Bishan Community Library

The Bishan Community Library (Chinese: 碧山社区图书馆) is the newest library in the National Library Board network situated at Bishan, Singapore which opened on 2 September 2006. Located in Bishan Central just behind Junction 8 Shopping Centre, it has a captive population of around 90,000 in the Bishan area, and is expected to help serve the needs of several nearby schools such as Catholic High School, Guangyang Secondary School, Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School, Whitley Secondary School, Raffles Institution and Raffles Junior College.

The library was conceived in the late 1990s in light of high traffic in the Toa Payoh Community Library and Ang Mo Kio Community Library. Plans for the library commenced in 2002, and construction took place from 2003 to 2006 at a cost of about S$10 million. Designed by Look Boon Gee, it will have about 250,000 titles spread over four floors and a basement, with a Cafe Galilee in the first floor. Windows that protrude out of the building are actually reading "pods", for readers who want to read quietly or use their laptops there. The design of the library won a number of awards for its architecture, locally and internationally. The awards won include the President's Design Award in 2007 and the International Architecture Award in 2009.