Large crowd at NLB's book giveaway, visitors warned of long queues of up to 3 hours

The National Library Board (NLB) is hosting its largest pre-loved book giveaway with 60,000 books up for grabs on Sep. 13 and 14.

On Sep. 13, large crowds gathered at the giveaway, where patrons were informed that they would have to queue up for up to an hour before they could select their books.

They were then given 10 minutes to select up to 10 books per person to take home.

The queue was also snaking around the building as people arrived with trolleys, bags, and even a suitcase to snag the free books.

24-year-old Nicholas Koh was accompanying his friend to the giveaway and was surprised at the large crowd. He shared that staff told him that the queue would be about one to two hours long.

A lady who attended with her child and was armed with a trolley, told Mothership that she had only waited about 20 minutes before she made it to the middle of the queue.

She was told that the queue would be about three hours long, but she wanted the books for her child and would probably still queue for three hours if needed.

A 29-year-old woman told Mothership that she only had to wait about 15 minutes before reaching the front of the line.

She was accompanying her mother, who is in her 60s, and is looking to get Tamil books, which they feel are less popular.

However, one user shared on Reddit that they arrived at 10am and was informed that the queue would be three hours long.

They added that there was no clear indication of where the queue began, and there was no communication between the staff and volunteers.

The user shared that they kept changing queues after being told by the staff, and after walking in circles for 30 minutes before they left.

They also shared that it was raining heavily, but nothing was being done to move the queue to a sheltered area.

60,000 pre-loved books

NLB's annual Big Book Giveaway will run on the weekend of Sep. 13 and 14, from 10am to 4pm.

This is the largest number of books given away to date.

They come from the library's collections and are generally older editions.

Admission is free, and visitors can bring home up to 10 books per person.

The books will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The books will be sorted into different categories, and there will be a wide variety of genres, ranging from fantasy, science fiction, mystery and adult non-fiction.

There will also be various Mother Tongue children's and adult books.

A dedicated section of books about and from Singapore will also be available.

Members of the public who would like to donate their books can do so at the event, and can drop up to 50 books off on both dates.

Top photos via Mothership