Step on board a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight, relax, and take in some specially selected content from the National Library Board (NLB). Through SIA’s in-flight entertainment system, passengers may now watch videos and listen to podcasts about Singapore. These NLB resources will also be accessible through the SingaporeAir mobile application.
“Many are taking to the skies again, and we are excited to partner with SIA to offer a new channel for passengers to access some of our best resources while they travel. We hope that these resources, especially those featuring our rich Singapore Stories, will be an illuminating source of discovery and learning for all. As part of LAB25, we will work with more partners like SIA to make our rich resources available to everyone, anytime, anywhere,” Ng Cher Pong, NLB’s Chief Executive Officer.
In this partnership between the NLB and the national carrier, NLB’s e-resources are now available for the first time on SIA’s digital platforms. The goal of this partnership is to make reading and learning more fun. Every two to three months, new content will be added, so everyone can look forward to new bits of NLB content, such as many Singaporean stories to watch or listen to.
NLB and SIA are also looking into ways to work together more to put NLB’s e-books on the SingaporeAir app, along with the videos and podcasts that are already there. This project is part of NLB’s National Reading Movement (NRM), a 2016 campaign to get Singaporeans to read more, read more widely, and read together.
Here are some examples of NLB’s multi-format e-resources that are already available on SIA’s platforms or will be in the future:
- Videos – From Book to Cook series, which takes viewers on a gastronomic journey; Stories from BiblioAsia, which brings compelling essays and stories to life; and storytelling videos for children from the StoryTime series, available in English, Tamil, Chinese, and Malay, Singapore’s official languages.
- Podcast: Film Talk, which focuses on the performing arts, and Radio DDC, which explores the history of music in Singapore, are available as podcasts.
- E-books — BiblioAsia, the NLB’s flagship magazine that features articles on Singapore’s history, culture, and legacy, and the One Story series of translated short stories in Tamil, Chinese, and Malay.
Launched in October 2021, LAB25 (Libraries and Archives Blueprint 2025) is the NLB’s five-year strategy to collaborate with partners and the community on an innovation and experimentation journey to rethink libraries and archives.
Yeoh Phee Teik, Singapore Airlines’ Senior Vice-President for Customer Experience, stated that as part of Singapore Airlines’ continued efforts to enhance the travel experience of our customers, we are constantly seeking to increase our selection of in-flight multimedia entertainment.
As Singapore’s national airline, the airline is happy to partner with the National Library Board to offer a wide selection of movies and podcasts, including those created by Singaporeans. This is part of their mission to interact with a wide variety of partners and create a customised and relevant client experience.
Meanwhile, OpenGov Asia previously reported that Singapore’s National Library Board (NLB) and Lee Kuan Yew Fund for Bilingualism (LKYFB) have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to provide additional Mother Tongue Language (MTL) resources and programmes to promote bilingualism from a young age and increase the number of local MTL writers through a three-year strategic partnership.
Children, parents, and educators can look forward to more products, including eBooks, created by local writers in a variety of mother tongue languages. NLB will add ten new titles translated from English to Chinese, Malay, and Tamil to its collection to honour the start of this cooperation.