Memorial Library. The RI Open
House 2009 was held from 09 00 to 16
00. As the Hullett Memorial Library is
part of the facilities of the school,
librarians were called to give tours of the
Library.
Planning for the Open House
started in early April. It was decided by
the school that this year’s Open House
should be more interactive than previous
years’, so the library EXCO had to
brainstorm for a suitable idea for an
interactive activity. It was eventually
decided that a pop quiz of the library would
be appropriate, and the basic materials that
were required were quickly gathered and
set-up. Also, new tour notes had to be
compiled to include the addition of new
facilities in the library, such as the change of
thematic display to the IYA 2009 and the
Darwin 200 exhibits, and the inclusion of
the new Reference Room.
For the Open House itself,
librarians were organised into 2 separate
shifts—The morning shift and the afternoon
shift. The morning shift was from 07 30 to
12 30, while the afternoon shift was from
12 00 to 17 00. Librarians would conduct a
tour of library, for the visitors, and promote
the library as part of the Institution's long
list of outstanding facilities. The tour would
provide the visitors with valuable
information regarding the use of the library,
and why it is one of the outstanding. At the
end of the tour, there would be a small pop
quiz to help the visitors recall the features
of the library. If the visitor was successful,
he would receive a limited edition HML
bookmark designed by Teo Cal-vin, printed
by Mrs. Yap and made by the parent
volunteers.
On Friday, the 15th of May, a briefing
was held in the Library Activities Room
(currently the Teacher's Reference Library)
regarding Open House. Attendance of the
briefing was compulsory for all Librarians.
The purpose of the briefing was to educate
the Secondary one librarians about the
touring process, and also to refresh the
memory of the senior librarians. Besides
that, there were also new facilities of the
library, such as the Reference Room, that
the senior librarians had to take note of
when conducting their tours this year. After
the briefing, the attendances of the various
librarians and their shifts were confirmed.
Besides that, they were also briefed on how
to operate the pop quiz ‘station’ at the loan
counter, and when to give out the
bookmarks as prizes. Mrs Yap also came to
give a speech on the importance of the
Open House, and why it was important for
everybody to attend Open House. The
briefing started at 13 15 and ended at 1400.
On the day itself, at 07 30, the
librarians for the morning shift reported
outside the library for a short briefing
before open house. At that time, the library
was still closed. Tour notes were given out,
and the librarians were expected to read
the notes to familiarise themselves with it
while waiting the library to be opened.
At 0800, the library was opened. The
librarians proceeded inside for a bit of last-
minute tidying-up before the visitors
arrived. The librarians were divided into
different groups, and were assigned
different sections of the library to shelf
read. Stray books were also returned to the
trolleys and were subsequently shelved.
The tidying up ended when the first visitors
started arriving at 08 45.
Librarians were recalled back from
their shelf reading duties and told to stay at
the counter to prepare for visitors. A
librarian was also assigned to open the
library doors for visitors so that they would
have a good impression of librarians. They
would also be wearing their library sweaters
to distinguish themselves from the other
students working in the library. The rest of
the librarians stayed in the area outside the
bag storage room to wait for the visitors.
When the visitors arrived in their families,
Hui Hao assigned a librarian for each family,
and allowed the librarians to tour the
groups. Every new librarian was to tag on to
a tour conducted by a senior librarian,
before they were allowed to conduct their
own tours.
At 10 00, after the Principal's Talk,
the visitors started arriving in large
numbers. Most of the librarians were busy
conducting tours, and the
few that were not doing
tours were helping with
the pop quiz in the loan
counter. The crowd of
visitors was sustained
until around 10 30, when
the number of visitors
decreased significantly
because they were busy
touring the other CCAs
and facilities as well as
attending other talks that
the school had planned. After the crowd
had diminished, some librarians were called
into the pantry for their breaks, while the
rest of the librarians stayed around the loan
counter in case any other visitors arrived.
After the librarians had taken their break,
they swapped with the librarians on tour
duty, and the librarians on tour duty took
their breaks.
