SINGAPORE – People typically visit the doctor when they have caught a bug, but some patrons of the F K Lim Family Clinic in Tampines have a bug of a different variant – the reading kind.
Since August 2019, people have been flocking to a corner outside the clinic at Block 267 Tampines Street 21 to drop off old books, catch up on reading, and even take a few books home.
Dr Colin Lim, an avid reader and book collector, was inspired to set up the community library after learning about the Little Free Library movement and chancing upon a few such libraries during his travels in Australia in 2015.
The Little Free Library movement was started in the United States by a non-profit organisation of the same name in 2009.
Now present in 115 countries, the movement is centred around neighbourhood book exchanges, typically through a public bookshelf.
“We call them libraries, but they’re usually contained in very small things like a birdhouse,” Dr Lim, 58, said.
Dr Lim’s library started out the same way – a beach house-inspired shelf with a single copy of Japanese author Haruki Murakami’s Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki And His Years Of Pilgrimage.
But his little library is not so little any more, thanks to the organic donations of books and furniture by residents of the area.
The library now has at least eight shelves all packed to the brim with classic novels, signed copies of local literature and even religious texts like the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita.
Popular reads include Reader’s Digest and National Geographic magazines, and children’s books such as the Geronimo Stilton and Captain Underpants series.
Stacks of books are also seen piled up around the shelves, and there are even chairs for visitors to sit while reading.
Dr Lim says the library’s patrons are “a mix of everyone”, although he rarely interacts with them as he is usually occupied inside the clinic and prefers to let them browse the library themselves.
He receives donations almost daily, and people typically leave behind more than a couple of books, he said.
