A National Knowledge Icon The National Library Building is a knowledge icon located in the heart of the arts, cultural, entertainment and civic district of Singapore. As an icon and a prominent landmark, it embodies the nation's unflinching pursuit of excellence and its people's lifelong passion for knowledge and learning. Equipped to Meet Evolving Information Needs The draw of the building is enhanced and sustained by the quality of its vast library collections, programmes, services, and facilities. Housed within the 16-storey state-of-the-art library building are rare materials like letters written by Sir Stamford Raffles in the early 1800s and documents from the Straits Settlements era. Other facilities such as seminar rooms, exhibition promenades and an open Plaza at the ground floor have all been used regularly for many types of activities and events. The National Library Board's corporate headquarters is on Level 14 and a function area called The Pod, which offers a panoramic view of the cityscape, is on Level 16. The Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, which has a reference collection of over 600,000 items in various formats and subjects, is co-located with the Central Public Library in the same building to make its diverse library collections and services more accessible to people from all walks of life. This is to cater to those who use the library for different purposes at different stages of their lives, to better meet their evolving learning needs and lifestyle and support their pursuit of knowledge and passion for learning. Besides its library collections and facilities, the building, which has a site area of 11,304 square metres and a gross floor area of about 58,783 square metres also provides space for other public activities, such as the 615-seat Drama Centre. Designed as an integrated learning centre where individual learning is experienced through both high-tech and high-touch elements, we are committed to meeting our users' needs for connectivity, efficiency, convenience and comfort.