After every session of the Principal's
Talk, there would be a great influx of
parents from the Auditorium. The librarians
stationed on tour duty had to take the
visitors on tours first, while the librarians
inside the pantry would quickly finish their
food and continue on with their own tour
duties. The librarians
who had just finished
their tours would then
give another tour, until
the numbers of visitors
had died down
sufficiently for them to
go on their own breaks.
Hence, this process repeated until the end
of the last Principal's Talk.
At the end of Open House, at
around 1600, the visitors started to
decrease significantly. By 16 30, visitors had
stopped arriving at the library. At this point,
the librarians were gathered in the
Reference Room for a debrief. Topics for
debriefing included librarian conduct during
the tour, and how improvements could be
made for next year's open house. There was
a general consensus that the Open House
could be better organised by the school,
resembling previous years which have
ushers guiding groups of people to the
library. This way, more people will be able
to visit the library as it is part of the usher's
itinerary and there were probably less
visitors this year as the HML is difficult to
locate and they may not be interested in
viewing a library. If the system was changed
back, it could in turn improve the library’s
image as a place that would affect their
decision to send their child to RI.
Overall feedback from the visitors
was that they were impressed with the
library as well as the librarians because the
librarians ‘speak well’ and their English was
‘very good’. The tours were generally well-
received by all. The library is an integral part
of the school's facilities, and it would be
beneficial to the overall
image of the school,
should more attention
be given to the library
during the Open House.
The overall
organisation of the
Open House was good. However, this does
not include the organisation on the school’s
part. The school’s organisation was
generally messy, and failed to direct parents
to the different facilities easily. There was
inadequate direction provided for the
parents touring the school, and a large
majority of them failed to arrive at the
library. An organisation similar to previous
years would be better, as it would allow
more parents to tour the library.
In conclusion, this open house can
be considered as a success; however it
would have been even more successful had
more people come to visit the library.
Overall feedback from the visitors was that they were impressed with the library as well as the librarian.s
The tours were generally well-received by all
New Sections in the Library
Over the past semester, many changes have undergone in and around the library, so as to
improve the overall atmosphere of the library. These changes include the opening of a
Reference Room, the movement of books from the Teacher’s Reference Library to the
Library Activities Room, an upgrade of the television sets in the library and two new project
corners. Of course, the movement of books for the TRL and the Reference Room required
the help of our librarians, and not surprisingly, the club was extremely enthusiastic about it.
Reference Room
The new reference room
was officially opened in
March 2009. Being
relatively new, we had to
add a few rules to ensure
organization. There are two
main rules: Firstly, only
quiet reading was allowed
in this room, and secondly,
no books should be taken
out of the reference room.
Posters were designed by
Calvin and Sun Lin to serve
as a constant reminder not
to violate these two rules.
The creation of the reference room brought
with it several advantages. Firstly, students
had a quiet environment to do their own study or to browse through the reference books.
Secondly, reference books could not be taken out of the room, which meant that it would
not be mixed up with the rest of the books. Lastly, the movement of the reference books
from their old shelves meant that those shelves were freed up for the non-fiction books,
creating more space for them.
The movement of the reference books took place during the March Holidays. Several
librarians turned up, and with the help of the library staff and a few scholars, the process
took place rather smoothly and with little hiccups, although there was some confusion as to
where the language and the last few non-fiction books should go to. These problems were
finally solved and the old reference section now
contains the 800 section onwards.
Televisions in the Techive and the Library
The techive enjoyed a small improvement as well. Three new, high-
definition LCD television sets were installed so as to provide better
quality video screening for the students.
Two new television sets were also installed in the thematic display
corner. These television sets are currently screening PowerPoint
presentations of Darwin 200 and the International Year of Astronomy
2009 (IYA) done by 2 librarians, in accordance
to our theme for the month. Additionally, the
entrance of the library is currently screening a
video clip from a documentary of our Minister
Mentor, which is also related to another one of
our themes, famous Rafflesians.
Teacher Reference Room
The Teacher’s Reference Library
(TRL) is a room on the 2nd floor
of the Main Block of the school
where teachers can photocopy
resources to be used during
their lessons that are otherwise
unavailable to the rest of the
school. However, it was decided
that the TRL would be moved to
the Library Activities Room (LAR)
so that space could be freed up
and it could be used as a
meeting room.
