The Passion Award aims to recognise an individual for his/her outstanding contributions to the library profession or the LAS through activities such as innovation, outreach, leadership, community involvement, mentoring, and promotion of the profession preferably in the last three years.
The Award
The Award consists of a S$500 cheque.
Selection Criteria
- Personal membership in LAS (associate or professional);
- Demonstrates passion to and for the profession or the LAS through activities such as innovation, outreach, leadership, community involvement, mentoring, promotion of profession, and others not mentioned here; and
- Self-nominations will also be considered.
Who is not eligible
- Current LAS Council Members
- Current LAS Award Panel Members
- Previous LAS Passion Award winners
Selection Process
The LAS Awards Panel shall evaluate nominations received based on content and thoroughness of information provided. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered.
The LAS Awards Panel shall send the recommendations to the LAS Council for endorsement.
Presentation
The Award will be presented at an annual LAS event.
Submission Procedure
Please complete and submit the application form along with the required supporting documents to awards@las.org.sg.
Nominations must be received by 15 Mar 2024 by 12 PM.
Past Recipients
Zubaidah Mohsen has accomplished a few firsts in the Singapore public libraries, from being the manager of the first radio frequency identification (RFID) library to “planting” a tree in the Children’s section of the Woodlands Regional Library, the first to be managed by a specialised team of children’s librarians. Passionate in providing services to children, she is versatile in delivering other aspects of library services. More recently, Zubaidah is championing Malay language services. Her achievements in this area include coming up with strategies to woo both the Malay and non-Malay segments of the community. One of her efforts was to open programmes to a non-Malay speaking audience who were interested in the culture and heritage of the Malays, starting a new Malay World series and conducting it in English.
Zubaidah is instrumental in launching the Mother Tongue Content Creation project for children, taking the lead in the selection of English titles to be translated into Chinese, Malay and Tamil, a project that aims to encourage children to reading quality titles in the MTL. She also put together a team to run a workshop for budding authors who were interested to write in MTL for children between 8 -12 years. This was a collaboration with the Singapore Book Council. Having shifted almost 180 degrees from providing library services in the English domain, she works well with community partners and is active in community work beyond NLB. She is a member of the Malay Language Council, where she is part of the Literary Award Committee and serves as the Deputy Editor for its journal “Sekata”. She sits on the Board of Directors for the Malay Heritage Foundation.
A self-proclaimed kid-at-heart, Zubaidah loves children and children’s literature. Also known as Momsie by her team of children’s librarians, she is a nurturing librarian, taking many staff under her wing and mentoring them. She played a major role in the early days of Job Redesign for library Officers, and put together training modules to equip them in storytelling, promoting library collection and setting up book displays. She continues to find suitable platforms for her team to present their content professionally, and this includes contributing reviews for all age groups for Berita Harian and the e-library of Berita Mediacorp. She is an accomplished speaker on children’s literature, children’s services, MTL services and has spoken at various platforms including IFLA, APLIC and the Asian Festival of Children’s Content.
She paved the way for the development of Children’s services in NLB and contributed to the initial development of content in early literacy services. She was the Project Sponsor of the Book Bugs team that incorporated Mother Tongue language elements into the series, for which her team won MCI’s Team Excellence Award in 2021. She was also the Project Sponsor for One Story for the book “Razi”, another NLB’s project to reach the vernacular communities.
Equipped with her deep knowledge of children’s content, strong passion and belief in what she does, Zubaidah has demonstrated dedication, innovation, and exceptional service to the children and Malay community in Singapore. These achievements and characteristics make her an apt recipient of the LAS Passion Award.
Rebecca Maniates is currently a Research Librarian at SMU Libraries, overseeing the research and information services for the School of Social Sciences (SOSS). Since joining SMU Libraries in 2016, she has supported students, faculty, and staff in SOSS. Rebecca has more than 15 years of professional library experience through work in academic and special libraries in the United States, as well as at Tanglin Trust School Senior Library and Yale-NUS College Library in Singapore prior to joining SMU Libraries.
