National Library Board Singapore (NLB), National Library of Malaysia, and Kuala Lumpur Library each shared how their libraries are responding to shifts in reading culture in the digital age, as discussed at the 2026 ASIA-PACIFIC PUBLIC LIBRARY FORUM IN TAIWAN. While their strategies differ, all points to a shared conclusion: reading promotion must move beyond events and borrowing numbers to become embedded in families, communities, cities, and digital platforms—part of everyday life.
How should public libraries respond to shifting reading culture in the digital age? National Library Board Singapore (NLB) emphasizes designing reading activities around different life stages, weaving reading into systems, games, spaces, and social sharing experiences; National Library of Malaysia focuses on policy frameworks, inclusive services, infrastructure, and cultural preservation; and Kuala Lumpur Library approaches reading from a smart-city perspective, turning it into part of daily urban life through policy adjustments, digital services, and cross-sector collaboration. Though their methods differ, all point to the same core idea: a library's value isn't limited to preserving books and knowledge lies in bringing reading truly into people's lives.
National Library Board Singapore: Age-Based Promotion Creates Reading Connections
Programme Director of National Reading Movement and Literary Arts at NLB, Chris Koh, noted that reading habits change across life stages, so promotion methods must adapt accordingly. In early childhood, the focus isn't on text itself, but on building reading habits gradually through everyday interactions like talking, singing, and playing. Singapore's "Early READ" program is built on this idea—reading shouldn't wait until children grow older, but should be cultivated from within family life, with parents serving as children's earliest reading role models. In addition, newborns in Singapore are automatically registered as library members at birth registration through the "LifeSG" platform. By embedding reading into this very starting point of life, the library shifts from passively waiting for readers to actively integrating reading into daily life and each stage of growth, becoming a public institution that accompanies families as they raise their children.
For slightly older children, the library turns reading into games they enjoy. For example, NLB's "Book Bugs" program lets young readers collect exchangeable trading cards by borrowing books, allowing them to gather, share, or trade cards with peers—linking reading, play, and social interaction, and transforming the library from a mere lending venue into a fun space for exchange.
The generative AI interactive content "Chatbook," built on "Journey to the West," lets readers interact with story characters through voice, text, and animation, extending reading into a more participatory experience that encourages young readers to approach texts in their own way. Chris Koh emphasized that these approaches are not meant to replace reading with technology, but to create interactive formats closer to the habits of today's young people, combining reading with dialogue, exploration, and deep, individualized engagement.
New Cultural Practices: Bringing Reading Outside the Library
Once readers reach adulthood, promotion efforts focus on keeping reading visible and relevant in daily life. NLB's approach is to bring reading outside the library and into broader urban spaces and neighborhoods. For example, the "Worlds Within" project turns library spaces into diverse venues combining book fairs, pop-up shops, and social experiences; "Read30 Nodes" brings reading into malls and shopping streets; and the pop-up library at Singapore Changi Airport lets travelers read even while on the move. The library also partnered with Uniqlo on co-branded apparel, turning reading into a tangible style and cultural identity, while the "Pass it on" app lets readers pass a good book directly to a friend without going through a return process. In these creative programs, reading is no longer a quiet, solitary act but something visible and shareable, also a form of identity and cultural belonging.
NLB also piloted an augmented reading service in partnership with Snap Inc., where readers wear special glasses called Spectacles for richer sound effects and interactive experiences, particularly appealing to readers who grew up in the digital age. These examples show that NLB's focus isn't simply on expanding the number of activities, but on integrating reading into the rhythm of daily life—when the library can appear in airports, malls, brand collaborations, and social sharing spaces, reading is no longer confined to a specific venue but becomes a broader cultural practice.
National Library of Malaysia: Building a Broader Reading Ecosystem
Director of Corporate Services at the National Library of Malaysia, Mohd Azmi bin Aziz, stated that Malaysia's reading promotion is shifting from a traditional activity model to a reading ecosystem model, aiming to become a reading nation by 2030 and positioning reading as part of national development strategy. The National Library of Malaysia takes a people-centered approach built on expanding infrastructure, proactively broadening service reach, promoting inclusion, offering incentives, building partnerships, and driving digital transformation. Under its jurisdiction are 506 rural libraries, increasingly transforming from reading rooms into community knowledge centers offering internet access, digital reading, community activities, and skills training. The "u-Pustaka" digital platform and high-speed internet support a hybrid physical-digital service model, significantly narrowing the urban-rural resource gap.
Many Malaysian libraries have become full-fledged community activity centers, taking on youth engagement, educational support, and community development functions alongside reading activities. Mohd Azmi cited traditional Jawi script workshops, the International Conference on Malay Manuscripts, and calligraphy festivals as examples of the close link between reading promotion and cultural heritage.
Reaching Every Corner of Society
Mohd Azmi also highlighted social inclusion, noting the library proactively serves rural areas, prisons, low-income communities, and people with disabilities—through initiatives like writing programs for female inmates, prison reading corners, and Braille and audio books. Malaysia also encourages home reading environments and has introduced book vouchers to lower the barrier to accessing reading materials, while exploring augmented reality (AR) and Metaverse-based library applications.
Kuala Lumpur Library: A New Reading Model for the Smart City
Director of Kuala Lumpur Library, Anita Binti Mohd Jali, spoke on "Smart Reading, Smart Citizens, Smart City," explaining how the library repositions reading culture within smart-city development. She noted that while urban life grows increasingly digital, public engagement with reading, deep reading, and continuous learning is declining—prompting the "Smart Reading Ecosystem" program, which advances urban reading culture through four dimensions: improving access to reading materials, mobilizing communities, digital integration, and effective partnerships.
To improve access, Kuala Lumpur Library introduced free membership and raised the borrowing limit from 3 to 5 books. Data shows library visits reached 309,259 in 2025, up 6.9% from 2024; digital library users grew from 6,709 in 2023 to 30,211 in 2025, with the digital platform recording 91,553 accesses and 19,278 digital reading interactions.
Building a Knowledge Hub Integrating Reading into Families and Communities
Anita Binti Mohd Jali believes reading culture cannot rely on libraries alone but must be built early through families, communities, and diverse reading activities. Kuala Lumpur Library aims to be an active urban knowledge hub, tracking community needs and reading trends in real time and connecting physical and digital reading platforms, continuing to partner with government agencies, schools, NGOs, publishers, businesses, and other libraries.
As reading moves beyond the library into homes, neighborhoods, cities, and digital spaces, the meaning of libraries changes too. From Singapore to Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur, libraries are becoming not just keepers of knowledge but public nodes connecting communities, narrowing gaps, and supporting lifelong learning—making reading a living culture everyone can participate in.