Utilization of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) started in August, as the Library identified some repetitive and labour-intensive tasks and developed three solutions which are currently being put to use. For example, checking the validity of URLs for e-books is now much faster and no longer requires manpower.

The renovation project began with the award of tender in March 2015 and was completed in nine months without need for closure of the library. Renovation was done in phases with closure of a few floors in each phase and progressive re-opening of the renovated floors. With the renovation, the library’s facilities and collections were streamlined and re-purposed to create new learning and activity spaces such as Makerspace, Collaboration Space, Quiet Zone and Learning Pods to provide a more dynamic learning environment for library users.

On 10 February, a new service was introduced to support students during their study week and examination period. The eExam Paper Retrieval Service let students request for past-year exam papers through email or a request form at the Customer Service Counter. Students will receive their requested exam papers through email within an hour (or the next working day for requests submitted after office hours).

Starting in April, in collaboration with the School of Informatics and Information Technology (IIT), the Library is able to provide helpdesk support for public PCs in the Library. Users can now approach the IT Service Management (ITSM) helpdesk at the counter at level 2 of the Library or call the ITSM Centre from the telephones provided at various points in the Library.

Starting from October 2013, students and staff can subscribe to Electronic AV Alerts service which will keep subscribers abreast of new arrivals in the audio-visual collections in the Learning Resource Centre (LRC).

The Item Retrieval Service was extended to all TP staff on 1st March 2012.

The Library system, Aleph from ExLibris, was upgraded from version 18 to version 20 in April 2012.

A new Tablet Area equipped with Android and iPad tablets was introduced in March 2012. Free “infotainment” apps were installed in the tablets for our Library patrons.

Improvements to printing services were introduced in the Library. Wireless printing service and a standalone printing station were introduced in May and July 2012 respectively.

109 Graduation videos from year 2000 onwards were converted from VHS to DVD format in January 2011.

Library facilities and services were extended to Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) staff and students in March 2011.

• The Library website was revamped and went live on 15 September 2011. The new website has four main sections: Home, Resources, Services & Information, and News & Events.

• The Library OPAC was revamped and launched in April 2011. The new interface has a single search box and quick access to item availability status, which vastly improved user experience.

• A new Item Retrieval Service was introduced for part-time students. The new service enables patrons to reserve up to 3 items at one time for items with ‘available’ status and collect them from the Customer Service Counter.

• Automated confirmation emails for items returned at the Automated Return Kiosk (ARK) was introduced in July 2011, and receipt printing at ARK was subsequently disabled in September 2011 as a green effort to save paper.

• TP Library embarked on Demand-driven acquisitions (DDA) of ebooks on October 2011. Over 10,000 titles were loaded into the Library Catalogue, giving patrons immediate access without need to purchase the titles first.  

• Conducted first online poll via Poll Everywhere in October 2011, on the popularity of the Library’s Android and iOS mobile apps. A second online poll was also conducted to find out patrons’ preferred social media tools.

• Introduction of Library Confirmation e-mails on 1st March to all patrons who return library materials through the Automated Return Kiosk (ARK) and the manual return bin.

• Library acquired the Aleph Digital Asset Management (ADAM) module to replace the Digital Media Repository (DMR). The ADAM is a new integrated system and since 15 March, students and staff can conveniently access TP archives (such as past examination papers, images, digitized artifacts and more) from the Library online catalogue instead of a separate system.

• New LCD TVs and DVD players were set up in 38 viewing carrels in the Learning Resource Centre. Of these, 8 were equipped with 2-way audio splitter which allows 2 patrons to view the same show together. 2 viewing carrels were equipped with CRT TVs and VHS players to support the use of video cassette tapes.

• Library introduced the complimentary TP Retiree Membership to ex-full-time Temasek Polytechnic staff who has served TP for 10 continuous years prior to retirement. This new membership category is an affirmation of TP’s appreciation for retired staff as well as to maintain ties with our retirees.

• The Library SMS service, first introduced in June 2009 to full time students, was extended to part time students in September this year.

• Library opening hours extended by half an hour, from 8:00am to 9:00pm, Mondays to Fridays during term time, to cater to the needs of staff and students.

• Commemoration of the 10th anniversary of Lee Kuan Yew’s first memoirs with a month-long exhibition on Lee Kuan Yew and the history of Singapore; a pictorial exhibition including the video screenings “Success Stories: Lee Kuan Yew” and “History of Singapore”; a book display focussing on Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore’s history; and a mini-talk session on “Singapore early days – what my little eyes saw".  A collaboration between the National Education Committee and Library.

• Participation in the LAS Conference “Innovate to Serve” in May 2008 with one paper presentation by Ms Debby Wegener and a poster session by Ms Ong Peik Keng.

• Completion of the anti-plagiarism video, a collaborative effort between DESIGN students and library staff. The video highlighted the perils of plagiarism, in particular, within the academic setting.

• Implementation of Electronic ordering via EDI in August. From Oct 2008. TP Library became the first polytechnic library to implement full electronic ordering and invoicing with a local vendor.