Rebecca is highly recognised as a committed and passionate library professional with contributions and expertise in the areas of research support, teaching and learning, as demonstrated by her high-quality course-integrated instructional programs. Rebecca is very passionate about teaching information and digital literacy and has always looked for opportunities to improve her craft. In March 2021, Rebecca completed her Postgraduate Certificate Education (International) (PGCEi) from the University of Nottingham. Through this year-long, Master’s level certificate programme, Rebecca enhanced her knowledge of learning theories and pedagogical practice which she quickly began applying in her instruction at SMU.
To take information and digital literacy to next level in SMU, Rebecca helped to plan and facilitate the Research Librarian Summer Camp in August 2021, bringing together Research Librarians, as well as others throughout the University to engage in discussions on instructional backwards design, strategies toward digital literacy, and faculty engagement.
Rebecca is admired for her commitment to share knowledge with her colleagues and offer her help and support when needed even for research enquiries. She has been an informal mentor to junior colleagues new to the library profession and has also engaged in the SMU Libraries’ buddy programme for new staff. More recently, Rebecca has been participating in the SMU Libraries’ job-shadowing programme, where she is paired to coach an Engagement Team member as part of the Libraries’ Talent Management strategy. In addition to mentoring, Rebecca recently led the IRB-approved, Review of Research Consultation Services Project, which focuses on developing the libraries’ service in this area through collaborative knowledge-sharing, branding and visibility on the libraries’ website.
Rebecca values continuing professional development activities and has been active in several organisations throughout her career. In addition to attending numerous LAS programmes and events since 2013, Rebecca presented in 2017 as part of the LAS and NLB Professional Sharing Session, User Experience (UX) in Libraries (“Returns on ‘Investment Studio’: Investigating user behaviour in the Investment Studio to improve services and facilities”). In 2018, she worked to plan and coordinate the Storytelling through Data Visualisation Workshop which was part of the SMU / LAS co-sponsored, New Professionals Seminar: The Wonder Years (August 2018). Rebecca also presented at the LAS biannual conference, Re-making Libraries, held in 2019.
Rebecca is a champion of and role model for other new librarians through her articulate advocacy for librarianship as a profession and continues to be an active member of LAS through her presentations, as well as engagement in LAS events and activities.
LAS is pleased to honour Rebecca Maniates with the 2021 Library Association of Singapore Passion Award.
Jacky Wong Kae Perng is an experienced Systems Librarian who first joined Temasek Polytechnic Library in 2002. He has since worked at the Singapore Management University Library, Ngee Ann Polytechnic Library, and from since 2011 to present, the National Institute of Education Library (NIE Library). Throughout his years of service, he has contributed to and led numerous project teams to implement transformative Library technologies that have increased productivity, enhanced user experiences, and led to the development of innovative library services.
Specifically, during his time with NIE Library, he has contributed to many projects to implement digital transformation and innovative tools, from mobile apps, circulation and patron management systems to digital repositories, content platforms, and even virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) programmes.
Jacky has also demonstrated a passionate drive to share his knowledge and expertise with colleagues in the library community, using formal channels such as conference presentations and publishing papers but also in informal sharing of knowledge amongst his local colleagues. He is also an active member of the Singapore Alliance of University Librarians Library Technology Task Force (SAULTech).
This passion is also clearly apparent in his active participation in the Library Association of Singapore, having served as a LAS Council Member as the IT/Website Chair for two terms from 2017 to 2019, and continuing to serve as a member of the same IT/Website Committee at the time of this award.
Jacky’s passion has inspired many to follow in his lead, and his generous sharing of his experience with important transformative library technologies has helped to spur the continued development of the Library profession in Singapore.
In recognition of these achievements, LAS is privileged to present Jacky Wong Kae Perng with the 2020 Library Association of Singapore Passion Award.
Goh Su Nee joined Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Library in 2004. Before joining NTU Library, she was a lecturer of Information Studies at Temasek Polytechnic. Throughout her 15 years with NTU Library, she has taken on a variety of roles, including that of the Head of the Bibliographic Services Division, the Head of the Facilities Planning Division, as well as overseeing Research Data Management (RDM) services in the Scholarly Communication Group.
Su Nee is currently the Team Lead for the RDM Team in NTU Library. She was appointed the team lead for the newly formed team in December 2017 so that they can offer an essential new service to faculty and research staff in NTU. Su Nee’s drive and passion is apparent when she shares her knowledge and experience with fellow librarians, not just within NTU Library, but also with other libraries in Singapore.
