How 180 Strangers Built a Library Together | Rebecca Toh | TED

A few months ago, 180 of us came together to build something in Singapore: a library. In a city where we're lucky enough to already have a world-class, highly innovative, much beloved public library system, of which I am a happy beneficiary, how is our library different? So this is a picture of the library we built. We are nestled in the heartlands of Singapore, where we sit between a 50-year-old furniture store and an antique shop, surrounded by birds and trees and ... Quite a few chickens. (Laughter) So our library is what we call a shared library. There are 180 shelves in our library, each of them rented and maintained by a different person. For 45 Singapore dollars a month you get to become a bookshelf owner. Being a bookshelf owner is actually really fun, because you get to share your favorite books on your own shelf, you get to decorate your own space and change up your books every now and then.

Every shelf in our library is like a little pocket universe, an interesting, almost voyeuristic glimpse into someone's heart and mind. And if you walk around our library, quite often you end up standing in front of a shelf thinking to yourself, "I think I know this person," even though, strangely, you've never met this person in your entire life. The other interesting thing about our library is that we are entirely volunteer-run. So a roster of about 40 very kind volunteer librarians take turns to keep our library open six days a week, 12 hours a day. Some of them are bookshop owners, they have a shelf in our library. Some of them are people from the community who really want to be part of the project. They are doctors, ex-lawyers, students, mothers, freelancers, retirees. We even have a five-year-old librarian among us. But we all have something in common. We love books, we believe in the power of books, and we enjoy being surrounded by books.

So any time we’re open, anyone is welcome to come in, to sit down, to read a book for free, to make a friend or connection, to drink a cup of coffee, randomly brewed by someone in the library, and to just let the stress of life melt off their shoulders. So how did we come to build a library like this? So in April this year, I took a break from my work as a photographer, and I went to Japan for a sabbatical, where I stumbled upon a small, shared community library with a similar concept. I loved it. I loved it. There was just something about the space that really enticed me. Standing in that little library in Japan, even though I couldn't read any of the Japanese books, I could sense a very powerful energy of love and care. And even though I couldn't read any of the Japanese books there, I thought it would be wonderful if we could have something like this in Singapore.

So I decided to turn to social media. So I came back to Singapore, decided to write a simple Instagram post, just outlining my vision of what I thought a small, shared library in Singapore could look like. I thought if no one responded, then I would just forget about the whole thing. But if I could somehow get 50 people on board, I would be happy to give this very impractical, dreamy and idealistic idea a try. So I quickly finished writing, pressed post, and then I went back to work. By the end of the first day, I had received about 300 direct messages from people who said they were seriously interested in putting money down to rent a shelf and to build a library together. I was quite emotional that night because I could really sense people's passion and fire in their messages. Living in Singapore, where, you know, life is practical and pragmatic, this felt almost like a jailbreak kind of moment, and I think a lot of people were just waiting for the right time and the right chance to do something like this together.

I guess I was also really moved by the realization that so many people cared about books. So I took a leap of faith. I found a space to rent on the third day of the Instagram post. I signed the lease on the fourth day. I'm an Aquarius, so. (Laughter) With the help of many people, most of them strangers, we built the library in three months. This is a picture of us literally building the library. Here, we were installing the flooring together. So who are some of these 180 crazy people who decided to do this with me? So this is Raymond's shelf. Raymond loves collecting CDs and books about Japan -- so these are the two things that you can find on his shelf. Every Tuesday, Raymond sets up a little stall outside our library where he sells his secondhand CDs and books. He also brews coffee -- pay as you wish -- for anyone who happens to drop by. This is Wanqi and Liam, the mother and son.

Liam is also the five-year-old librarian I was talking about earlier. So far, we've been quite impressed by his work ethic. (Laughter) And their shelf is split half-half, half between Liam's favorite children's books, and half between Wanqi's books. Liam was also responsible for decorating their shelf. It looks great. So this particular bookshelf owner, she has decided to share some of the books that used to be on the shelves of Kin San, which is a Hong Kong bookshop that has unfortunately closed. She has also replicated a miniature version of the banner that used to hang in front of Kin San that says "ideas are bulletproof." In a way, Kin San lives on right here inside our library. This particular bookshop owner, her name is Mira, is a preschool teacher. She believes in the power of letter writing, especially with children, which is why you can find a mailbox on her shelf.

So apart from reading the amazing selection of books on her shelf, you can also write her a letter. She has promised that she'll definitely write you back. So one of the most frequent questions we get asked is how does this library stay open? It doesn't really make economic sense, right? I think the simple answer is because 180 people have decided that it is possible to come together to build a ground-up book space for the local community. And as it turns out, this is actually quite a practical solution because this means that we're able to share the rent among 180 people, and no one person has to bear the financial burden of keeping this space open. The other question we get asked a lot is, what do you get out of doing this? Well, we definitely don't get paid in the traditional sense, in dollars and cents. But we have been open for about four months now, and a lot of us have found the library to be one of the rare places where we feel truly at home.

On most days, our library also doubles as a community center. So apart from the usual book clubs, women sharing circles, people have also used it to host curry night, hot pot night for 40 people. And also, two times a month we run a midnight library where we open till late, or at least as late as the last person would like to stay. I see community in every corner of our little library. I see community in the people who bring food and drinks and ideas and resources to our library that they freely share with each other. People rush to return their library books even though we have no late fees -- I think because they can sense the love and the care that has gone into every shelf in our library, and also because I think they just really want to share the books with other people, right? They want other people to have access to the books. I see community in the little children who come into our library.

Little kids who actually remind each other to, you know, like, please take care of the books, don't bend the pages, put the book back in the right place. I see community in our volunteer librarians, who spend a lot of time cleaning the library, cataloging books, and pouring their soul into making sure that the library is a welcoming space for everyone. And because of all this, Singapore feels a little different to me these days. These days, Singapore feels a little more generous, warm, open, kind, joyful and trusting. In a world where people feel increasingly lonely, society feels increasingly fragmented, this little library has given us -- or at least it has given me -- a feeling of power. Not the kind of power that is heavy and destructive, but the kind of power that is light and regenerative. This little library has given me renewed hope that we do have the power to come together to build what we think is missing in our lives, in our city, in our world.

And sometimes, that missing thing is a small, shared, community-owned library. Thank you.