National Library Singapore

The National Library of Singapore, as we know it today, has evolved in tandem with the development of Singapore from a subscription library serving the needs of a privileged few, to a library system that aims to reach out to Singaporeans from all walks of life.

The National Library had its beginnings in 1823 and was inextricably tied to the establishment of Singapore’s first major educational institution, The Singapore Institution, now known as the Raffles Institution, as well as the founder of modern Singapore Sir Stamford Raffles.

Stamford Raffles worked for the British East India Company, a purely commercial enterprise but he was a self-made man who fervently believed in the opportunities afforded by education and its ability to benefit the poor. Soon after the founding of Singapore, Raffles proposed setting up an educational establishment and envisioned that a library was needed to support the educational aims of the college. As such, the seeds of the National Library were sown.