In late 2014, Su Nee and another colleague were instrumental in NTU Library’s offering of RDM Services. Together, they worked closely with various University stakeholders to develop a proposal of the NTU Data Management Plan (DMP) Template and helped to draft the NTU Research Data Policy. In 2016, both the template and the policy were officially adopted and implemented by the University. Her team worked to share with the University’s Principal Investigators the skills to develop clear, systematic Data Management Plans via DMP Template workshops.
In 2017, Su Nee led her team to identify a suitable platform and design support services for the University Research Data Repository. Bertil Andersson, the NTU President then, launched the repository in late 2017. Since then, her team has worked tirelessly to make the repository a useful tool for NTU’s researchers, and to facilitate data sharing and preservation of research data. Two years on, the repository now has over 12,000 data files, and the number of downloads from published datasets is over 30,000 and continues to grow.
Su Nee’s passion to share knowledge led her to form a multi-university RDM group in 2015, gathering librarians from various local universities who worked in Scholarly Communications or RDM teams. Her aim was to create a channel for all to learn from each other, sharing latest plans and international developments on the then-new and emerging topic of University Libraries’ support service for RDM in Singapore. This group met twice a year until early 2019.
Su Nee also ensured that her NTU RDM Team members share their takeaways during the meetings, transferring her passion for sharing knowledge to her own team members, and building a culture of cooperation and collaboration. In the last five years, several members of the multi-University RDM group and their colleagues had attended talks and workshops about data sharing and best practices that were organised by her team.
Su Nee’s passion inspires others to follow her example. Her tireless work in sharing her own knowledge and experiences with fellow librarians in NTU and the wider University community is an example for all to follow.
In recognition of these achievements, LAS is privileged to present Goh Su Nee with the 2019 Library Association of Singapore-Asia Pacific Business School Librarians’ Group Singapore (LAS-APBSLG SG) Passion Award.
Irine Tanudjaja joined NUS Libraries in 2014 as an Industrial & Systems Engineering librarian on the Engineering Resource Team, before also becoming a research impact librarian on the Bibliometrics Team in 2015. Irine’s passion is evident in the exceptionally innovative service she provided to researchers and research administrators.
Irine’s rich engineering industry work experience, deep analytical thinking skills, and agility in applying new tools transformed her from a brand new librarian to a valued and highly proficient research impact measurement librarian. She was appointed lead of the Bibliometrics Team in 2017 to train and guide a team of six librarians who advised faculty and staff on the use of metrics related to citations, for promotion and tenure, and research benchmarking. The effusive compliments and acknowledgments she received in student theses and researchers’ articles attested to the outstanding support she offered.
Irine challenges herself to acquire new knowledge and skills continuously. She took the initiative to gain a solid understanding of APIs, which she leveraged to harvest citation metrics and other important information from ORCID and CrossRef. She also found novel ways to apply the tools she learned to analyze the content of the University’s institutional repository to identify trends through subject mapping and to conduct literature reviews through citation mapping.
In 2018, Irine pioneered another groundbreaking initiative. She used open source tools to create a bibliometric mapping of NUS Business School’s staff publications from which she prepared insightful, customized reports for the deans and department heads of the School of Business. She described the results of this initiative in a conference paper and presentation at IFLA World Library and Information Conference 2018. In the same year, the NUS Asia Research Institute invited her to deliver a highly acclaimed plenary skills-based session on research impact measurement at the 13th Singapore Graduate Forum on Southeast Asian Studies.
Irine’s growing expertise in research impact metrics is being widely recognized by NUS Libraries and other segments of the academic community. Irine approaches all tasks with fervour and passion and this excellent attitude, coupled with superior technical skills, has enabled her to excel. In the last four years, she has achieved many firsts and has greatly enhanced NUS Libraries’ image and that of the library profession within the university community and beyond. In recognition of these achievements, LAS is privileged to present Irine Tanudjaja with the 2018 LAS Passion Award.
Just four years into his career as a librarian, Feng Yikang has proven to be an invaluable asset to the library profession, making numerous novel, pioneering and impactful contributions to the ever-evolving field of digital scholarship.
