By Wong Kah Wei

 

The years of the 1960s to 1970s saw significant changes in the university. The University of Malaya operated as two divisions — one in Singapore and the other in Kuala Lumpur. In 1962, the Singapore division was renamed University of Singapore, marking a new chapter in its history.

What was the university library like during this period? Our library guides — booklets created by librarians to help students and researchers navigate through our vast resources — tell the story of the library’s collections and facilities during the 1960s and 1970s, providing us a glimpse of academic staff and student needs in the past.

In examining these library guides, I discovered that the need for study space is perennial. The pride and passion of our past librarians in guiding students on how to use the library’s collections effectively was also apparent through the detailed information painstakingly put together in these library guides.

The earliest library guide in our collection is University of Malaya Library’s Your library: a guide to the library of the University of Malaya in Singapore published in 1960. This was the library of the Singapore division of University of Malaya. This library guide was supplemented with leaflets which could be more easily updated such as the Loan Leaflet and Reserve Book Leaflet which, sadly, are no longer kept in our collection.

The Foreword of the library guides from 1960 to 1970 was written by former Vice Chancellors. Professors Alexander Oppenheim, B.R. Sreenivasan, Lim Tay Boh and Dr Toh Chin Chye wrote of the usefulness of the library for academic study and the necessity to learn how to use the library and its facilities. Of these Vice Chancellors, Dr Toh Chin Chye penned the Foreword for three of the library guides from 1968 to 1970, articulating his views about how the library should be used. In 1968, he started by pointing out the need for librarians to be responsible for maintaining “the atmosphere in the Library so that those who go to study … will be inspired to widen their own perspective and garner wisdom which has been accumulated on the book shelves”. In 1969, Dr Toh expressed his concerns with users “abusing” the library by not returning books to the shelves and tearing pages out of books. As such, he called for “voluntary social discipline” rather than the “policing” of the library. This he repeated in the 1970 library guide as well. It is heartening that the senior management of the university in the past encouraged the use of the library and were also concerned with students’ responsibility in using the library’s resources.

The Librarian in 1960 was Ms Jean M. Waller who intended the library guide to make “the Library and its system more easily understood” not only for academic success but also “towards the real enjoyment of a liberal education which should be part of every student’s life”. Ms Waller also wanted the guide to be a handy resource for students who need to use more resources as they advanced in their studies.

In attempting to establish an ethos of responsible library use, Ms Waller sought the “goodwill and cooperation” of students. Students were expected to observe library rules such as punctuality in returning books, show general care in the use of books and equipment and maintain quiet in the library. By observing the library rules, the library would, thus, be what it was meant to be – “the place where privileges of scholarship carry graciously the responsibilities of scholarship, including the good of the whole community and not just one individual”.

By 1967, the library guide was referred to as a library handbook alluding to its importance as a reference source. The Librarian Mrs Wang Chen Hsiu Chin intended the library handbook to be a “general introduction to the resources, facilities and services of the University Library”. However, she also emphasized the skills students should acquire as they learn how to use the library’s collection. The “ability to use a library effectively has been recognized as the basic requirement to scholarship and learning, but must be acquired like other skills”. She added that librarians with “their special skills and training” were there to assist. 

Each library guide provided a “A Brief History of the Library” which gives us the background of the various libraries within the university over the years. By comparing the library guides, we can see the addition of various collections, facilities and services and the expansion of space.

The 1960 library guide has the brief history of only three libraries – the Main Library and the Chinese Library both of which were located at the Bukit Timah campus and the Medical Library at Sepoy Lines.

The Medical Library was originally established as the Library of the King Edward VII College of Medicine. According to the 1960 library guide, it was known as the Medical Library of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Malaya in Singapore and was “part of the University Library system”.

As various university departments were in different locations, small collections of books were housed at each department, duplicating some of the most used books in the Main Library. For instance, a small collection of art of Asia was located in the offices of the University Art Museum and was, thus, called Art Museum Library. There were also the “department libraries” in the Department of Botany and Department of Philosophy. The Economic Research Centre Library was noted in the 1967 library handbook. The Centre was established in 1962/63 as a research division of the Economics Department. It was the first major research institute of the university and was supported by the Ford Foundation.

In the days before online catalogues and search engines, librarians provided help in searching for books and periodicals in the library guide or handbook. In the 1960 library guide, there were detailed instructions explaining laboriously how to read call numbers, how to use the Library of Congress Classification system and how to use the card catalogue. These instructions remain somewhat similar throughout the years with some variations in examples.

Interestingly, the card catalogue in the Singapore division of University of Malaya continued to file cards of the collection located in the Kuala Lumpur division. There were separate catalogues for books and periodicals in Chinese Library and the Indian Studies Library, written in Chinese and Tamil and kept in their respective libraries. Although the Indian Studies Library was mentioned in the 1960 library guide, there was no elaboration on its background or history.

The changes in the physical spaces of the library in the Bukit Timah campus could be traced using our library guides. Throughout the 1960s and 70s, the library grappled with demands for study space, as well as space to house our rapidly growing collections and additional facilities. When comparing the different floor plans featured in the library guides from 1960-1977, one could see the changes made to accommodate these demands. For example, within the two years of 1960-1962, the library had expanded to the first and second floors of the new wing. From 1972 to 1977, study carrels and a typing room were noted in the library floor plans.

