Between 1960 and 1980, Singapore built many standalone public libraries to encourage the reading and learning of the people and improve the information literacy among Singaporeans.

Originally known as the branch libraries of the National Library, they were renamed community libraries in 1995 when the National Library Board (NLB) was officially established as a statutory board on 1 September that year.

By the mid-nineties, there were 10 public libraries in Singapore with an annual visitorship of 5.5 million. The number has since grown to 28 today, with more than 38.8 million materials borrowed by the libraries’ visitors each year.

Interiorly designed with adult’s, children’s and reference libraries, the standalone public libraries aimed to serve populations of 250,000 or more, and were therefore built at convenient locations that not only supported its own new towns but also the nearby housing estates.

Over the years, many of these standalone public libraries have become iconic landmarks of their own. However, the Central Public Library, Marine Parade Public Library, Bukit Merah Public Library, Bedok Public Library and Tampines Regional Library had either ceased to exist or were relocated to malls or integrated complexes. As of 2025, there are six standalone public libraries left in Singapore.

Below is the list of former and current standalone public libraries in Singapore.

In 1996, the government committed a $1-billion fund to support NLB to develop a network of shopping mall libraries to “bring the libraries to the people”. New features were also introduced, such as the bookdrop service in 1996 and the self-service book borrowing machines in 1998.

Jurong West Community Library became the first public library to be housed in a shopping mall. Opened in 1996, it was located at Jurong Point. In 2006, the library was relocated to The Frontier Community Place, a three-storey integrated community hub at Jurong West Central.

In 1997, the NLB budgeted $15.6 million in a five-year project to upgrade seven public libraries, including the National Library and six community libraries at Toa Payoh, Ang Mo Kio, Geylang East, Bedok and Bukit Merah. The seventh one Jurong East Community Library was refurbished into Jurong Regional Library in 2004. With a floor area of 12,020m², it briefly became the largest library in Singapore.

This record was broken a year later when the new National Library building was opened at Victoria Street on 12 November 2005. With a pair of 16-storey blocks occupying a massive total gross floor area of 58,800m², National Library is the largest and tallest library in Singapore. For the branch libraries, Punggol Regional Library is the largest with a floor area of 12,180m².

By the mid-2000s, the number of public libraries in Singapore had more than doubled to 22. Annual visitorship had increased tremendously to 31 million. The names of the libraries were also changed from Community Libraries to Public Libraries in 2008.

As of 2025, 14 out of the 28 public libraries are situated in shopping malls, while eight are co-housed in community centres or other types of complexes.

Other that the public libraries, the NLB is also in-charge of the National Archives of Singapore, Singapore Botanic Gardens’ Library, Lee Kong Chian Reference Library and Central Arts Library (both are parts of the National Library). There was also the Lifelong Learning Institute’s (LLI) LLiBrary, a collaboration between NLB and Workforce Development Agency (WDA), but it was closed on 1 March 2025.

By 2030, the conserved Queenstown Public Library and Bishan Public Library will likely be the only remaining standalone public libraries in Singapore.

Published: 29 September 2025