In 2015, Yikang was appointed as the leader of the Digital Scholarship (DS) Team to create and build DS services in NUS Libraries. He and his team have experienced significant success. Soon after launching the service, they were invited to work on three projects, including a Geospatial Data Guide (Asia), Singapore Places of Worship, and Map of Origins: Chinese Clans in Singapore. Subsequently, they were asked by faculty and researchers to partner on pro-jects ranging from meteorology to early European writings in Southeast Asia, and, then, to collaborate on five grant proposals.
Yikang’s partnerships with faculty extended beyond projects into organizing events to con-nect digital humanities researchers from leading Singapore universities and NLB to discuss their research projects and experience.
Yikang has also taken an active role in building the infrastructure necessary to turn the Col-laboration Space in NUS Central Library into a hub for digital scholarship in Singapore and beyond. In addition, Yikang worked with faculty, colleagues and collaborators from the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity to bring the “Datarama”, a 360-degree immersive data visualisation facility, to NUS.
Yikang has enthusiastically communicated his knowledge with fellow librarians and research-ers in Singapore and internationally through papers, blogs, sharing sessions and presenta-tions, including LAS’ Libraries for Tomorrow: Disrupt and Innovate Conference and a blog essay in LAS’ Singapore Libraries Bulletin. In 2017, he received the Karl Lo Award to attend the Pacific Rim Research Libraries Alliance (PRRLA) meeting to introduce a newly developed digital scholarship software tool, and has also shared the developments and his experience in digital scholarship with the international and regional library community.
In recognition of Yikang’s research skills, entrepreneurial zeal, determination, and ability to bring together librarians, faculty, stakeholders and collaborators not only in Singapore, but across Asia, and his willingness to generously share his knowledge, while opening up exciting new opportunities for librarians to actively collaborate with researchers and faculty in a bur-geoning field, it is a privilege to honor Feng Yikang with the 2017 LAS Passion Award.
Raneetha Rajaratnam has blossomed from being a children’s librarian to become the Deputy Director overseeing Children and Teen’s services in Singapore’s public libraries.
Some of Raneetha’s achievements in recent years include spearheading the Read@School programme to encourage a whole school reading culture which motivates all primary and secondary students to read for pleasure through a vast array of creative and customised reading activities, the development of an online reading platform, and the introduction of awards to recognize creativity and best practices for cultivating reading in preschools, primary and secondary schools.
She has also overseen the development of new teen’s services at the new Pasir Ris Public Library, including the creation of a teen only Inspiring Readers Society, upcoming services for tweens at Sengkang Public Library, and a very popular Book Bugs tweens reading incentive programme across public libraries.
Raneetha’s devotion to continuous learning is well recognized as is her relentless reading of Junior and Young Adult books, which allows her to remain current in these areas. She generously shares what she learns with others, as evidenced by the innovative services that her team develops. At the same time she has taken the initiative to upgrade the skills of library staff by launching a pilot skills enhancement programme which involved redesigning their jobs and building competencies to help align staff with new expectations and services.
Aside from developing services and staff development, Raneetha is also an accomplished speaker on children’s literature, children’s services and reading for children and teens. She is often invited to speak at various platforms including IFLA, the Asian Festival of Children’s Content, and the Ministry of Education (MOE). She is also frequently asked to introduce NLB’s children’s services to international visitors.
Raneetha has demonstrated dedication, innovation, and exceptional service to the children and teens of Singapore, along with unfettered enthusiasm, knowledge of children’s content and strong passion and belief in what she does.
LAS is delighted to honour Raneetha Rajaratnam with the 2016 LAS Passion Award.
Ian Yap has excelled in his 17-year career with NLB. He is recognised as an innovator and motivator whose passion for librarianship has thus far allowed him to make many invaluable contributions to NLB and the wider community.
Ian has served in many critical positions across disciplines within NLB. He oversaw school library services, assisted in managing a public library, setup and ran MOE’s Professional Development library, headed the public libraries’ children’s services, and managed public library programmes, marketing and partnerships.
Some of his major achievements in these roles include recognition for NLB’s best client site library for two years as a result of READ@TN; implementing the bookcrossing movement and Book Exchange, where 60,000 books were exchanged during the annual event; and initiating the Junior Reading Ambassador Programme, where children advocates motivated the young to read. Ian currently leads Read! Singapore, the nationwide campaign to promote reading, arts, and culture programming in public libraries for adults and seniors. Ian has also been recognised for his management skills, receiving the first NLB Best Manager Award in 2008.
