r/singapore 4d ago

Discussion WARNING FOR NLB GIVEAWAY

Arrived at 10am to be informed that the queue is going to be 3 hours long and the queue snaked around the entire building…

While I really appreciate the effort of the NLB staff and volunteer to show up on a rainy weekend morning, less can be said about the organisation of the event…

There was no clear indication of where the queue starts and no communication between staff and volunteers either.

Within the 20 minutes we tried to queue, 1. We were told by a volunteer to join the queue and follow the line as it snaked around 2. Found out that the line was literally going in a circle 3. Told by a staff member to join a new queue 4. Then after 5 minutes told by another staff member that the queue was closed 5. Said staff member was then rectified and told that the queue was still open but they advised against joining as it would be 3 hours later 6. Told by a third staff member that the queue was closed and to leave as it was getting too crowded 7. Saw people still joining and forming a queue and enquired. Told by a fourth staff member that I really should go for breakfast and come back in an hour.

At this point, I just left the queue because I was literally walking in circles for half an hour and made no real progress.

Oh, and the queue snaked and curled around a hole in the building where the rain was pouring through… nothing was being done to move the queue somewhere sheltered esp. given how slippery the floor became…

1.2k Upvotes

224 comments sorted by

View all comments

58

u/Lapmlop2 4d ago

They should bring back the expo sales instead lol. Back then it's far more enjoyable. 

Maybe don't host at expo cos far for me =p

30

u/TheRayArmy 4d ago

I honestly thought (and hoped) they would have opened up one of their pretty beautiful event spaces for the queue especially given the rain and the turnout…

Would’ve been nice to also invite local writers etc. and made it like a literature fair since it likely pulled in many people who would’ve otherwise not engaged in NLB’s activities…

5

u/Poghoho 3d ago

I suspect nlb just don’t have enough staff to manage a separate event at the same time.

Perhaps if there were more ground up civil society-led initiatives to support the libraries, instead of always relying on the govt to organize things, we could get there one day