Boon Lay Community Library To Close By End-October
Back in April, a man set up a community library at a Boon Lay void deck after months of canvassing books from friends and neighbours.
However, he recently shared that he is going to close the library by the end of this month.
This followed complaints as well as the messes that children have made there, he explained.
He also shared a video of a child scaling the library’s cabinets and messing up the place.
Source: Facebook
Those who’d like to collect the books before he disposes of them may message him on Facebook.
Founder of Boon Lay community library announces closure
In a post made in the Little Libraries Singapore group on Tuesday (17 Oct), Facebook user Hengster Kor announced the impending closure of the library “for good”.
“I have a lot of books to be shared [with] anyone who wants more books or wants to start a community library,” he wrote.
Source: Facebook
He also stated his intention to dispose of the books and bookshelves if the books aren’t collected, inviting others to message him if they wish to claim them.
When another user asked why he was closing the library so soon, the OP replied saying that it was due to “complaints and mess” that children were making every day.
Source: Facebook
He added that it just doesn’t “make sense” to keep on maintaining the place.
In the comments, the OP also shared a video of a child scaling the library’s bookshelves.
Source: Facebook
The clip shows a huge pile of books on the ground as well.
“When you have parents who allow their kids to do this, I think the effort to maintain the place is too much to handle,” he lamented.
It’s supposed to be a community effort, but everyone is waiting for me to do the work.
Library appeared to be well-maintained in June
Located at Boon Lay View, the library was first opened in April following months of the OP’s hard work canvassing for books.
Just a day after it opened, however, both the shelves and books were stolen.
The OP said that after news reports emerged of the thefts, the books reappeared — but not the shelves.
A few months later in June, he shared a more positive update, along with several images of the spruced-up library.
Source: Facebook
At the time, he shared that many kids and parents would come over to use the library.
Different people would even help to keep the area nice and clean without anyone requesting them to do so.
“It has shown that the residents have slowly taken over the ownership of the library, and it is indeed self-sustaining now.”
Sadly, it didn’t take long for things to change for the worst.
MS News has reached out to the OP for more information and will update this article when he gets back.
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Featured image adapted from Hengster Kor on Facebook and Facebook.
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