The library guides also tell of various library collections, some of which are no longer in existence today. One of these collections is the Reference Collection which was mentioned in the 1960 library guide. The Reference collection was located in the Reference Room. It consisted of encyclopaedias, handbooks, bibliographies and indexes – basically, books used to obtain specific facts or statistics or guidance to relevant sources of literature. These reference books cannot be borrowed, so as to ensure that they are readily available on the shelves for students to retrieve information quickly and easily. Today, these reference sources are accessible electronically.

Another collection which has since disappeared is the Open Reserve books. This was mentioned in the 1960 library guide but no longer appeared in the 1970 handbook. Open Reserve books are located on the open shelves and students could use them with no time limit but only in the library. The books were identified by a white spot on the spine. In this way, the library was able to ensure that some relevant books — though not necessarily in high demand — remained accessible for use in the library. Together with the Reserve Books collection, these two methods of controlling use helped the library to manage and “balance the interests and needs of all users of the library.” (University of Singapore, 1967).

However, there were collections which are still relevant in our library today. One of the collections is the familiar Reserve Books collection which is today located in the Reserve Book Room, and hence popularly known as RBR books. In the 1960 library guide, the collection was called Closed Reserve Books, probably to differentiate these books from the Open Reserve Books. Closed Reserve Books are books in high demand and used as texts for students’ courses. Each book in this collection had a red spot stuck to its spine and could be borrowed for 2-hours only. In the 1969 library handbook, the Closed Reserve Books were known as Red Spot Books. To find a Red Spot book, students would use a Visible Index which was attached to the wall at the Reserve Book counter. The growth of the Red Spot collection necessitated the use of a Visible Index which is like a catalogue that could be efficiently updated. This efficient record-keeping system was also easily-used by students to obtain the call number required to request for the Red Spot book from the counter. Although the Reserve Books collection is smaller in size today as many of these books are electronically accessible, the collection is still called RBR or red spot books.

Another collection which is the pride of our library then and as it is today, is the Singapore/Malaysia Collection (SMC). This gem of a collection is currently housed in the Peggy Wai Chee Leong Hochstadt Room at Central Library. The 1960 library guide recorded the existence of a Malaysia Collection. It was only in the 1967 library handbook that we see the name Singapore/Malaysia Collection. SMC was kept in the Reference Department and as of 1967, had approximately 7000 volumes. The Catalogue of the Singapore/Malaysia Collection was published in 1968 to facilitate the searching of books in SMC. This huge tome contained reproductions of catalogue cards of these books. By 1977, there were approximately 16,000 volumes in SMC. The main card catalogue and a checklist of cards continued to be used to provide records on any additions to the collection.

Another interesting collection which there was little information on was the Company Annual Report collection. This collection was first mentioned in the 1967 library handbook. This was reportedly a “large collection of reports relating to commercial and industrial firms”. To access these, students would have to apply to the librarian. Today, this collection of company annual reports is available as print copies as well as online pdf files.

In SMC, there was also the newspaper clippings collection which seemed to have started out as a file of newspaper clippings as recorded in the 1962 library guide. Librarians continued to compile press clippings from Straits Times on subjects such as “local biography, constitutional development, government economic schemes, Malaysia, trade unions, etc”. These press clippings go as far back as December 1961. By 1969, the files have grown so much that they were bound and catalogued as books. As they are highly relevant to those researching on Singapore and Malaysia, these press clippings files are much sought after even with the availability of newspaper databases later on. This is because the press clippings files contain news articles from as early as the 1960s, which were not covered by newspaper databases.

Another collection highly popular was the Theses collection as they were relevant sources for researchers. In 1960, the Theses collection was kept in a Theses Room. A special catalogue was arranged by author, title and degree to facilitate searching for a particular thesis but students would have to seek permission for its use. 

Another collection which was important then but no longer available now is the microtexts collection. Microtexts include 35mm microfilm strips, opaque microcards and microprint and microfiche. The collection consisted mainly original historical documents and rare manuscripts from the Indian Office Library (University of Singapore, 1968). These microtexts could only be read using machines in the Microfilm Reading Room. By 1969, these microtexts were known as microforms and by 1971, this collection was housed in the Microfilm Services Department within the library. This Department also operated self-service Xerox copiers (20 cents per sheet!) and offered photographic work to university departments.

Looking back to the 1960s and 1970s of the university library, we realise that the library has not changed much in its purposes. It continues to be a place to learn and do research, and a place where silence is valued and treasured. Today, with the advancement of technology, learning and research take on new dimensions. However, at the heart of the library is still its vast collections of books, journals, music scores, maps, online resources and many more resources to discover.

References
Your library: A Guide to the Library of the University of Malaya in Singapore (1960). University of Malaya in Singapore

Your library: A Guide to the Library of the University of Malaya in Singapore (1960). New impression (1961). University of Malaya in Singapore

Your library: A Guide to the Library of the University of Singapore (1962). Second edition, revised. University of Singapore

Your library: A Guide to the Library of the University of Singapore (1965). Third edition. University of Singapore

Library (1967). University of Singapore

Library (1968). University of Singapore

Library: Guide and library rules (1969). University of Singapore

Library: Guide and library rules (1970). University of Singapore

Library: Guide and library rules (1971). University of Singapore

Library: Guide and library rules (1972). University of Singapore

Guide and library rules (1973). University of Singapore Library

Guide and library rules (1974). University of Singapore Library

Handbook (1977). University of Singapore Library