--- author: TED date: '2026-10-04' guest: '' layout: post.njk source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81iS7JsTGmk speaker: TED tags: - community-building - shared-library - social-capital - third-place title: 180位陌生人如何共建一座社区共享图书馆 summary: 摄影师Rebecca Toh受日本微型共享图书馆启发，通过社交媒体召集180位书架主人分摊租金，在新加坡组建了一座完全由志愿者运营的社区共享图书馆。该项目探索了自下而上的微型公共空间自治模型，通过信任与共创重建现代都市中稀缺的社区联结。 insight: '' draft: true series: '' category: politics-society area: society-thinking project: [] people: [] companies_orgs: [] products_models: [] media_books: [] status: evergreen --- ### 微型宇宙与自组织实验：共享图书馆的运作逻辑 在拥有世界级公共图书馆系统的新加坡，180名陌生人共同建立了一座截然不同的**共享图书馆**（Shared Library: 由社区成员共同认租书架并维护的自治阅读空间）。它坐落于新加坡的心脏地带（heartlands），夹在一家拥有50年历史的家具店与古董店之间，周围环绕着树木、飞鸟与信步的鸡群。馆内设有180个独立书架，每个书架每月租金为45新加坡元，由不同的“书架主人”（bookshelf owner）认领、维护与装饰。每个书架都是一个独立的“微型宇宙”（pocket universe），向公众展现着主人独特的内心世界。漫步其中，读者往往会在某个书架前驻足并产生一种奇妙的共鸣：“我好像了解这个人”，即便两人素未谋面。 为了维持空间的日常运转，该图书馆建立了完全基于志愿者的协同服务机制。由约40名志愿者图书管理员组成的排班团队，轮流维持着每周开放6天、每天12小时的运营节奏。志愿者群体极具多样性，既有认租了书架的店主，也有渴望参与社区建设的普通居民，涵盖医生、前律师、学生、母亲、自由职业者、退休人员，甚至包括一名年仅五岁的孩童。支撑这一运转的核心纽带，是大家对书籍力量的共同信念与对书香环境的热爱。任何人在开放时间均可免费入馆阅读、交流互动，或享用现场随机冲泡的咖啡，卸下现实生活的压力。
Original English A few months ago, 180 of us came together to build something in Singapore: a library. In a city where we're lucky enough to already have a world-class, highly innovative, much beloved public library system, of which I am a happy beneficiary, how is our library different? So this is a picture of the library we built. We are nestled in the heartlands of Singapore, where we sit between a 50-year-old furniture store and an antique shop, surrounded by birds and trees and ... Quite a few chickens. (Laughter) So our library is what we call a shared library. There are 180 shelves in our library, each of them rented and maintained by a different person. For 45 Singapore dollars a month you get to become a bookshelf owner. Being a bookshelf owner is actually really fun, because you get to share your favorite books on your own shelf, you get to decorate your own space and change up your books every now and then. Every shelf in our library is like a little pocket universe, an interesting, almost voyeuristic glimpse into someone's heart and mind. And if you walk around our library, quite often you end up standing in front of a shelf thinking to yourself, "I think I know this person," even though, strangely, you've never met this person in your entire life. The other interesting thing about our library is that we are entirely volunteer-run. So a roster of about 40 very kind volunteer librarians take turns to keep our library open six days a week, 12 hours a day. Some of them are bookshop owners, they have a shelf in our library. Some of them are people from the community who really want to be part of the project. They are doctors, ex-lawyers, students, mothers, freelancers, retirees. We even have a five-year-old librarian among us. But we all have something in common. We love books, we believe in the power of books, and we enjoy being surrounded by books. So any time we’re open, anyone is welcome to come in, to sit down, to read a book for free, to make a friend or connection, to drink a cup of coffee, randomly brewed by someone in the library, and to just let the stress of life melt off their shoulders.
