This Singaporean set up a library in Bukit Merah for people to share their books by renting shelves

After working for a decade, freelance photographer Rebecca Toh embarked on a one-year sabbatical earlier this year – and ended up taking on more work. But this time, the Singaporean revisited her childhood dream of owning a bookstore, albeit with a minor adaptation. She decided to build a library.

Set to open to the public next Monday (Aug 5), Casual Poet Library, situated at a void deck in Alexandra Village in Bukit Merah, was inspired by her holiday to Japan in April, where she stumbled upon the country’s first community library. 

The Minna no Toshokan Sankaku library in Yaizu city, a small fishing town within the Shizuoka prefecture, functions like a regular library, except for one key detail: Every shelf is rented by an individual who pays a small monthly fee to display their own books for others to loan.

It was opened in March 2020, and more than 50 such libraries have since sprung up across Japan to revitalise local communities. 

The concept piqued Toh's curiosity. There were already so-called community libraries at void decks around Singapore after all, and these libraries are free for all to access, allowing anyone to drop off any book anytime. 

But many of these spaces don’t last long – books are often not well-cared for, and one such library in Boon Lay started last year had its shelves stolen less than a day after it was set up. 

What made the library in Japan different to her was that people were paying to rent shelves for their books, which others could borrow at no cost. The 38-year-old wondered: “Who are these people? They’re so impractical – and I love it. I would totally do it."

PAYING TO RENT SHELVES 

Toh also realised with these shelf owners shouldering the shop's total rental together, everybody’s risk becomes “very low” and makes the library possible. “And their librarians are all volunteers. So it’s not open every day; it depends on who is free, kind of ad-hoc. It feels really nice," she said.

If she were to open a similar library in Singapore, she wanted to replicate their model. But she had doubts about the feasibility of a community-funded library in "a very practical society".

Plus, she didn't want history to repeat itself. When she was 21, she had opened a small cafe in Chinatown that “couldn’t make money”, trapping her in the space for two years. 

So the self-professed “pragmatic dreamer” took to Instagram in May to share her thoughts about the Japan library and suss out how many people would be willing to pay for a shelf if she opened a similar nook here. The overwhelming response to her post convinced her – that very night – that her idea could be sustainable. 

The following day, she asked friends for recommendations of available shop units, and mere days later, she signed a two-and-a-half-year lease for the “perfect” space at the void deck of an HDB flat about a five-minute walk from IKEA Alexandra.

A cosy cafe flanks Casual Poet Library on one side, and on the other, a traditional furniture store selling everything from mattresses to cabinets has been around for 50 years. Directly opposite the library is a bird shop. 

Its location is the epitome of heartland living – exactly what Toh was looking for.

"I specifically wanted a void deck. And I wanted to do it in a neighbourhood estate, like where people can walk down from their house and go in, and maybe they can sit outside. We will be able to put chairs also,” she said. 

She'd been documenting the heartlands for a few years as a photographer, and hoped her library could attract people to visit these spaces and their old-school businesses before they "inevitably disappear". 

At least for now, it seems that borrowers will have no shortage of shelves to peruse.

Less than two months after Toh's first Instagram post to gauge public interest in being part of the project, all 180 of the library’s shelves had already been rented out. And there are another around 40 people on the waiting list, she shared, an unmistakable sense of disbelief in her voice. 

Unexpectedly too, more than 200 people responded to her call on Instagram for volunteer librarians. Sign-ups are currently closed. 

“I was very amazed that we managed to pull it off, to rent out all the shelves. And it’s 180 people in Singapore, not Japan. (We’re) a very practical society. There seems to be something that people are drawn to in this project,” she said.

She knows of many people who desire to run a bookstore but highlighted that Singapore’s high rent probably curtails that dream.

Perhaps it was also Toh's leap of faith that inspired the community of book lovers to bring her idea to fruition. While she’d done her sums and knew the project fell within her means, she’d signed the lease before collecting any money from interested shelf owners. 

She’d banked on the fact that more than 300 people had initially indicated they were keen to seriously put down money to rent a shelf, and that even if only half of them showed up in the end, “it would really be good enough”. 

“I was feeling a bit anxious, because it’s easy for people to say they want to do it, but to step up, a six-month lease is S$300 plus, a one-year lease is S$500 plus. I cannot do monthly (leases); I don’t have the administrative power. So to cough up S$500 plus at one go, I didn’t know if people would do it. And they don’t know me; I’m some random stranger,” she admitted.

“But I also thought that signing the lease first would convince people that I was really serious. Like if I sign the lease then I think more of you will actually step up, rather than I collect the money first. So I took the gamble and it paid off.”

