It's Siti Noorashikin's first visit to Singapore's towering new National Library and the 20-year-old polytechnic student likes it so much she has decided to make it a new hangout.
"It's comfortable to read here," she purrs while curled up in a black synthetic leather sofa, clutching a novel by her favorite author, British crime writer Agatha Christie.
"It's not so cold like other libraries," Siti, comfortably dressed in jeans, a green t-shirt and a gray Muslim headscarf, tells AFP on the ground floor of the 16-storey building overlooking Singapore's arts and banking districts.
The high-tech library with an avant-garde design in the nostalgic Bugis district cost 120 million dollar to build, an investment aimed at promoting love of reading among the members of the pop culture and videogame generation.
Five times larger than the old red brick-walled National Library dating back to the British colonial era, it boasts a collection of more than 634,000 items, including seven levels of reference materials with a strong Southeast Asian component stored in printed and digital formats.
Aside from offering wireless Internet access for laptop owners, the library has computer kiosks strategically located throughout the building for visitors to conduct book searches and other enquiries.
To provide a cozy feel, sofas are lined along glass walls with views of outdoor gardens, with a generous amount of natural light illuminating the reading areas.
The upper levels offer a stunning panorama of one of Asia's most modern cities, balanced by clusters of greenery at the street level.
Locals borrowing books for the first time just need to produce their pink identity cards which have a barcode to activate a library membership account.
Membership is free for Singaporeans but foreigners working here have to pay an annual fee of 6.25 US dollars, and the same amount for one-off registration.
"The new National Library is a library designed to drive Singaporeans forward in a knowledge-based world. It is a library for today's generation of users," Lim Soo Hoon, chairman of the National Library Board, said at the building's opening in July.
Apart from the serious academic stuff, the library stocks Harry Potter books for kids and music DVDs for all tastes.
Teenagers and young adults can enjoy a wealth of material on pop culture figures like US diva Madonna and Hong Kong's action flick superstar Jackie Chan, who last week gave a talk at the premises about the Asian film industry.
There is underground parking and a cafe, and just across the street is the Parco Bugis Junction shopping mall, a popular teen destination.
Even the legendary maritime voyager Admiral Zheng He from the Ming dynasty has been enlisted by library authorities to reach out to the masses in the largely ethnic Chinese society.
History buffs keen to trace Zheng's voyages to Southeast Asia can view an exhibition to commemorate the 600th anniversary of his adventures, including a replica of his "treasure ship" as well as ancient publications, maps, photographs and rare artefacts from his voyages.
"Libraries in Singapore do not just provide books ... many have cafes, programmes such as talks and exhibitions as well as multimedia resources to complete the library-going experience," N. Varaprasad, chief executive of the National Library Board, told AFP.
Before the opening of the library's new home, the NLB worked aggressively to woo the younger generation by opening lifestyle-oriented branches in the heart of the main shopping area Orchard Road and the Esplanade arts centre.
Statistics suggest Singapore is succeeding in its efforts to make libraries compete with shopping malls for the youth's attention.
According to the NLB, users between seven and 19 years of age accounted for more than 46 percent of new library registrations in 2003 and 2004.
Like many other government programs, including cultural activities, this strategy to promote reading is part of Singapore's efforts to enhance its economic competitiveness in the long term.
With virtually no natural resources except for its people, the rich city-state has poured billions of dollars into education. Its students consistently rank among the world's best in science and mathematics.
"Singapore's need to become more knowledge-based has accelerated over the past five years," the NLB said in five-year plan to 2010.
"We cannot compete on price with the lower-cost growing economies in Asia. We must compete on talent and knowledge and deliver higher value added activites," it said.
But for users like Siti, the sheer joy of reading Agatha Christie in a comfortable environment is sufficient incentive to keep returning to the new National Library of Singapore.