### 从契机到落地：务实社会中的理想主义破壁 这一项目的萌芽源自今年4月的一次休假。**Rebecca Toh**（摄影师兼项目发起人）在从摄影工作中抽身前往日本休假期间，偶然偶遇了一座采用类似模式的微型社区共享图书馆。尽管语言不通、无法阅读日语书，但空间内流淌的关怀与善意深深吸引了她，并促使她思考将这一模式引入新加坡的可能性。返回新加坡后，她在社交媒体 Instagram 上发布了一篇简短设想帖，坦言只要能召集到50个人支持，就愿意尝试这个极不实用且充满理想主义的构想；若无人响应便就此作罢。 令人意外的是，发布当天傍晚她便收到了约300条私信，大量陌生人表达了真诚出资认租书架、共建图书馆的意愿。在一个高度崇尚实用主义（pragmatic）的新加坡社会，这种狂热的响应宛如一次集体性的“越狱时刻”（jailbreak moment），折射出城市人群在等待契机以重构文化精神生活的深层渴望。在巨大热情的推动下，行动迅速展开：发帖后第3天找到承租空间，第4天签订租约，并在随后的3个月内，在数百位陌生志愿者的共同协助与参与下（从铺设地板到装修组装），合力将空间构建成型。
Original English So how did we come to build a library like this? So in April this year, I took a break from my work as a photographer, and I went to Japan for a sabbatical, where I stumbled upon a small, shared community library with a similar concept. I loved it. I loved it. There was just something about the space that really enticed me. Standing in that little library in Japan, even though I couldn't read any of the Japanese books, I could sense a very powerful energy of love and care. And even though I couldn't read any of the Japanese books there, I thought it would be wonderful if we could have something like this in Singapore. So I decided to turn to social media. So I came back to Singapore, decided to write a simple Instagram post, just outlining my vision of what I thought a small, shared library in Singapore could look like. I thought if no one responded, then I would just forget about the whole thing. But if I could somehow get 50 people on board, I would be happy to give this very impractical, dreamy and idealistic idea a try. So I quickly finished writing, pressed post, and then I went back to work. By the end of the first day, I had received about 300 direct messages from people who said they were seriously interested in putting money down to rent a shelf and to build a library together. I was quite emotional that night because I could really sense people's passion and fire in their messages. Living in Singapore, where, you know, life is practical and pragmatic, this felt almost like a jailbreak kind of moment, and I think a lot of people were just waiting for the right time and the right chance to do something like this together. I guess I was also really moved by the realization that so many people cared about books. So I took a leap of faith. I found a space to rent on the third day of the Instagram post. I signed the lease on the fourth day. I'm an Aquarius, so. (Laughter) With the help of many people, most of them strangers, we built the library in three months. This is a picture of us literally building the library. Here, we were installing the flooring together.
### 书架微宇宙：个体叙事、记忆载体与社区共鸣 构筑这180个书架的具体个体，生动展现了共享空间的多元性与人情纽带： * **Raymond 的书架**：专注于日本主题书籍与二手黑胶/CD收藏。每周二，他会在图书馆门外支起小摊售卖二手藏品，同时为过往行人冲泡手冲咖啡，采取自愿随心付款（pay as you wish）模式。 * **Wanqi 与 Liam 的母子书架**：书架由母亲与五岁的小儿子 Liam 各自占有一半。Liam 既是策展人兼装饰设计者，也是团队中展现出令人印象深刻的责任感的“五岁图书管理员”。 * **传承见山书店记忆的书架**：一位书架主人收集了来自香港已结业独立书店“**见山书店**”（Kin San）的部分原藏书，并复刻了曾悬挂于见山门前的微型横幅——“思想是不怕子弹的”（ideas are bulletproof），让消逝的文化实体在此处得以延续生命。 * **Mira 的信箱书架**：身为学前教育工作者的 Mira 坚信书信的力量，在书架上设置了一个专用信箱。访客在借阅书架藏书之余可给她留信，且均能获得她的亲笔回信。 在这些各具特色的书架设计背后，空间以个体独特的精神资产为媒介，重构了人与人之间的对话方式与情感链接。
Original English So who are some of these 180 crazy people who decided to do this with me? So this is Raymond's shelf. Raymond loves collecting CDs and books about Japan -- so these are the two things that you can find on his shelf. Every Tuesday, Raymond sets up a little stall outside our library where he sells his secondhand CDs and books. He also brews coffee -- pay as you wish -- for anyone who happens to drop by. This is Wanqi and Liam, the mother and son. Liam is also the five-year-old librarian I was talking about earlier. So far, we've been quite impressed by his work ethic. (Laughter) And their shelf is split half-half, half between Liam's favorite children's books, and half between Wanqi's books. Liam was also responsible for decorating their shelf. It looks great. So this particular bookshelf owner, she has decided to share some of the books that used to be on the shelves of Kin San, which is a Hong Kong bookshop that has unfortunately closed. She has also replicated a miniature version of the banner that used to hang in front of Kin San that says "ideas are bulletproof." In a way, Kin San lives on right here inside our library. This particular bookshop owner, her name is Mira, is a preschool teacher. She believes in the power of letter writing, especially with children, which is why you can find a mailbox on her shelf. So apart from reading the amazing selection of books on her shelf, you can also write her a letter. She has promised that she'll definitely write you back.
