Information at a Price

Location: Singapore, Singapore
NP: In Flames - Goliaths Disarm Their Davids
Mood: Disappointed

I am currently reading Il nome della rosa or The Name of the Rose by Italian author Umberto Eco. It is a book in which there is a monastery famous for its vast library, filled with learned monks studying all manner of sciences. But once the protagonists reach the monastery, they find that access to the library and all its books is restricted. You need approval to study there, to borrow a book or to even browse the collection of learning.

The irony is, of course, that a place famous of its books restricts them, and in the end a single scholar is able to access perhaps no more or even less books than at a regular place of learning.

This, unfortunately, is how it is here in Singapore as well. Perhaps Singapore is not in particular known for its collection of books as the monastery is, but the restrictions placed on local libraries remain similar.

Studying not allowed. A sign within the National Library.

Singapore's National Library was somewhat of a disappointment. The building is huge and impressive, but the heart of it, where the books are, pales to the mighty exterior in both content and looks. For the public library you can gain access (after a security check) and browse the books, but the collection is relatively small, mostly focused on economy, self-help books and religion (as are the bookshops). Borrowing a book will cost over 50 SGD for a foreigner like me. For the price, you can buy a couple of books at the overpriced stores here.

The library of the National University of Singapore has similar restrictions, but you can't even browse the books on-site without paying at least a monthly fee of 21.40 SGD. That is for access-only membership (blue form). If I actually want to borrow a book from the library, god forbid, the cost was over 300 SGD for a year's membership (which was the minimum, if I'm not mistaken) for an external member like me. And that is only if I first apply for the membership and am approved in due course. Instant access by cash does not exist, as I found out by foolishly going there and, seeing the gates, asking.

In the words of Brother William of Baskerville in The Name of the Rose: “The good of a book lies in its being read. A book is made up of signs that speak of other signs, which in their turn speak of things. Without an eye to read them, a book contains signs that produce no concepts; therefore it is dumb. This library was perhaps born to save the books it houses, but now it lives to bury them. This is why it has become a sink of iniquity.”

It seems that even in this day and age, in a city as modern as Singapore in many ways is, information is still restricted, barred behind a price tag or worse.

Gates of the Chinese Library of National University of Singapore.

This is a difficult place, then, for a student such as myself, who prefers to use books for their authority over the Internet. Disappointed as I am, next time I'll haul my own books with me from back home.