Hundreds of book lovers turned up at NUS Library's book adoption and exchange drive on Saturday (June 14) to pick up some of the discarded books from Yale-NUS College.

Held outside the NUS Central Library, members of the public were given access to about 2,000 books.

After the controversy over the disposal of hundreds of books in May, NUS Libraries decided to host a donation drive for students, staff and their guests that month which saw "overwhelming response".

'A piece of nostalgia'

Over at NUS Central Library on June 14, AsiaOne noted hundreds of people, ranging from children to graduates to elderly, queuing up and collecting books. 

"I just wanted to grab a piece of nostalgia," Yip, who declined to give his full name, said as he waited in the middle of a snaking queue.

The 60-year-old, who studied economics in NUS about 20 years ago, added he was interested in collecting books on social sciences, humanities and history, as well as books on communication.

"Yale-NUS College is closed, so they are giving away books for free, so I think that's good."

The infotech worker said he felt "sad" hearing the books were dumped.

"I mean I love books so if you see books being dumped they could be put to better use, somebody could use it. There's still value."

Another book lover, who wanted to be known only as Chow, said he was curious to see "who are the people who would come to pick up the books".

The school principal said that even though he understands the reason behind the outcry, the 52 year-old hopes the public can understand that "there is a proper way for libraries to dispose of books".

He added that when books are "outdated", libraries often have their own "processes" to dispose of them and that information is often not known or accessible to the public. 

Many fresh graduates were also spotted at the book donation drive.

One graduate, who only wanted to be known as Ping, said she wanted to check out the books as they are otherwise expensive.

Ping, who had picked up books on anthropology, women in Afghanistan and slavery in America said: "There's so many people who want (the books), then you dump for what?"

Jaron Lua and Sharyl Chin, both 25, and NTU English Literature graduates, said they just wanted to make sure the books didn't go to waste.

Like Ping, Sharyl also noted that academic books are expensive. "We thought we should try our luck to see if we can get anything useful or relevant for our postgraduate studies."

Sharyl, who picked up 18th and 19th century literature like Gertrude Stein, Jane Austin-adjacent titles and books on women's activism, added: "I think it's great that they decided to do this because you can see the whole Singaporean community come together for books.

"So for me it disproves the idea that people don't read anymore."

Both of them felt that the book dumping incident could have been handled better.

Jaron said: "I feel like they should have considered adoption as their first option as opposed to (dumping the books)."

The graduate, who collected books on Shakespeare, Italian poet Giovanni Boccaccio and English poet and author Geoffrey Chaucer, said: "They still shredded like 500 plus books… It may not seem like a lot but it actually is."

Good haul

Yip thought the fair was a good way for NUS Libraries to show the public that they "made an error and were trying to make amends". 

Yip revealed he wasn't just collecting books for himself but also for his friends and wife, who also had an interest in humanities, specifically history.

Sharyl added that the event was "a really good haul" and had a "really good spread" of books.

AsiaOne has reached out to NUS Libraries for more information.

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