### 轻盈的再生力量：重构现代城市的信任与精神归属 面对“这种缺乏经济效益的模型如何长期生存”的普遍疑问，其底层支撑在于一套去中心化的成本分担机制：180个人共同决意自下而上建立一个社区书香空间，通过人数均摊租金成本，使没有任何单一主体需要承担过重的经济包袱，反而转化为极具可行性的现实方案。尽管运营者并不获取传统货币报酬，但在开放运营的4个月里，这里成为了都市人获得真正归属感的罕见庇护所。它不仅是图书馆，更复合承载了社区中心的功能，定期举办读书会、女性分享会、容纳40人的咖喱之夜与火锅聚餐，以及每月两次、依最后一名读者离开时间而定的“午夜图书馆”（midnight library）。 这种自组织空间催生出一种无需强制规则约束的自发社会契约。人们无偿共享食物、饮品与资源；尽管馆内不设逾期罚款，读者仍会急切归还借阅书籍，因为他们能感知到每个书架注入的心血，并渴望将阅读机会让渡给他人；甚至幼童也会主动提醒彼此爱护图书、归还原位；志愿者图书管理员则持续倾注心力于空间清洁与图书编目中。在原子化与社会日趋割裂的现代城市语境下，这种自发实践展示了一种非破坏性、轻盈且具备再生能力的自组织力量——公众有能力自发聚集，在城市肌理中亲手补全生活所缺失的温暖、慷慨与深层联结。
Original English So one of the most frequent questions we get asked is how does this library stay open? It doesn't really make economic sense, right? I think the simple answer is because 180 people have decided that it is possible to come together to build a ground-up book space for the local community. And as it turns out, this is actually quite a practical solution because this means that we're able to share the rent among 180 people, and no one person has to bear the financial burden of keeping this space open. The other question we get asked a lot is, what do you get out of doing this? Well, we definitely don't get paid in the traditional sense, in dollars and cents. But we have been open for about four months now, and a lot of us have found the library to be one of the rare places where we feel truly at home. On most days, our library also doubles as a community center. So apart from the usual book clubs, women sharing circles, people have also used it to host curry night, hot pot night for 40 people. And also, two times a month we run a midnight library where we open till late, or at least as late as the last person would like to stay. I see community in every corner of our little library. I see community in the people who bring food and drinks and ideas and resources to our library that they freely share with each other. People rush to return their library books even though we have no late fees -- I think because they can sense the love and the care that has gone into every shelf in our library, and also because I think they just really want to share the books with other people, right? They want other people to have access to the books. I see community in the little children who come into our library. Little kids who actually remind each other to, you know, like, please take care of the books, don't bend the pages, put the book back in the right place. I see community in our volunteer librarians, who spend a lot of time cleaning the library, cataloging books, and pouring their soul into making sure that the library is a welcoming space for everyone. And because of all this, Singapore feels a little different to me these days. These days, Singapore feels a little more generous, warm, open, kind, joyful and trusting. In a world where people feel increasingly lonely, society feels increasingly fragmented, this little library has given us -- or at least it has given me -- a feeling of power. Not the kind of power that is heavy and destructive, but the kind of power that is light and regenerative. This little library has given me renewed hope that we do have the power to come together to build what we think is missing in our lives, in our city, in our world. And sometimes, that missing thing is a small, shared, community-owned library. Thank you.