Call for library@orchard Citizen Reporters answered!

30 Oct 2007. Just five minutes to 7.30pm.

"Would anyone turn up?" I wondered, as I made my way to the library@orchard to conduct the briefing.

At 7.30pm, eight of them turned up punctually.

And no more.

I thought, "Only eight? That's all the library could garner? I thought we'd get more people."

As much as I'm ashamed to say it now, I was disappointed.

After the hours spent planning, obtaining permission and convincing senior management why we should do something like this... Eight people?

I said I'm ashamed of myself, because all eight of them were clearly passionate about library@orchard. And they generously gave their time to attend this briefing.

That they agreed to sign up in the end was a bonus.

So thank you folks, from the bottom of my heart.

Here's a group shot (the youngest was only 13!)

[Click on the image for names and blog URL of the volunteers]

My colleague, Jillian, shares her perspective of the briefing, here.

The folks who turned up (left to right in the photo):

• Alice
• Jean
  
• Christine
  
• Donna
• Jillian (the library@orchard librarian)
• Regina (she's 13! I asked her to check with her mom if it was OK to reveal her blog, lol)
  
• Joel
• Kenny
• Charles
  

As we promised, it was a truly brief Briefing.

| View | Upload your own

Before the session began, we asked the participants to write their names and blog URL on the white board. The scribblings below were mine -- I asked them how they learned about the call for citizen reporters.

• Two bloggers came after reading the post at Tomorrow.SG
• The third and fourth person went to the www.nlb.gov.sg site and found their way to the library@orchard blog post. One of them told another friend (who became the fifth person).
  
• The sixth learned about the call from my comment at his blog (I discovered his blog from a Google Alert search). Then this person brought along a friend (and now we have seven)
  
• The eighth learned about the event from a friend (the friend didn't attend the briefing, and probably wasn't interested in the event but passed the message along.)
• I asked if any one of them turned up via my blog post. None. Sigh. I just have to admit that nobody reads my blog... heh. : )
  

As I left the library@orchard after the briefing, I felt truly humbled. It may seem like a small thing to some people.

"It's just a handful of people who agree to blog about the library. So what?"

Well, these handful were generous enough to give their time. And I sensed from many -- if not all -- that they were genuinely passionate about the library. They expressed a sense of belonging with library@orchard.

It humbles me.

It's fitting that it's now the Singapore Library Week, with the tagline "Get inspired at your library".

I'm inspired by those eight people who answered the call.

Thank you.