Will the new National Library Board campaign get more people to read books?

Would you read regularly if you were paid to do so?

The National Library Board (NLB) is hoping that people will develop a consistent reading habit by giving readers virtual coins that can eventually be exchanged for cash. They need to spend at least 15 minutes on the activity each day.

But why does the library have to incentivise us to read for fun? What do we lose when we no longer read, especially if we’re choosing to doomscroll instead?

In this episode of The Usual Place, I speak with:

Associate Professor Loh Chin Ee from the National Institute of Education, who researches people’s reading habits, and
Chris Koh, the programme director of the National Reading Movement

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:47 How was ReadSG conceptualised

3:41 Why do we have to be paid to read?

7:41 Is reading for 15 mins actually realistic?

10:45 Does reading daily create a habit?

19:16 Why we should stop calling kids “non-readers”

21:10 Will book clubs get people reading?

27:39 What do we lose when we don’t read?

32:19 S’pore’s most borrowed library book?

33:34 Book recommendations from Chris, Chin Ee and Natasha

Books recommended in this episode:

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb
The Complete Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Bang My Car by Ann Ang
Ministry of Moral Panic by Amanda Lee Koe
Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-zi

Host: Natasha Ann Zachariah (natashaz@sph.com.sg)

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Filmed by: Studio+65

Edited by: Teo Tong Kai & Hadyu Rahim

Executive producer: Danson Cheong

Producers: Natasha Ann Zachariah, Elizabeth Law & Zachary Lim

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