The role of the public library shifts through generations and how individuals experience it as place shape their relations to it. Through in-depth interviews with 37 individuals of different ethnicities and professions and born between 1961 to 2002, this study examined how individuals experienced Singapore public libraries across historical time. Findings revealed consistencies across intergenerational experiences of the library while highlighting changes in ways of accessing information with technological advancements and different life stage usage. In relation to factors that contributed to sense of place, three key themes emerged: (1) emotional attachments to place and function; (2) the materiality of space; and (3) familiarity through routines. The continued importance of the library as a provider of reading resources and implications for library design for diversity, multiplicity of use, access, wayfinding and thermal comfort are discussed.
Loh et al. (2026) studied this question.