Jul 2007

Director's Column

Harun Aminurrashid
Born Harun Bin Mohd Amin, Harun’s other pen names include Har, Gustam Negara, Atma Jiwa and Si Ketuit. He was a prolific writer and editor of several newspapers and magazines.
(PDF)

Tapping History
I’ve been through Taban Valley at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve many times and never realised until recently how historically important these unprepossessing trees are. To the uninitiated, they look like skinny durian trees with their dark green leaves. A century and a half ago, the Taban Merah (Pafaquium gutta), better known to the world as Gutta Percha, was at the centre of an earth-shaking infocomm revolution as great as the introduction of the Internet. (PDF)

The Access to Learning Award: Improving Lives Through Greater Access to Information Through Technology
Whether you are young or old, a student or a teacher, a farmer or a small business owner, access to online information is becoming increasingly important throughout the world. (PDF)

族群、文化认同从: 华文报纸历史看其与新马华人的关系
This looks at Chinese-language newspapers and their relationship with the ethnic Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia. (PDF)

Creating the Right Environment: Poster Collection at the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library
Comprising more than 4,000 posters from the 1960s, the poster collection covers a broad spectrum of topics relating to Singapore. (PDF)

Early Maps of Singapore
A 1607 map by Theodore de Bry shows a close-up view of Singapore and the surrounding region. The map depicts the Dutch-Portuguese naval confrontation that took place in October 1603, in the eastern side of Singapore around the estuary of the Johor River.(PDF)

News
New publications by the National Library Board; a colloquium on managing change in Asia; exhibitions at the National Library; and the memorandum of understanding signed between the National Library Board and Raffles Institution. (PDF)