Ng Cher Pong, Chief Executive Officer of the National Library Board (NLB), Singapore

How can we disrupt ourselves before we are being disrupted?

Since its formation in 1995, the National Library Board (NLB) of Singapore has been actively nurturing reading and learning, promoting information literacy, and cultivating interest in Singapore’s history and heritage. Through its network of 28 libraries across Singapore, the National Library, and the National Archives of Singapore, NLB maintains strong engagement with residents from all walks of life.

Today, we live in an era where smart technologies such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality technologies are disrupting the conventional ways in which we go about our daily lives. NLB is highly cognisant of these technological developments and the corresponding need to adapt to stay relevant. Taking inspiration from how the retail and content sectors are transforming, CEO Ng Cher Pong shares how the National Library Board (NLB) of Singapore is reimagining the libraries and archives through LAB25 - NLB’s transformative blueprint - to explore new ways of connecting with our audience and transforming how content is being discovered and experienced.

His speech will cover 3 major shifts that NLB is currently undertaking. First, we are reshaping our channel strategy into an omni-channel network of hubs and nodes. This enables us to reach new audiences, as well as maintain engagement with patrons even as they go about their everyday lives outside our libraries and archives. Second, we are shifting from Search towards T-shaped Discovery, where we leverage machine learning to guide patrons in going not just deeper but also broader in topics of their interest. Third, we are transforming how users interact with content, providing a hybrid “Phy-gital” user experience both inside and outside our libraries and archives.

在我們被顛覆之前，我們如何先顛覆自己？新加坡國家圖書館管理局自1995年設立開始，即積極培養讀者進行閱讀與學習、增進資訊素養，以及對新加坡歷史與文化遺產的興趣。該局透過所屬的28間公共圖書館、新加坡國家圖書館和國家檔案館，與來自各行各業民眾緊密聯繫。

時至今日，我們生活在諸如人工智慧和擴增實境等智慧技術時代，這些科技正顛覆著過往慣俗。新加坡國家圖書館管理局非常清楚意識到這些科技發展，以及隨之而來的適應需求，以切合時局。從零售商與內容產業轉變的過程中汲取靈感，黃子鵬局長分享新加坡國家圖書館管理局如何透過「2025年圖書館及檔案館藍圖」（Libraries and Archives Blueprint 2025，簡稱LAB25）重新思考圖書館和檔案館的營運，探索讀者改變發現與體驗內容的新方式。

本場演講內容將包含新加坡國家圖書館管理局正在進行的三項主要改變。首先，重新塑造通路策略，變成一種全渠道圖書館行銷的網絡中心和節點。這使該圖書館既能接觸到新讀者，又能維持贊助者參與，即便圖書館和檔案館不在他們日常生活範圍內。其次，將一般搜尋轉變為T型探索，以機器學習來引導讀者們，不僅是更深入探索，也更加開拓讀者有興趣的題材。第三，將使用者與內容的互動方式加以改變，在新加坡國家圖書館和檔案館內外皆提供使用者混合式「實體數位化」體驗。