This movement would be done in three simple steps. Firstly, books had to be packed and
sealed into boxes. Next, the contractors would remove the shelves and install them in the
LAR. Lastly, the boxes had to be opened and the books placed on their respective shelves.
This whole process was to be completed within this first week of the June holidays. Several
weeks before the movement, Chief Librarian Ang Hui Hao sent out an email to inform the
librarians of it and to recruit as many people as possible. The packing of books was to be
done on Monday and if that was not enough, Tuesday. The contractors would move the
shelves and the boxes into the LAR on Wednesday, and the unpacking was to be done on
Thursday and Friday.
On Monday, Hui Hao, Hui Chiang,
Bernard and Zhe Herng turned up at
9 am to help with packing the
books, while Miss Many helped with
labeling the boxes, and Mrs. Yap and
Aunty Kim helped to fold the boxes
to be used. The process went rather
smoothly except for one problem:
the lack of materials, especially
boxes. Numerous calls had to be
made to UBS library services to
request for more boxes to be
delivered to the TRL. The number of
books in the TRL was severely
underestimated as we only had 20 boxes available at the start. Several more batches of
boxes had to be called for, and the number of boxes totaled to almost 141. Another
material that was found lacking was masking tape. However, this was solved quickly by a
quick trip to the main library every time we ran out of it.
At first, the pace of work seemed slow and it looked like it could not be finished within 1
day. Isaac and Chuan Kai came in the afternoon. This extra manpower helped a lot, but it
still seemed like the work could not be done. More help came in the form of three
Secondary 1 students. A sort of conveyor belt system was organized, where everything was
done systematically. This more than doubled the pace of the work, and we were able to
complete the packing by 5 pm.
On Thursday, Joshua and Hui Chiang turned up in the morning to help with unpacking the
books. They had to open the boxes, take out the books and place them onto the trolley, and
shelf read them. Following which a parent helper would shelve the books. Like the first day,
the pace seemed slow and we were daunted by the large number of boxes there were.
Several ushers came to help for around half an hour during their tea break. Joshua left in
the afternoon and his place was to be taken over by Jonathan. Miss Many and Mdm. Ho also
came to help and this sped up the work. By the end of the day, around 120 boxes had been
opened and their books shelved. On the next day, Hui Hao came early in the morning and
managed to finish the rest of the boxes by himself by noon.
From this simple movement of books, we have learnt many things. Firstly, one should not
dive into a task too quickly without estimating the time, effort and materials needed. This
could be a problem, such as the lack of boxes. Next, always have a plan when doing
something. This would speed it up and make each person more effective. Lastly, we realized
that the library had a large number of books. The TRL is small compared to the main library.
Imagine how much time it would take to
do such a movement for the main library!
Project Corners
There was an extension of the project corners with an
addition of 2 terminals. This was to ensure that students
have a lot more time and space to do their project work not
individually but as a group. This 2 terminals meant that there
were another 2 computers added into the library. The new
terminals were 7A and 7B. Every (A) terminal of the project
corner comprises of a scanner to allow the pupils to scan
books and notes into the computers when doing their
project. This was done to expand the scope of research done
by the students and to enable them to research to a much
greater depth.
Acknowledgements
Editor Chief Librarian, Ang Hui Hao
Writers
All EXCO Members
Design and formatting by Calvin Teo
Photographs and Illustrations by Mrs. Cheryl Yap
Ang Hui Hao Calvin Teo
The producers of this book would like to thank the following people for their invaluable help and guidance.
Mrs. Cheryl Yap Ms. Kanmany
Mdm. Jessie Ho HML EXCO 08/09
“ ”
Final Words
Overall, I feel that the new facilities and sections have just made the library a much more useful place for the students and teachers, the level of efficiency in the library has also been raised as there is much more new technology injected into the library. These changes have benefited us in a greater way when we are studying or relaxing. It has been and will be vital to our upbringing in Raffles Institution where it grooms the best and the brightest.