Sino-Singapore Friendship Library opens in Tianjin

The Sino-Singapore Friendship Library, part of an intergovernmental project between China and Singapore, opened to the public on Nov.18 in Tianjin.

More than 10,000 new adopters were attracted by the new library's smart and fresh services such as robot servers, free VR and animation. 

Located in the central area of the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City, the five-story library covers an area of 67,000 square meters.

The library has some 350,000 books at present and is expected to be home to 1.5 million books and 1 million historical documents in the future.

Robots of different purposes are deployed to facilitate book navigation for readers, and book management. Smart services in the library include high-efficiency borrowing and returning of books through a self-developed app, Wechat, Alipay and even face recognition technology.

A highlight of the library is its two inside museums, the Singapore Theme Pavilion and the Eco-Children's Pavilion, designed by a Singapore professional team.

The museum also houses a multimedia service area, an animation experience area, a maker space, and an exhibition hall where readers can experience new technologies such as VR, electronic calligraphy, block traffic and intelligent robots for free.

At the same time, a professional recording studio, an audio-visual room, a small seminar room and other services are also available by reservation.

To date, more than 200 online and offline reader events have been held by the library , attracting 36,000 participants.

Readers read books in the China-Singapore Friendship Library, a joint project between China and Singapore, in North China's Tianjin municipality, Nov 18, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

Readers select books in the China-Singapore Friendship Library, a joint project between China and Singapore, in North China's Tianjin municipality, Nov 18, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

Readers visit the China-Singapore Friendship Library, a joint project between China and Singapore, in North China's Tianjin municipality, Nov 18, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

Readers enter the China-Singapore Friendship Library, a joint project between China and Singapore, in North China's Tianjin municipality, Nov 18, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]