By Ong Kian Ming

Recently, I had to get my hands on some education statistics and the only place where I could locate some of this data was at the National Library.[1]

The National Library is located just off Jalan Tun Razak, near Jalan Semarak in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

The first and only time I had been to the National Library was in the last 1990s, after completing my studies in the UK. I remember the grand entrance into the library but recalled little of the books and reading materials.

My visit in December 2012, which took place over a few days, illustrated, in a microcosm, what is wrong with the way the country is currently being governed and administered.

Despite its sizeable overall budget of RM54 million in 2013, the flagship library of the National Library system is disappointingly poorly designed and not public friendly, focuses on the wrong priorities, has poor ‘software’ and is not representative of a truly ‘national’ library.

Poor design and not public friendly

A steep disabled ramp leading up to the Menara Warisan Sejarah which houses books which the public can borrow

For a National Library that is supposed to promote a culture of reading, only two floors out of 3 buildings were dedicated to books and materials which the public could borrow.

Both these floors were located in Wisma Sejarah, which is to be found at the very back of the National Library.[2]

Most of the public libraries I’ve been to in the US have their borrowing section on the ground floor of the main library building so that the public can have easy access to these books.

It’s not really convenient for people to trudge all the way to the back of the library complex and go up to the third or fourth floor of the building to borrow and return books.

Even getting to this building was tricky. We had to walk through the front of the main library complex (Anjung Bestari) to the back and there were no signs as to where exactly Menara Warisan Sejarah was located.

Not disabled friendly

It is also very difficult for a disabled person on a wheelchair to get to this building. Even though there was a disabled ramp that led to this building, from the photo below, one can see that the ramp is far too steep for someone on a wheelchair to go up and down easily.

In other related news, we did not see any outdoor parking lots specifically reserved for disabled visitors although we drove around the entire library complex twice. We might have missed them but if there were any specifically reserved slots, they were clearly not marked or visible to visitors.

Sheltered parking annexe at Menara PNM – each floor had about 20 parking spaces

Parking Lots

As for parking lots in general, there were certainly enough for us given that the National Library was largely deserted of public visitors during the times (weekdays and weekends) we visited.

However, the sheltered parking annexe in Menara PNM (the tallest building with 15 floors, which houses special collections and government documents) had only just over 30 total parking spaces for the public, with parking slots on the first 3-4 floors reserved exclusively for Library directors and staff.

This shows that the National Library is not designed to handle high-volume traffic, should more people decide to visit in future.

4th floor to the Penthouse

Basement Floor to the 3rd floor

Library floors rented out to companies

When we got to Menara Wisma Sejarah, we were surprised to find that 5 floors have been rented out to other parties including a law firm and an event management company!

One really has to wonder about the rationale of this rental agreement and how these contracts came into being.

Haphazard Maintenance

And even the small space that was allocated to public rentals was not properly maintained. Stacks of books were found piled up on shelving carts and strewn haphazardly all over the floor.

This kind of maintenance would be a disgrace in any public library. That this would occur in the flagship National Library building is utterly shocking! We may have all the funds in the world to buy the newest books but if we cannot even shelve our books properly, then all this money spent has clearly gone to waste.

Books piled up on the shelving carts

Books strewn all over the floor

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* Dr Ong Kian Ming holds a PhD in Political Science from Duke University and Masters in Economics from Cambridge. He is the DAP Elections Strategist.