• Implementation in May 2006 of Electronic Billing Notices to library members for outstanding charges. Patrons without email addresses received hardcopy letters if their fines had accumulated to more than $1.

• Replacement in September 2006 of 124 units of the public PCs with aster CPUs (Intel 4, 3.0 GHz) with higher memory power (1.5 GB) to better prepare for the loading of advanced features.

• Configuration of ALEPH to enable the searching and display of records with Chinese characters in Web OPAC (now called the Library Catalogue) and ALEPH GUI client. This function included the cross searching of traditional and simplified Chinese characters in ALEPH.

In April 2003, TP Library was approached to set up a Resource Centre to support the curricula and research needs of students and staff of the Tourism Academy@ Sentosa (TAS). [See TP Annual Report 2003-2004]

Library Materials Management System (LMMS) was implemented using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. The new service was launched on 19 May 2005, two weeks ahead of project delivery schedule. Library core operations and services were simplified with automated check-ins and sorting of library materials, faster loan transactions and enhanced item management, stocktaking and tracking of of library resources with the use of handheld RFID readers.

In November and December, the Library played host to two secondary school teachers, as part of TP’s participation in the MOE Teacher Work Attachment scheme to expose teachers to a broader range of work experiences.

• TP Library embarked on a major renovation project on 17 March 2003 to transform and update its image from being an academic resource provider to one which promotes life-long learning. The entire Level 3 was re-designed based on a lifestyle concept. Seminar rooms and reference counters were consolidated. [See TP Annual Report 2002-2003].

• In July, TP Library teamed up with the 8 local academic and special libraries to form the Plus8 Consortia with the objective of leveraging on group negotiations for better subscription deals on common electronic resources.

• In support of the polytechnic outreach to secondary schools, the Library provided basic research skills training and library orientation tours to secondary school students in the TP Exploration in Applied Science & Technology (TP-EAST) programme and Temasek Secondary School.

• eBooks were acquired by the Library in July and made accessible via the Research Gateway.

Temasek Polytechnic Library signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Singapore Integrated Library Automated Services (SILAS) on 19 February 2002.

Launch of the TP Digital Library Portal, Spark, on 2nd December. With this portal, students and staff could access information and learning resources anywhere, anytime. [See TP Annual Report 2002-2003].

• Library awarded the TP Staff Suggestion Scheme Participation Award and the TP Work Improvement Teams Participation award  for the third consecutive year.

• TP Digital Library System Project kicked-off in October 2001, with the goal to transform the TP Library into a high-tech, state of the art digital library, within the e-poly context [See TP Annual Report 2001-2002].

• Launch of Web-based self-booking system for library facilities such as Project Rooms, Presentation Rooms, Seminar Rooms, and Single Study Rooms.

• Patron Information made available online, allowing library members to renew items, make reservations, and check loan records and overdue fines either in the Library or remotely through the WebPAC.

Value-added service to the teaching staff  - Library made special arrangements with MPH, Kinokuniya and TP Book Centre for teaching staff to select books at their convenience for inclusion in the Library collection.

Opening of level 5 & 8 as Discussion Floors in a pilot run in January to support the needs of both group and individual learning. The other levels were designated Quiet floors.

Became one of the first libraries in Singapore to be awarded the ISO9001:2000 certification in December. The scope of the audit covered all Library sections and services. The Library was commended for its good preparedness and attitude to the Quality Management System, in demonstrating document control and for good qualifications, experience and authority of its staff. [See TP Annual Report 2000-2001].

• Recorded first over-million mark for visitations to the Library.

• Activated the self-services renewal function for further convenience to the library members. Loan renewals could now be done remotely through the WebPAC.

• Self-service kiosk set up at the Library foyer for students to facilitate booking of the project rooms, study rooms and presentation rooms. These facilities were in demand by students for individual and group study.

• Library conducted its 4th Students’ Satisfaction Survey and started to put up posters on follow-up actions taken by the Library in response to students’ feedback and suggestions from previous year’s survey. The overall satisfaction rating of 95% was maintained.

• Centre for Individual Language Learning (CILL) moved out of the Library building, taking with them the CILL collection.

• Allocation of six PCs in the Library to access Reuters on-line financial and business information service.

• The tender for the installation and implementation of a CDROM networking and workstation access control and monitoring system was awarded.

Library was the first department to complete the process mapping and documentation of all the 77 core processes. The Library also submitted the highest work improvement project reports and has the highest Staff Suggestion Scheme contribution and participation.

Launch of Past Exam Papers Online (PEPO) system. In addition to the printed past examination papers available in the Red Spot Collection, students were able to access past exam papers on-line from the Library Home Page as well as the TP OLE Home Page for the first time.

• Launch of the Library Intranet, linked to the TP Staff Intranet, with the following information:
  • Table of Contents
  • Alert Service aimed at alerting staff to developments in their subject areas or areas of interest
  • OPAC (now called the Library Catalogue) instructions
  • electronic reference enquiry form
  • Journal titles listing
  • electronic journals.