Ian plays an important role in IFLA. From 2009-2012, he was the Information Coordinator for the IFLA Section for Services to Children & Young Adults, where he launched the Sister Libraries project to create collaborative partnerships among libraries, promoted children’s services globally, and assisted with the World of Picture books project, where countries nominated their best children’s books for a roving world exhibition.
Ian was also instrumental in organising the IFLA World Library Congress 2013 in Singapore, including the opening and closing ceremonies, public lectures by IFLA members and a cultural evening. In the same year, Ian managed the 2nd Summit of the Book, which brought together global thought leaders to discuss library, publishing, and reading trends.
Since 2013, Ian has been the Regional Manager for IFLA’s Regional Office (Asia & Oceania) where he organised capacity building workshops for librarians and library leaders, including the 2015 workshop for LAS members with the Brunei Darussalam Library Association to build stronger library associations in ASEAN, to advocate for access to information and libraries in developing countries, to present on library trends, and to seek partnerships and sponsorships to build libraries in disaster-torn areas in Asia.
For his selfless devotion and endless contributions to public libraries and the library profession in Singapore and overseas, it is a privilege to honour Ian Yap with the 2015 LAS Passion Award.
Khoo Ai Ling began her library career in 2003 as a Librarian with Singapore Polytechnic Library after completing her Master of Science (Information Studies) at Nanyang Technological University. After serving as a reference librarian, Ai Ling was promoted to the librarian-in-charge of the BizIT Branch Library. In 2004, she was the first Staff Advisor of the newly formed SP Library Club, inspiring greater student engagement with the library.
As Manager of Information Services, she trained many new librarians, developed the information literacy programme, packaged resources for courses, promoted library services and implemented project advisory and research assistance for many institution-wide projects. She heads a team of subject librarians who support the teaching and learning needs of the academic schools, enhances service delivery through new IT tools and techniques, and provide relevant content in a more focused, organised and attractive style. She also led the content curation initiative to support SP projects for coursework, research, business development, and planning. Finally, she also contributed to reorganising collections and transforming spaces such as setting up thematic floors.
Ai Ling has been deeply involved in LAS as Chair of the LAS Membership Committee and Assistant Honorable Secretary. She has played critical leadership roles in organising numerous LAS events in the last three years, including the 2012 Librarians for Tomorrow and 2014 Libraries for Tomorrow Conferences. Additionally, she has been heavily involved in developing and serving as a trainer and assessor for WSQ courses.
In just over a decade, Ai Ling introduced significant improvements and innovations in her library at Singapore Polytechnic (SP) and has been increasingly active in the Library Association of Singapore. Her sustained leadership and high level of commitment to her library and to LAS make her an ideal recipient of the 2014 LAS Passion Award.
Janice Chia is widely recognised as a highly committed, positive, energetic and passionate library professional. Her colleagues at the Nanyang Technological University Libraries (NTU) and in the Library Association of Singapore (LAS) acknowledge her dedication to her work, her users, her peers and her belief in the importance of libraries and librarianship. In her 14-year career, she had worked in a public library, an academic library and also the vendor community.
At NTU, Janice has been Head of the Instructional Services Division, a senior member of the Scholarly Communication Group and a valued member of the Library Management Team since 2010. She always gives her very best and is a good role model. She is admired for her positive attitude, a willingness to learn and grow, a commitment to share her knowledge, to respectfully and to flexibly educate users through an easy interpersonal style, and to invigorate and garner enthusiasm from all of those whom she encounters.
Janice, as the Training and Development Chair of the LAS Council 2011-2013 was an extremely driven and inspired member who took on several projects in addition to the already extensive training portfolio. She quickly organised, in a very short period, the successful “Librarians for Tomorrow Conference” and also planned the LAS/PPM joint conference after a break of seven years. Finally, she represented LAS in conducting a workshop for the Brunei Library Association very soon after she joined the Council. For each of these events, Janice received rave reviews and her capacity for handling complex projects and managing very sensitive relationships was impressive.
Janice has proven to be a great asset to her library and her profession. She brings joy and commitment to her work while inspiring all of those around her. We are pleased to present her with the 2013 LAS Passion Award.