Rebecca Toh

Singapore-based photographer and founder of Casual Poet Library, a community-funded shared library built with 180 shelf-renters. She spoke about the project in a TEDxSingapore talk.

A Singapore Library Shares Its Costs Across 180 Shelves

In her TEDxSingapore talk, photographer Rebecca Toh argues that a shared library can create connection by giving people a practical way to build and care for a public space together. In Singapore, 180 people each rent a shelf for their personal collections, while volunteers staff a library that visitors can use for free. Toh says the shelves make strangers’ interests visible—and the shared work has turned the library into a place where people feel at home.

TEDOct 4, 20264 min read