Pop-up supermarket shelves, sustainable benches part of roving National Library Board’s installations from Oct 2022 to Feb 2023

Those who roam around Gardens by the Bay or three other parks might bump into pop-up installations by the National Library Board (NLB) from now till Feb 26, 2023.  

The installations are part of NLB’s Nodes at Parks project that aims to “extend the library experience beyond its physical facilities, and to make learning and discovery accessible anytime in everyday spaces”, said NLB in a press release on Friday (Oct 14). 

Nodes at Parks features two installations – the Sustainability Showcase and the Sustainable Beaches.

The Sustainability Showcase consists of supermarket-like shelves, a book exchange corner and a memory booth. The shelves are filled with sustainable products such as exercise mats made from shoe waste and cultivated meats, with the intention to encourage visitors to be “conscious of their purchasing choices” and to “actively co-create sustainability ideas” for the future.

The shelves also feature a QR code for visitors to access a list of NLB-curated resources that “offer different perspectives” to topics on sustainable food production, food waste, single-use plastics, upcycling and the support of local produce.

There is also a book exchange corner for visitors to donate or exchange pre-loved books. Visitors can select up to three used library books at their own time, while stocks last.

Visitors can contribute a “memorable personal experience” about the environment at the memory booth. These “collected memories” will be used as inspiration for an e-book on Singapore’s changing environmental landscape to be published by NLB in February 2023. 

The Sustainable Benches installation comprises 16 benches made with repurposed wood scattered across the respective parks and gardens. 

Fourteen of these benches were adopted and painted by students from seven secondary schools, based on their “creative interpretations” of NLB’s sustainability-themed e-resources.

The seven secondary schools are Admiralty, Chua Chu Kang, Kua Chuan Presbyterian, Ngee Ann, Spectra, Yusof Ishak and Zhonghua. 

Like the shelves, the benches also feature QR codes where visitors can access NLB’s e-resources for topics on sustainability and the environment along with a series of “fun and educational” videos, produced by Republic Polytechnic students.

NLB is giving away $100 worth of shopping e-vouchers to visitors at its installations.

Visitors will need to find 14 hidden letters by scanning the QR codes on seven benches, and unscramble it in an online form. There will be five prizes up for grabs at each park.

Nodes at Parks will move through four different parks and gardens from Oct 2022 to Feb 2023.

It starts at Gardens by the Bay from Oct 14 to Nov 22, before moving to Jurong Lake Gardens from Nov 25 to Dec 18, East Coast Park from Dec 21 to 24 January 2023 and Pasir Ris Park from 27 Jan 2023 to 26 Feb 2023.

Aside from parks, NLB has previously placed nodes at shopping malls and MUJI outlets as well.