National Library Board Act
(CHAPTER 197)

(Original Enactment: Act 5 of 1995)

REVISED EDITION 2014
(31st October 2014)
An Act to establish and incorporate the National Library Board, to transfer to it the National Library and for matters connected therewith.
[1st September 1995]
PART 1
PRELIMINARY
Short title
1.  This Act may be cited as the National Library Board Act.
Interpretation
2.  In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —
“Board” means the National Library Board established under section 3;
“Chairman” means the Chairman of the Board and includes any temporary Chairman of the Board;
“chief executive officer” means the chief executive officer of the Board and includes any person acting in that capacity;
“Deputy Chairman” means the Deputy Chairman of the Board and includes any temporary Deputy Chairman of the Board;
“Fund” means the National Library Board Endowment Fund established under section 23;
“library information service” means any information service provided and managed in conjunction with a library or library service;
“library materials” means —
(a)any printed book, periodical, newspaper, pamphlet, musical score, map, chart, plan, picture, photograph, print and any other printed matter; and
(b)any film (including a microfilm and a microfiche), negative, tape, disc, sound track and any other device in which one or more visual images, sounds or other data are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other equipment) of being reproduced from it;
“member” means a member of the Board;
“National Archives” means the National Archives of Singapore transferred by the Statutes (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Act 2012 (Act 25 of 2012) to the Board and administered in accordance with Part 2A;
“National Heritage Board” means the National Heritage Board established under section 3 of the National Heritage Board Act (Cap. 196A);
“printed”, in relation to books, means produced by printing, lithography, duplication or any other like process, and “printer” has a corresponding meaning;
“public archives” means those public records that —
(a)are more than 25 years old;
(b)are specified by the Board as being of national or historical significance; and
(c)have been transferred to the Board or to such other place as the Board may from time to time determine;
“public office” means any department, office, institution, agency, commission, board, local authority or statutory body or any other office of the Government or branch or subdivision thereof, and any other body that the President may, by notification in the Gazette, declare to be a public office;
“public records” means papers, documents, records, registers, printed materials, books, maps, plans, drawings, photographs, microforms, videotapes, films, machine readable and electronic records, sound recordings and other forms of records of any kind whatsoever, that are produced or received by any public office in the transaction of official business, or by any officer in the course of his official duties, and includes public archives;
“publicly-funded libraries” means all libraries owned by the Government or any statutory body and such other libraries which are, directly or indirectly, funded by the Government (whether fully or partially) as the Board may determine;
“published in Singapore” means produced and released in Singapore for sale or public distribution;
“publisher” means any person who arranges for any library material to be published in Singapore.
[25/2012]