• Provision of Electronic Library Guides on Levels 2,3, 6 and 9 to serve as additional navigational and information tools. Designed by two final-year IT students, and supervised by Library staff.

• Production of a 6-minute Library video, entitled A day in the life of the Library by Media Services Unit. Providing insight into the daily happenings in the Library and the total quality service which the Library provides with its front-line duties and behind the scene activities from 8am to 9pm.

• A Presentation Room was made available for all students Two project rooms were converted to a Training Room, for both staff and student user education activities. The room was equipped with 21 PCs.

• The Library participated in the Basic IT Skills (BITS) programme aimed at introducing desired information and IT life skills. The Library’s involvement was targetted at teaching basic research skills, including the effective use of search tools, OPAC (now called the Library Catalogue) and CD-ROM databases to retrieve information.

• Library’s first Annual Student Satisfaction Survey.

• Participation in Tiara (Timely information for all, relevant and affordable) a multi-agency project led by the National Library Board and National Computer Board to bring information to the public.[See TP Annual Report 1996-1997]

• Extended opening hours started from July, in response to the increased need of staff and students, especially part-time students, to use the Library after office hours. [See TP Annual Report 1996-1997]

Setup of the fifth satellite library at Portsdown Road Campus in March with seating capacity of 20 and resources on food science and nutrition.

• Re-organisation of Reader Services into Reference & Information Services and User Services. Renaming of Media Resources Section to Learning Resource Centre.[See TP Annual Report 1995-1996]

• Electronic Library Guide (ELG) developed to enable users to familiarise themselves in new environment. ·Installation of 3M Self-check machines.

• Equipping LRC and the Microcomputer Resources Rooms on L3, 6 and 9 with PCs and Macintosh and Internet access.

• Setup of Bukit Merah Campus satellite library on 4 July with floor area of 70 square metres and seating capacity of 56.

• Set up of Local Area Network (LAN) at the Stirling Road, Kim Seng and Grange Road campus libraries.

• Introduction of two computer-based programmes for orientation -- a multimedia library guide and a tour program on Stirling Road Campus Library. [See TP Annual Report 1994-1995]

• Upgrading of Dynix system to version 135.2 and user licenses from 32 to 128.

• Workshops on CD-ROM databases and search techniques for students.

• Pilot project to build a networked multimedia database with first phase to index some slides, negatives and video clips.

• Participation in training of librarians under the Colombo Plan Training Award Programme. Two librarians from Myanmar were attached to the library and given briefings on library setup and automation.

With the largest Dynix installation in Singapore, TP Library became a member of the Meeting of the Asian Dynix Users (MADU), a regional Dynix Users’ group inaugurated in June 1993.

• Availability of BBC news (via satellite), multimedia resources and facilities for library users at the Kim Seng Campus [See TP Annual Report 1993-1994].

• Use of Internet to send purchase orders. This is also the year when TP plugged onto the Internet and made Internet access available at desk of every staff member.

• Sending of overdue reminders and reservation notices via campus email system to staff. [See TP Annual Report 1993-1994].

• Campus link-up to SILAS established through IDNET, enabling the Library to download SILAS records directly to the Dynix system (without using diskette or tape). [See TP Annual Report 1992-1993]

• Online circulation module for the Reserve Book Collection implemented. As a result of this, from 16 April Loan Cards were no longer needed for borrowing books.

• Launch of first library orientation programme for students saw 800 students participating. [See TP Annual Report 1992-1993]

• Coordinated intake for the part-time Certificate in Library Studies. The programme was launched in July.

• Launch of 3 categories of membership – graduate, corporate and personal memberships.

• First stocktake exercise conducted in December. It took 11 days.

• Setup of a media resources section in October to handle growing demands for AV materials and computer software for teaching and learning.

• Implementation of the Cataloguing module followed by the Circulation and Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC)(now called the Library Catalogue) modules in July. The Acquisitions module was implemented next in August. The full Library Automation programme was completed in December, a record time of 10 months. [See TP Annual Report 1991-1992]

• Addition of another reading room at GRC library, extending the seating capacity to 156.

Book return bins installed outside premises of both campus libraries to facilitate book returns by staff and students.

Opening of Stirling Road Campus library on 26 July, with seating capacity for 80 users and floor area of 279 sq metres.

First self-service photocopying machine made available on the Grange Road Campus Library premises.

• First library catalogue received from SILAS. A dictionary catalogue in microfiche format, it consisted of author, title and subject headings arranged together in one alphabetical sequence.

• The first issue of our Library Accessions List. It was a subject listing of titles newly added to the Library’s collection over a certain period of time.

• Tender evaluation for a computerised library system, resulting in the selection of the Dynix Automated Library System. [See TP Annual Report 1990-1991]

• Library collection size : 11,080 vols of books, 139 AV titles. [See TP Annual Report 1990-1991]