A SHELF TO CALL THEIR OWN

Toh’s passion for reading started in childhood. She loved visiting the library, and when she was 12, she finished reading Around The World In Eighty Days in one day. “I just fell into that world. I couldn’t get out of it and stop reading,” she recalled.  

Then in junior college, the avid reader spent all her time in the school library, even picking out books for her friends to read, although she admitted they rarely did. 

And whenever she travels now, “the only places that I truly want to go sometimes are bookstores”, she added. “I would even go to libraries.”

Books are her first port of call whenever she wants to learn something. Once, she even borrowed a book to learn how to swim. (It worked.)

Similarly, she found from the questionnaire that shelf owners fill in when reserving a shelf, a lot of them are passionate about books, or have social anxiety and have learnt to navigate the world through books. There are also some who simply love a space that’s “not so capitalistic”. 

“Even though it’s a bit impractical, people are drawn to that impractical aspect. They like it because of that, not despite it,” she said.

The most obvious intangible benefit, Toh believes, is the self-expression from putting together a shelf that represents oneself. “It’s the feeling that this space is where you can express who you are. It might be difficult to find in this day and age,” she said.

The shelves are stacked with other items besides books, as a result. Many owners include handwritten notes about why they chose those titles and what the stories mean to them. The notes are intimate and vulnerable, akin to chancing upon a page in someone’s journal. 

Compared with public libraries, Casual Poet Library is not just about the books but “the people sharing the books”, added shelf owner Kevan Chew, 27, who is sharing the one-year rent for a shelf with three friends. 

“There’s an odd sense of connection that happens when you look at these shelves… even though you haven’t met (the owners). If you’re looking for that kind of experience, coming here will provide you with that.”

BUILDING COMMUNITY THROUGH CURATION 

Importantly, shelf owners were attracted to the sense of community created through sharing one’s books. Reading is not a solo pastime here, and neither are books displayed without thought, such as at void deck libraries which are typically unmanned. 

“You don’t really know what the person feels about a book when they put it there. It could have been they just don’t want to read it, or they didn’t really enjoy it. But here, you can see why people put it (there),” said Mertice Ho, one of Kevan's friends sharing the shelf. 

“There are different reading tastes – and you can also see that maybe your reading taste is not as unique as you think it is.” 

The 26-year-old also enjoys talking about what she reads with her friends, though ironically not with her co-shelf owners as they have different tastes in books, she admitted. Their shelf is therefore an “eclectic” mix of self-help books, young adult fiction, and even a book on how to survive the zombie apocalypse. 

Having a like-minded community of book lovers also means more customised recommendations, a solo shelf owner Nur Amirah believes. 

“I’ve always thought whenever I borrow books from the national library, I wish I knew who had this book before I did and what they think of this book. And if you like this book and I like this book, maybe I would like all the other books that you read… But how do I find you?” the 35-year-old educator explained. 

Nur Amirah’s shelf is replete with picture books, which she stresses are not just for children. The collection includes New York Times bestseller Invisible Things, among other similarly renowned picture books. But she doesn’t appear too worried that people might steal her books. 

“The fact that I brought the book here, that means I will leave it to the hands of the universe… My note (inside) also says that I hope we can love and leave it back where it belongs. Hope is free,” she reasoned. 

“Also, I’m all about care and conversation. So it’s naturally a thing for me to want people to get together.” 

Nonetheless, if borrowers decide to keep the book at the end of the day, the library will “deal with it as it comes”, shared Toh. The library’s website also states that “lost or damaged item charges are payable” and that borrowers are encouraged to return books within a month.

“But the bookshelf owners already have this understanding that this is a different kind of space. You can’t really protect your books 100 per cent. It might come back with food stains, you really don’t know," she said.

Ultimately, to make the library sustainable, “it should be a very chill process for everyone”, Toh recalled the founder of Minna no Toshokan Sankaku library in Japan writing on his blog. If there's no volunteer librarian available for a specific day or time, for instance, they simply close the library instead of stressing over finding someone to man the place. 

So she hopes to successfully replicate this small pocket of flexibility, albeit seemingly at odds with Singapore’s systematic way of life, at Casual Poet Library.

She might only know whether her social experiment is a success after the first year when the novelty dies down. People must continue feeling like part of the community, as well as a sense of ownership towards the library, for the space to survive, even beyond the lease of two-and-a-half years.

As for Toh’s intended break from work, “well, my sabbatical became not a sabbatical”, she said wryly. But it's clear she doesn't mind. 

“My friend told me that a sabbatical means you’re free; you’re emptying out the space for something else to come in – something that you really want.” 

Casual Poet Library is located at 123 Bukit Merah Lane 1, #-01-110. It will open from 9am to 9pm daily, beginning Aug 5.