11 Things I Love About Library@Orchard

So ... This is D.D. the Drunkard Citizen Reporter ... hmmm I'm sorry I'm not drunk. How can I be drunk when I only love to drink Teh-Oh-Peng (a.k.a Iced Tea - with no lemon or whatsoever flavouring. Just tea with sugar and ICE!!!!! Uncle, more ice, please! And yes, alcohol is no good for ya! Stay away!!!!).

As corny as it sounds, I'm going to list down 10 things I love about Library@Orchard before its final moment approaches. I'm sorry, it's actually 11 things. -.-" This sanctuary really means a lot to me. So, here I am trying to unite the fragments of my memory of what I love about this place.

1. The Tasteful Interior
   
   
   The first moment I stepped into this library, I thought I've entered a bookstore. Not only the interior was tastefully done but the books are so well preserved that they look so new. And even years have passed, the interior has never gone out of style. That's what I call - great design and foresight. It doesn't age with time and sigh ... it's soon going to be demolished. All of them. :(
   
   
2. The Collection
   
   I understand when Library@Orchard was in its planning stage, there's a certain targeted age group of people was envisioned to come to this library often. And, that great vision fits well into my life. The collection that's chosen is honestly perfect. My favourite sections: Business, Investing, Self-Improvement, Arts, History, Health, Religions $ Spirituality, and how can I forget Comics. And oh ya ... the ever-changing section where they promote books that from certain category ... that's priceless. You just know how much braincells have been contributed in making all these possible.
   
   
3. The Cafe
   
   It used to be Dome Cafe and I used to order their pie + coffee without fail. But even though Dome is gone, Cafe Galilee is as good. There's coffee and there's water, what more can you ask? (Have I mentioned the toilet is really just few steps away ... awesome)
   
   
4. The Study Area
   
   Ah ... this bring back all the sweet memories. This corner accompanied me through the thick and thin of exams. Imagine, you can study as hard as you want. When you want to unwind, find yourself a great comic, laugh it all off (in silent) and get back to the studies. Or when you are falling asleep (though you are not supposed to sleep in the library (look below), quickly grab yourself a cuppa coffee to perk you up. It works. I love this corner! That time it doesn't even have any internet access yet! I think now they do have it, makes it even much better. Arh ... I am gonna miss this a lot. I also came to this spot to do some deep thinking (which eventually bring me to ... la la land ... zzzz)
   
   DD Zzzzzzzz .... Don't dare lar don't dare lar! There I'm awake already! :p
   
   
5. The Music Corner
   
   Yes .... music corner!!! In a library!!! With choices of music ... classical, asian, pop, jazz, etc. Awesome!!! I love this library soooooooooooooooo much! I really can't contain it :( SIGH!!!! Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy must it be torn down? :( Hicks!!!!!!! :( Can't the property owner see the value in education and give back to the society in the form of ... erm .. cheap rent? :| ... Praying ... Praying hard... :(
   
   
6. The Fountain of Wisdom
   
   
   There's a water feature in between the magazine/newspaper corner and the cafe. I've captured the video so that you can also enjoy the sound of the running water. Soothing and great way to cover up noise created by the chatty people. Sorry for the not so proportionate size of the video, I've no idea why it's like that. (For those of you who are receiving this by email, you may check out the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kO2KhAgBj4)
   
   
7. The Hi-tech Machines
   
   I can't live without the 2 machines that I'm surrounded with. Moreover, these 2 terminals are the ones I always molested whenever I'm in the library. To my right, that's the borrowing machine (I'm not sure whether technically it's called that but ... erm ... that's how I called it haha). It's so cool and efficient. So, what do you need to do to borrow a book?
   
   • Scan your identification card by putting it into the provided slot
   • Put your book on top of the blue spot and wait for 1 second for the book to be scanned and confirmed borrowed
     
   • Take back your identification card
   • Take the receipt which indicates the books you borrowed and their due date
   and voila ... you are done ... and happy with your books. The whole process take less than 30 seconds!!!!! Unless while doing so you are singing, chatting, acting, make-up-ing, dancing, massaging, yoga-ing, etc.
   
   To my left, that's the search engine machine. Yes I love it!!!!! Search search search search! Before my fingers were so addicted to Google, I was addicted to this machine. There's nothing that I can't find using it. If the book is not in this library, it can always be transferred from somewhere else (with a small reasonable fee - cheaper than you travel down to the far-far-away library and save you lots of time). And now, you can do all those things from this link too. NLB Rocks!
   
   
8. The Book Drop
   
   You must be thinking, I'm nuts to even include the book drop is also one of my favourite thing! Hey hey hey ... you don't know how convenient it is!! How do you return a book? You just dropped it and you can avoid being fined for being late. And what best, it's so convenient. You can do all your shopping. Watch any movies in town and then you drop your book and head back home. Wahh ... it's such a enlightening experience (for my back too .. I mean the books are heavy, you know). Not to mention ... I have a roommate whose office is just right above the library!!! So ... not only my back are not complaining (may be hers did :p) ... I don't need to get fined ... (but sometimes she did made me get fined) and I can go there and look for more books or .. comics. :p Now you know why I love this book drop here? Hehe.
   
   
9. The Friendly Librarians
   
   Her name is Jillian. She was not there when I went to take all the photos. :( So instead, I took picture with her cut-out. Not so bad eh. Hahaha. She's one of the most awesome librarian I've ever seen. Not only she's funny and friendly ... but she's very very funny indeed. Haha. Hmm I'm sure she's going to read this so ... heck. You are very funny and veryyyyyy funny, please keep it up and keep being funnyyyyyyyyy!!!! :p
   
   
10. D.D.'s Favourite Route
    I have a favourite route. Which I take on everytime I go to the library for more than ... 15 minutes. I can not dismiss this point and hence here I am presenting you my favourite route. Let me show you ya (Actually I have a video for this but, the file's too big for Youtube to handle....
    
    
    
    It can be A -> B -> C -> D -> E -> F -> G -> H -> I -> J
    with most frequent visits at point D -> F -> D -> F -> D
    
    A. The Lift (This is where I will show up. Ngee An City level 5)
    B. The Book Drop (Turn to the left and there'll be the book drop)
    C. The Search Engine (Books dropped. Time to find new books)
    D. The Study Area (You have to find a table to sit on before you go to ...)
    E. The Cafe (...and get yourself coffee/tea to hog the seat ... i mean to relax :p)
    F. The Toilet (... erm ... what more can I say. My bladder is tiny :p)
    G. The Comic Section (Unwind!!)
    H. The Study Area again (Duh ... zzzzzz)
    I. The Borrowing Machine (sounds like loan shark but it's not :p u know what i mean)
    J. The Exit (Time to say good bye ...)
    
    
    
11. The Existence
    
    Ultimately, if I have to choose only one thing I LOVE about Library@Orchard, it's got to be its existence. As without its presence, point #1 - #10 will not mean a thing.
    

Is this the end? Nope. In my next post, I'll share with you the ONE (01) thing I HATE about Libary@Orchard. Yes! There's always 2 sides of everything. Find out what it is after the break, I mean ... my break ... So, stay tuned.